Mesa’s Arizona Museum of Natural History is ending its fiscal year with record-breaking revenue from a jump in attendance.

As part of the Arizona SciTech Festival, Mesa’s Arizona Museum of Natural History (AzMNH), 53 N. Macdonald, will host a sleep over in the museum from 6 p.m. Friday, March 15, to 9 a.m. Saturday, March 16. The theme for the night will be, “Hitchhikers Guide to the AzMNH Galaxy,” with lot of space-related activities including a scavenger hunt, crafts, a space-themed movie and snacks. Participants can even make their own robot.

The past and the future are currently colliding at Mesa’s Arizona Museum of Natural History.

Summer is a great time for children to visit the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa, where they can create dinosaur rubbings, hold a fossil, and enjoy other activities. You can take part in that too by volunteering as an exploration station facilitator.

All Pooped Out is 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Arizona Museum of Natural History, 53 N. Macdonald. Poop Scene Investigation offers unusual displays and a chance to find out everything you didn't know about poop but were afraid to ask. Admission is $4 to $6. Information: (480) 644-5662.

December 31, 2004

Mesa's Arizona Museum of Natural History, 53 N. Macdonald, will host the popular Dino Egg Hunt 6 to 8 p.m. March 29. During the festivities, the museum will have children’s craft activities and a dinosaur touch cart available, with factual information about dinosaur eggs. Dino eggs will be replenished until 7:45 p.m.

Whether you prefer Tempranillo and Sangiovese to Apatosaurus and Diplodocus — or don’t know the difference between any of them — doesn’t really matter here.

Arizona Museum of Natural History, 53 N. Macdonald in Mesa, is collaborating with ASU Franz Insect Laboratory to bring a special program to homeschoolers about bugs. Going Buggy Homeschool Day will feature a series of fun and factual activities, games and crafts focused on the life cycles, habitats, and eating habits of bugs. Participants will have the opportunity to meet scientists and take part in a “buzz lab” to discuss good bugs and bad bugs.

Crocodiles in Mesa? Crikey! Mother Nature’s perfect predator is the star of "When Crocodiles Ruled," an exhibit opening Saturday at the Mesa Southwest Museum.

Hurricane Isabel struck Washington, D.C., hard that night.

Learn about the history of botanical illustration, as well as the techniques and processes used to create works of art, during Illustrating Nature: The Tradition Continues.

Walk through a hushed gallery full of Tucson artist Jessica Drenk's work, and the pieces on display will conjure thoughts of some of nature's most bizarre life forms: spiny, limbless creatures clinging to deep sea vents or soft, flaky fungi sprouting from a damp, deeply shaded forest floor.

Sonoran Desert writer Phyllis Strupp likens the spiritual person to a desert creature trapped in a swimming pool. "Spiritually, we are in the world but not of the world — we are out of our element," Strupp says.

January 1, 2005

Spitting and stammering, clawing and convulsing, her jaw jutting forward and her eyes popping out of her head, Keira Knightley is a frightening force of nature in "A Dangerous Method." And this is only at the film's start.

Dan Hinds has been known to wear bifocals on the sidelines so he can read his play sheet on Friday nights.