http://www.lifeandscience.org or (919) 220-5429.
Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed on Mondays Sept. 14 to Dec. 21.
Adults, $12.50; 65 and older, $10.50; children 3-12, $9.50.

DURHAM, N.C. The 18-foot-long Parasaurolophus is friendly and patient, allowing children to climb its back, sit on its tail and pat its bumpy, coral-colored skin. But walk along the tree-lined path, and the evil 30-foot-long Albertosaurus lies in wait. The relative of Tyrannosaurus rex is ready to pounce—but will its next meal be the meat of the Edmontonia, with its head down as it tries to protect itself, or the young Styracosaurus across the path that seems to have wandered away from its herd?

MACON, Ga. It’s the place where the Allman Brothers Band founded their Southern rock sound, the place where the song “Ramblin’ Man” was penned and the last place Duane Allman visited before dying in a motorcycle crash in 1971. The Big House in Macon, where the band lived when its fame took flight in the early 1970s, has been the place music lovers flocked during pilgrimages to the South over the last few decades looking to experience a small piece of the Allman Brothers Band. Now, the three-story Tudor house where the band got its start is set to become a museum with the help of dedicated fans who have spent years collecting memorabilia and doing renovations.

PETERSBURG Kelly Waldrop could barely contain her excitement as she walked through historic Blandford Cemetery yesterday morning. The second-year teacher at Mechanicsville Elementary School in Hanover County was playing the role of student as she excitedly made rubbings of headstones in the old graveyard. Waldrop is among 14 central Virginia teachers immersing themselves in central Virginia history during a Community Teachers Institute seminar aimed at revealing historical resources available in the Tri-Cities to supplement students’ education with hands-on, Standards of Learning-based experiences.

Valentine history center: Pay what you can         Times are tough. A couple of local museums do not think they should be any tougher.  So through Labor Day, the Valentine Richmond History Center is instituting Give What You Can Sundays. On Sundays, the regular admission will be waived ($8 adults, $7 seniors, students and children), and patrons will be encouraged to give whatever they can—all the way down to nothing.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is issuing a special invitation to residents of Chesterfield County to visit the museum March 18. VMFA will offer free tours that focus on art with ties to Chesterfield and Virginia, along with other highlights of VMFA’s collection. Tours at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. will showcase such treasures as Fabergé imperial eggs and Edgar Degas’ bronze sculpture “The Little Dancer,“ both given to VMFA by Virginians. A portrait of Sir Thomas Dale, founder of the Citie of Henricus, will also be among the featured works.

Thirty-three Virginia art students and artists have been awarded a total of $196,000 in 2009 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowships. In the 69 years in which VMFA has presented fellowships, the museum has awarded $4 million to 1,069 professional and student artists who are permanent residents of Virginia. “The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is committed to supporting the commonwealth’s artists and art students. We are grateful to the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg for establishing a VMFA endowment that makes this support possible and to others who have added funds to the endowment over the years,“ said Alex Nyerges, VMFA’s director.

An eclectic natural-history collection that includes valuable South Pacific sea shells and thousands of insect specimens has been donated to Bridgewater College. The vast collection also includes African game animals, American Indian artifacts and animals from Virginia. “It’s a valuable resource for any school but much more so for a small school like Bridgewater,“ said Edgar B. Lickey, an associate professor of biology at Bridgewater who is overseeing the collection.

When Norfolk Southern Corp. Chairman Wick Moorman offered $1 million to the Virginia Museum of Transportation on Tuesday night, Bev Fitzpatrick was as surprised as anyone. Fitzpatrick, the museum’s executive director, was one of about 500 people listening to the speech by Moorman at the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce’s membership meeting at the Hotel Roanoke. Moorman, according to those present, offered $1 million and challenged the community to ante up an additional $2 million for the troubled museum.