All Over Albany

And now... 50 seconds of science

The NYSM Vascular Plant Herbarium contains over 200,000 specimens of plants from New York State and beyond. These collections of the carnivorous butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) were made in the 1800s from Tompkins and Monroe Counties. #ScienceTuesday https://t.co/plfK0hKLKB pic.twitter.com/iU3IrgqTvb

— NY State Museum (@nysmuseum) January 2, 2018

We've been enjoying these short videos the State Museum has been posting to Facebook and Twitter to highlight items from its huge collection.* There's a Science Tuesday series and a Humpday History series.

The one from today is embedded above. It's about carnivorous butterwort, which is hanging on in New York State. Yep, CARNIVOROUS BUTTERWORT. That sounds like something from Harry Potter.

A recent Humpday History video focused on the costumes worn by a dance team that danced with the Ziegfeld Follies and emigrated to upstate.

One of the things we like about these videos is how they're a calm interlude in the typical feed of outrage and despair. It's like ARGH!, RARR!, BLERG! --- (Here's something quiet about rocks. Yes, let's be chill and think about geology.) --- BLAR!, KERFUFFALUFFAGUS!

So, more like this, please.

By the way: New York State has 19 species (and one hybrid) of carnivorous plants, according to a paper posted by the NYS DEC.

Science Cafe
Speaking of the State Museum, its Science Cafe series returns to The Hollow January 23 for a talk titled "The First New Yorkers and Ice Age Landscapes."

* Much of the collection(s) is not on display. One example: so many bird things.