Museum of Life and Science launches walking series; opens new hut in Into the Mist

The Museum of Life and Science is ready for summer with new programs, extended lab hours, butterflies and watermelon.

Posted 5:21 p.m. Jun 10, 2014 — Updated 5:21 p.m. Jun 10, 2014

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham is launching a new walking series that encourages visitors to explore the "wild side" of the museum's 84-acre campus.

The series, which begins this week, will include animal sightings, seasonal changes and more. The themes will change weekly with a new clue that encourage visitors to hunt for the week's answer. The museum is partnering with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina on the new series. A kick-off is planned Wednesday morning. Special Walk of the Week T-shirts will be available for the first 500 visitors.

Also at the museum this summer:

Into the Mist, my favorite place for water play around here, is now open for the summer. It also features a new cob hut built from mud and natural materials overlooking the wetlands. I suspect this will be a favorite shady spot this summer.

The museum's lab will offer extended hours from June 15 to Aug. 23. The hours will be 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weekdays and Saturday, and 12:30 p.m. to 4;30 p.m., Sundays. Special summer science shows are scheduled every Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Check the museum's website for the show schedule, which will be updated weekly on its events calendar page.

And there's a Super Scientist Club where visitors can get a passport stamp card booklet in the lab. For every five experiments completed at home, they can get a stamp for a science prize. At-home scientists can share their findings with the museum with drawings, pictures, videos, written stories and by just bringing it in.

And mark your calendars:

From July 1 to July 31, the museum will bring back its month-long celebration of the Blue Morpho butterfly. The museum will be introducing 1,000 new giant blue morpho butterflies into the museum's conservatory as it did last year. The twice daily releases will be at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., weekdays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m., Sundays.

And Watermelon Day is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Aug. 1. Watch as the museum's bears, lemurs and other animals enjoy some refreshing watermelon. Keepers will have frozen melons and special watermelon pops for the animals to enjoy. For people, Sprout cafe will have some special watermelon offerings. This one is lots of fun to watch. Check out last year's image gallery to see the scene..

Suggest A Correction