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Upcoming Events

After Hours @ the Burke: Hungry Planet

Thurs., May 24, 2012 | 6 – 8 pm

UW students—this evening event is especially for you!  Grab a friend and experience the museum after hours.  See the Burke’s Hungry Planet: What the World Eats exhibit, decorate your own flower pot to take home, enjoy salad from the UW Farm, and more!

Conservation Remix

Sat., June 2, 2012 | 9:15 am

Tickets are on sale now for an extraordinary environmental forum—one that will change the way you see green.

Presented by University of Washington’s College of the Environment, College of Arts and Sciences, and Conservation Magazine, Conservation Remix is a one-day event packed with revolutionary ideas for a greener future. You’ll hear from engineers, architects, entrepreneurs, and more who have unexpected and transformative solutions to big environmental problems. Topics include eating invasive species to stop their spread, cement that absorbs—rather than spews—carbon dioxide, nature-inspired engineering, and the country's first indoor vertical farm. See the entire list of Conservation Remix speakers and topics

PCC Talks: “What is Organic Food?” with Nick Rose

Sun., June 3, 2012 | 11:30 am – 1 pm

“Organic, natural, free-range, sustainably grown…” some of the claims we see on food packages mean more than others. Many consumers don’t realize that the word “organic” on a food guarantees much more than the absence of pesticides. In this presentation, Nick explains the basics of organic produce, meat, dairy, and packaged foods. Each PCC Talk event includes two 30-minute talks at 11:30 am and 12:30 pm.

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Spiders and Insects

Sun., June 3, 2012 | 1 pm

30-minute tour begins at 1 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Join us for an intimate encounter with the Burke Museum’s collection of over 150,000 spiders, 37,000 butterflies and moths, and 250,000 additional specimens including worms, cave fauna, scorpions, and a very small flea collection. Led by the legendary Rod Crawford, the Burke’s own Spiderman! 

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Spiders and Insects

Sun., June 3, 2012 | 2 pm

30-minute tour begins at 2 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Join us for an intimate encounter with the Burke Museum’s collection of over 150,000 spiders, 37,000 butterflies and moths, and 250,000 additional specimens including worms, cave fauna, scorpions, and a very small flea collection. Led by the legendary Rod Crawford, the Burke’s own Spiderman!

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Spiders and Insects

Sun., June 3, 2012 | 3 pm

30-minute tour begins at 3 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Join us for an intimate encounter with the Burke Museum’s collection of over 150,000 spiders, 37,000 butterflies and moths, and 250,000 additional specimens including worms, cave fauna, scorpions, and a very small flea collection. Led by the legendary Rod Crawford, the Burke’s own Spiderman!

Seattle Science Festival Collections Tour: Mammals

Mon., June 4, 2012 | 11 am

60-minute tour begins at 11 am.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? This tour is a rare chance to see the whale skulls, bat wings, porcupine quills, horns, pelts and bones that make up the over 54,000 specimens of the Burke’s Mammalogy collection. Experience the amazing diversification of our fellow mammals as we adapted the same basic tools to flourish in (almost) every environment on planet earth. If you wish, you can peek into the beetle colony, where skeletons are cleaned! 

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Paleontology – Ancient Mammals

Mon., June 4, 2012 | 4 pm

60-minute tour begins at 4 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Take a look back in time with our paleontologists as we explore fossils from the Oligo-Miocene, or "The Age of Mammals,” and see the striking rise in the diversification of mammals in the past 15 million years.

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Paleontology – Ancient Mammals

Mon., June 4, 2012 | 5:30 pm

60-minute tour begins at 5:30 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Take a look back in time with our paleontologists as we explore fossils from the Oligo-Miocene, or "The Age of Mammals,” and see the striking rise in the diversification of mammals in the past 15 million years.

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Herbarium

Tues., June 5, 2012 | 11 am

60-minute tour begins at 11 am.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Join us for a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Burke’s Herbarium. Home to one of the largest and oldest collections at the Burke Museum, the Herbarium holds an estimated 650,000 plant specimens. The tour will cover the history of the collection as well as the groundbreaking research being conducted today.

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Paleontology – Ancient Seas

Tues., June 5, 2012 | 3 pm

60-minute tour begins at 3 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Join us for a peek into the distant past of our oceans. View invertebrate fossils from the Earth's seas and learn how organisms have changed since the Cambrian Explosion more than 540 million years ago.  

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Paleontology – Ancient Seas

Tues., June 5, 2012 | 4:30 pm

60-minute tour begins at 4:30 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? Join us for a peek into the distant past of our oceans. View invertebrate fossils from the Earth's seas and learn how organisms have changed since the Cambrian Explosion more than 540 million years ago.  

Seattle Science Festival Walk and Talk: Stories in Stone

Tues., June 5, 2012 | 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Two-hour tour begins at 5:30 p.m.

David Williams leads a 1.5-mile-long walk through downtown Seattle to discover fossils as large as cinnamon rolls, rock used by the Romans to build the Colosseum and stones ranging from 3.5-billion to 120,000-years-old. Along the way he will discuss history, geology, architecture and give you a new way to appreciate the urban wilds of Seattle.

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Herbarium

Wed., June 6, 2012 | 11 am

60-minute tour begins at 11 am.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? With estimated holdings of over 650,000 plant specimens, the Herbarium is home to one of the largest and oldest collections of the Burke Museum. Specimens in the collection date to the origins of the Young Naturalist Society in the 1880s. The tour will cover the history of the collection as well as research being conducted today.

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Archaeology

Wed., June 6, 2012 | 2 pm

60-minute tour begins at 2 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? A journey into the Burke’s archaeology collection can reveal anything from Seattle’s oldest coffee cup to hunting and fishing tools used by prehistoric Northwest cultures. This one-hour tour will provide a peek into the preservation of these objects and more, including an Egyptian Mummy given to the Burke in 1902! 

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Archaeology

Wed., June 6, 2012 | 5:30 pm

60-minute tour begins at 5:30 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? A journey into the Burke’s archaeology collection can reveal anything from Seattle’s oldest coffee cup to hunting and fishing tools used by prehistoric Northwest cultures. This one-hour tour will provide a peek into the preservation of these objects and more, including an Egyptian Mummy given to the Burke in 1902!

Free First Thursdays

Thurs., June 7, 2012 – Thurs., Dec. 6, 2012

On the first Thursday of every month, admission to the Burke Museum is FREE and the museum will remain open until 8 pm. Hands-on activities are offered each month.

Seattle Science Festival Collection Tour: Fisheries

Thurs., June 7, 2012 | 5:30 pm

60-minute tour begins at 5:30 pm.

Have you ever wondered what’s “behind the curtain” at the Burke? If your ideal natural history collection is glass jars filled with creatures with large eyes with their skin perfectly preserved in alcohol, than this is the tour for you. Visit creatures that lived so deep in the oceans they never saw the light of day and much more. Located on the southern part of the UW campus, the fisheries collection has exotic stories to match its intriguing collection.

Burke Trivia Night at the College Inn Pub

Thurs., June 7, 2012 – Thurs., July 5, 2012

The Burke Museum presents a monthly pub quiz for science buffs, culture gurus, and museum lovers. Bring your friends to the College Inn Pub and test your knowledge of the natural world. Compete with other teams for drink vouchers and other prizes. Teams are limited to 6 players. Cost: $5 per team.

Burke Trivia Night happens every first Thursday at 8 pm at the College Inn Pub.

Hosted by the Burke Museum at the College Inn Pub, 4006 University Way NE. Support for Trivia Night was provided by the University of Washington Graduate School. This is a 21+ event.

PCC Tastings: French Cuisine with Lynne Vea

Sun., June 10, 2012 | 11 am – 1:30 pm

Tastings are scheduled at 11 am and 1 pm and include recipe demonstrations as well as sample bites of the featured cuisine. Seating is limited. Regarded as a culinary nation where famous chefs and foods are born, French cuisine is at the height of refined dining, involving the mind and all of the senses. Simple ingredients such as locally grown fruits, vegetables, and fungi along with fresh, baked goods such as baguettes and croissants can be used in elaborate meals and desserts. Discover more about French cuisine with PCC Cooks instructor, Lynne Vea’s sample of chilled green pea bisque with tarragon, morels, and Dungeness crab.

International Conservation Photography Awards Preview Party

Fri., June 29, 2012 | 6 – 8 pm

Join us to celebrate the award-winners of this biennial juried competition that was initiated in 1997 by acclaimed local nature photographer, Art Wolfe. Up to 100 entries out of an anticipated pool of several thousand entries will be selected in a variety of competition categories. These photographs capture beautiful moments in the natural world, showcase the amazing abilities of environmental photographers, and raise awareness of conserving the world’s natural resources.

This event is for Burke members. Not a Burke member? Join today!

Botany Washington 2012

Fri., July 6, 2012 – Sun., July 8, 2012

Join Burke Museum Herbarium experts at Lazy F Camp in the eastern Cascade foothills for an outstanding opportunity to explore the rich diversity of Central Washington’s flora across a range of elevations. Participants can choose from three tracks of field study—all levels of botanical skills welcome.