Maryland Science Center

The broad-winged hawk at the Irvine Nature Center is one step closer to getting a new home. About a year from now, the bird, which lost its wing after being hit by a car, will move to a new aviary at the nature center's future site in the Caves Valley area of Owings Mills. The spotted owl one cage over will be going with him, as will the diamondback terrapin and the bearded lizard. Construction on the $7.5 million project began last month. The nature center is leaving its location on the campus of St. Timothy's School in Stevenson, which it has used for the past 33 years, for a much larger property about seven miles away.

Still thinking about whether to go out and party on New Year's Eve? We know, we know. There's that little Y2K thing that may have some of you staying close to home and hearth. But here's a salute to the party animals among you -- and you know who you are. Let the celebration begin!Baltimore and Annapolis are both laying out the red carpet for the new year.In a change from past years, Baltimore's celebration will have no activities at the Convention Center."We decided to move it from the Convention Center because we wanted to make it available to anyone.

Social CalendarJuly 8: A reception follows the Maryland Stage Company's production of Chekhov's "The Sea Gull" in the Pearlstone Theater at Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St. The play begins at 8 p.m.; the reception at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 to $18. Maryland Stage is the professional theater company in residence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Call 410-455-3370.July 12: An Afternoon for Lupus is being sponsored by the Druid Park Drive Support Group of the Maryland Lupus Foundation.

A photo caption in yesterday's Sun incorrectly identified several baby dinosaur models at the Maryland Science Center as argentinosaurs. In fact, the models should have been identified as young titanosaurs.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 11/20/98

SATURDAY IS Ferndale Day. Come celebrate with a 5K race, parade, raffle, silent auction, varied entertainment, tempting crafts, pet parade, bingo and lots of good food.The race kicks off the event at 8: 30 a.m. More than 1,000 runners are expected to leave the firehouse in Linthicum headed for the fairgrounds on Third Avenue, where the rest of the festivities begin at 9 a.m. Jim Griffin is in charge of the race. Proceeds will go to the North County High School scholarship fund.At 11 a.m., a parade will leave the high school.

The sky and beyondDoes it rain in space? Find out in the Maryland Science Center's "Electric Space" exhibit.Learn about all the components that make up space weather through large photo murals of the sun and Earth, interactive displays, models and sound. Discover the effect that "space weather" has on our technology.The exhibit runs Saturday through May 5.The Maryland Science Center is at 601 Light St. and is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $9 for adults and $7 for children, military personnel and seniors.

By most measures, 1997 has been a banner year for tourism in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, so why hasn't the Columbus Center shared in the prosperity of its neighbors? And what can be done to improve the situation?Those are the questions prompted by the disclosure last week that in its first four months, Columbus Center's $10 million Hall of Exploration attracted 48,118 visitors -- 134,682 fewer than projected -- and that the shortfall is causing a financial crunch for the entire operation.Stanley Heuisler, president of the nonprofit Columbus Center Development Inc., has lost no time looking for ways to increase attendance.

String it upHalter tops in many versions are paired with hip-hugging bell bottoms for an outrageous look, or with long slim skirts for elegant affairs. Shown here are two designers' takes: Ralph Lauren's safari-inspired brown-printed version and Byron Lars' black lace top.Lands' End has released the results of a national survey that polled 971 men over 17 years of age about fashion. The results: Seventy-five percent said they care about their wardrobes. Twenty-five percent said it was easier to assemble professional business attire than a casual look for work.

Chamber elects four people to first 3-year board termsThe Baltimore/Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce has elected Deborah Bass of the Pacific Institute, David "Skip" Higley of the Computer Learning Center of Laurel, Caroline Murn of the First National Bank of Maryland and Dr. Vince Schembari of Schembari Family Dentistry to their first three-year terms as directors.Elected for second three-year terms are Steve Baker of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, Donald Danneman of Danneman's Auto Service, Martin Goozman of Wilson, Goozman, Bernstein & Markuski and Glenn Wilson of Citizens National Bank.

A schedule in Thursday's editions gave the wrong day for a planned day of free admissions to the Maryland Science Center. The free day will be Tuesday, Feb. 13.The Sun regrets the error.

Body found in Inner Harbor near Maryland Science Center 2 Baltimore police found a man's body Tuesday morning in the Inner Harbor near the Maryland Science Center. Police said there were no visible signs of foul play on the body, which was discovered about 5:45 a.m. and is the latest in a string of bodies surfacing in the Inner and Northwest harbors this year, including a man found near the paddle boat pier off the Pratt Street Pavilion on March 19. Police also found the body of a 26-year-old bartender near the Broadway Pier in Fells Point on March 9, a body near Thames Street in Fells Point on March 22 and a body near Fort McHenry on March 27. A police spokeswoman said Tuesday that none of those cases had been ruled a homicide.

Exhibit Body Worlds 2 This is the last weekend to see Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds 2: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies, a traveling exhibit at the Maryland Science Center that uses dissected cadavers to show the inner workings of the human body. Hours have been expanded to 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily to accommodate the end-of-run crowds expected to see it. More than 300,000 people already have seen Body Worlds in Baltimore, making it by far the biggest show ever presented at the science center.

John Polyniak in Lake Shore says the downtown temperature he gets from the phone company's weather line is so much higher than BWI's that "it seems irrelevant. ... Is the thermometer laying on the tar atop the Maryland Science Center?" It's actually on a phone company building downtown. It's a hot spot, but downtown summer temperatures are always higher than BWI's because of urban "heat island" effects - solar energy reradiated by concrete and asphalt. The Sun's station at Calvert and Centre streets is a cooler choice: baltimoresun.

Since its introduction at the Maryland Science Center last year, the traveling "Body Worlds 2" exhibit has enjoyed great popularity. On Thursday, the exhibit welcomed its 25 millionth worldwide visitor - and the crowds are still coming. The bodies displayed are donated for educational purposes and preserved through a process called "plastination." The exhibit will be shown until August.

For centuries, art students sketched the nude human body to sharpen their eyes and hone their skills. But you don't have to be a budding Michelangelo to join the life drawing class tonight at the Maryland Science Center. As part of its Body Worlds 2 exhibition, the center is giving anyone with an interest in drawing a chance to try his or her hand at sketching the human figure using male and female models hired for the occasion as well as the plastinated human specimens featured in the show.

Jeff Volmer of Columbia noticed the record high we reported for Oct. 4 at BWI was 92 degrees, set in 1919. "I seriously don't believe there was a BWI in 1919," he said. "What or where is this from?" You're right. BWI Marshall Airport (then Friendship International) became Baltimore's National Weather Service's "station of record" in 1950. All Baltimore records from 1871 to 1949 are downtown readings. Since 1998, numbers we call "downtown" have come from the Maryland Science Center. This will be on the quiz.

The broad-winged hawk at the Irvine Nature Center is one step closer to getting a new home. About a year from now, the bird, which lost its wing after being hit by a car, will move to a new aviary at the nature center's future site in the Caves Valley area of Owings Mills. The spotted owl one cage over will be going with him, as will the diamondback terrapin and the bearded lizard. Construction on the $7.5 million project began last month. The nature center is leaving its location on the campus of St. Timothy's School in Stevenson, which it has used for the past 33 years, for a much larger property about seven miles away.

Exhibit The eww factor Take a look at Animal Grossology, an interactive exhibit based on a book by Sylvia Branzei that looks at animals from a different perspective at the Maryland Science Center in the Inner Harbor. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. $10 for children; $14.50 for adults. Call 410-685-5225 or go to marylandsciencecenter.org.

Owings Mills Groundbreaking today for new Irvine center A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. today at the site of the new Irvine Nature Center, 11201 Garrison Forest Road, Owings Mills. Scheduled to open in the fall of 2007, the 116-acre campus will include festival space with an amphitheater, gardens, picnic area, trails and various environmental habitats. A new exhibition hall, designed in partnership with the Maryland Science Center, will feature interactive, educational exhibits.

Shhhhhhhhhh, coaxes the teacher in her calming, whispery, indoor voice: Be sensible. "Who's sensible?" she continues, her eyes skipping from child to child sitting and squirming before her on a mat - each trying to out-sensible the next. "Kacey's sensible? Who else? Cameron?" Only the most sensible of children, it seems, will be allowed to venture from their classroom on the ground floor of the Maryland Science Center out into the world of buttons, gadgets and playful wonder existing just beyond.