Museums in Baltimore

The Walters Art Museum

The Walters Art Museum contains 36,000 objects from around the world. Walking through the museum’s historic buildings, visitors encounter a stunning panorama of thousands of years of art, from romantic 17th-century images of French gardens to fascinating Ethiopian icons, ancient Roman sarcophagi (石棺), and peaceful images of the Buddha.

Tickets: $9.5. Free for children aged 7 and under.

Baltimore Museum of Industry

The Baltimore Museum of Industry celebrates the innovators, entrepreneurs and workers who promoted this port city into the industrial age. From garment making to airplane manufacturing, visitors to the museum will discover how their pioneering spirit built the region’s manufacturing might. Located in an 1860s oyster cannery on a five-acre waterfront campus, the BMI offers dynamic exhibitions and hands-on activities for guests of all ages.

Tickets: $15. Half price for children.

Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art is home to an internationally renowned collection of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art. It has 90,000 works of art—including the largest holding of works by Henri Matisse in the world. The BMA is now throughout the multi-year project so that visitors can enjoy its outstanding selection of European and American painting and sculpture from the 17th through 20th centuries.

Tickets: $10. Ten percent off if booked on the official website.

American Visionary Art Museum

The American Visionary Art Museum is the nation’s museum for self-taught, creative skills. Three historic buildings house wonders created by farmers, housewives, mechanics, the disabled, as well as the occasional neurosurgeon. From carved roots to embroidered rags, tattoos to toothpicks, ‘the visionary’ transforms dreams, loss, hopes, and ideals into powerful works of art.

Tickets: $9.5. Free for children aged 6 and under and museum members.

In the depths of space orbits is an intergalactic space station. Living here are some of the smartest scientists and their families. After traveling billions of miles, two scientists, Clyde and Klara Klosno, and their kids Kelvin and Bula, are the newest members of the space station. This is a story told in the new book, ScrFi Junior High, written by Scott Seegert and illustrated by John Martin.

Seegert, a former engineer, was inspired to give writing a try at age 45 after reading a book written by a famous writer. After working on that book for three years, Seegert's hard work paid off when it was published in 2007. After that success, he decided to focus on writing books for kids.

Martin always loved to write and draw. As a kid, he spent evenings and weekends watching cartoons and drawing superheroes, Martin says he was “avoiding homework”, without realizing that he was really working towards his future career. Martin went on to study art at a college and became a successful illustrator.

Seegert and Martin grew up during the same time and had similar interests. As kids, both read comic books, watched superhero shows and enjoyed alien movies.

Their first cooperative work was the book Vordak the Incomprehensible. The two went on to write more books together and have received many awards for their work. For Sci-Fi Junior High, they started with a very general idea, and then focused on the characters to tell the story.

Seegert and Martin work really well together. They even work in the same art studio in Farmington, Michigan. They work in separate rooms but have an in-between door so they can consult each other in person. “Many times nowadays, you might see an author and . illustrator working together, but they have never even met,” Seegert said. “We work diffeently from most children's book authors and illustrators.”

Researchers from London’s Queen Mary University studied how participants were affected by pollution based on where they live. In the journal Circulation on Friday, the scientists revealed that air pollution can harm the heart to the point where it resembles (类似) the early stages of heart failure.

According to Emory Healthcare, deaths have decreased around 12 percent per decade on average over the past 50 years, but 287,000 people die frorn heart failure each year. There are more hospitalizations from heart failure each year than all cancers combined.

In this study, the scientists examined information from 4,000 participants that were in the UK Biobank study. Volunteers had blood tests, health scans and heart MRIs, which measured the function, size and weight of their hearts. They also recorded their lifestyle, health record and where they’ve lived.

The team found participants had larger right and left ventricles (心室) in the heart when they lived closer to busy roads and were exposed to nitrogen dioxide(NOz), which enters the air when fuel is burned. The right and left ventricles are crucial for pumping blood. They were healthy but resembled the ventricles in early-stage heart failure. The scientists found that the higher the exposure to the pollutants, the greater the changes in the heart.

“Air pollution should be seen as a modifiable risk factor,” Dr. Nay Aung, who led the data analysis of the study, said in a statemnent from Queen Mary University. “The public all need to be aware of their exposure when they think about their heart health, just like they think about their blood pressure and their weight.”

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation said in the statement from Queen Mary University, “We can’t expect people to move home to avoid air pollution, so government and public bodies must act right now to make all areas safe and protect the population from these harm.”