Since 2012, Museum of the Rockies has hosted Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts from around the region in its annual Scout Day event.
 
On Saturday, March 5, from 9am to 2pm, Scout Day will return once again, and it promises to be one of the most exciting ever. Scout Day 2016: Trek Through Time will focus on MOR's world-renown paleontology collections and feature the Museum's Curator of Paleontology, Jack Horner.  It will also feature MOR's two new exhibits, Across the Andes and National Geographic's 50 Greatest Photographs.

Scouts, and their families, will be able to meet Jack Horner during a special presentation about dinosaurs, and watch a custom-produced program at MOR's Taylor Planetarium. These special activities have limited seating. Tickets are required and will be available during registration.
 
Scouts will also be able to fulfill badge requirements as they participate in engaging activities, including a mock dinosaur dig, creating a constellation, playing a rock cycle game, geocaching, digital photography and more. More information is available on the Museum's website, museumoftherockies.org.

 
The first 300 scouts to register for Scout Day 2016: Trek Through Time will receive a commemorative participation patch. Pizza lunch will be available for purchase between 11am-1pm during the event.
 
Scouts from around the region, as well as non-scouts, are invited to attend. Scouts may come as a pack or troop, or individually with families.
 
Scout Day 2016: Trek Though Time is free to scouts and families who are members of MOR. Non-museum members who are active members of the Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts will receive a special discount of $6.50 per Scout and $9.50 Scout Leader. Regular MOR pricing applies for non-members who are not scouts.

 
Pre-registration is required by Friday, February 26, 2016, and late registrations will not receive program discount.  Registration fees for this program are non-refundable.
 
Scout Day 2016: Trek Though Time is presented by Museum of the Rockies in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming and the Boy Scouts of America, Montana Council.

Montana radio listeners can now tune in to a weekly, live radio segment about physics, astronomy and the cosmos with Montana State University Assistant Professor Nico Yunes and well-known Bozeman radio personality Chris Griffin of AM 1450 KMMS.

Each Wednesday from 8-8:30 a.m., Griffin and Yunes will discuss everything from theories about black holes and the big bang to the physics behind the Global Positioning Systems that have become ubiquitous in consumer electronics.

“There can be no physics without communication. I love to reach out and share my love for the amazing world of physics,” said Yunes. “Chris has been so gracious to invite me to his show to have an engaging and exciting dialogue about the science that surrounds us everyday without us even noticing it.”

Yunes is an internationally recognized leader both in his area of specialty, Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and in public outreach and education about physics.

Among his many accomplishments, in 2015 Yunes earned the Young Scientist Award in General Relativity and Gravitation from the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. In 2013, he was awarded a $500,000 National Science Foundation Career Award, and in 2010 he was chosen as one of NASA’s Einstein Fellows.

He is also well known for leading the team that created “Celebrating Einstein,” a science festival that commemorated Einstein’s 100th birthday in 2013 with public presentations, art installations, film and music  performances that blended art and science. The next year, Yunes followed up by organizing and performing at “Rhythms of the Universe,” which combined spoken word poetry and physics.

Yunes is co-director of the MSU eXtreme Gravity Institute as well as MSU’s Gravity Research Group.  

A new study co-authored by Raina Plowright, assistant professor in Montana State University’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology, reports that bat deaths worldwide are markedly rising due to human causes largely unique to the 21st century. Specifically, collisions with wind turbines and the outbreak of white-nose syndrome – a fungal disease that infects the skin of hibernating bats – lead the reported causes of mass death in bats since 2000.

The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and led by United States Geological Survey scientists, was published this week in Mammal Review.

Plowright was one of five scientists who combed through more than 200 years of scientific literature dating back to 1790 in search of reports of mass mortality events of bats. The researchers found 1,180 such incidents worldwide, more than half caused by humans.

That’s significant, said Plowright, who has degrees in veterinary medicine, epidemiology and ecology.

Plowright said bats are long-lived, slow-breeding mammals that play vital roles in most of Earth’s ecosystems. Bats are important pollinators and seed dispersers in tropical regions, and they serve as the main predators of night-flying insects in most parts of the world. Insect-eating bats are estimated to save farmers billions of dollars each year by providing natural pest control.

But the causes of bat mortality have not been reviewed since 1970. And because bats are well-adapted to survive in their natural habitat, human-caused mortalities can be more devastating than naturally occurring ones, which tend to be more diffuse.

“Many of the 1,300 species of bats are already considered threatened or declining,” said Tom O’Shea, a USGS emeritus research scientist and the study’s lead author. “The new trends in human-related mortality may not be sustainable.”

Researchers found that prior to the year 2000, intentional killing by humans caused the greatest proportion of mortality events in bats globally; the reasons varied with region, but bats were hunted for human consumption, killed as pests, to control vampire bats, and to protect fruit crops. Although the proportion of intentional killing reports declined in recent times, such acts continue in some parts of the world.

Since 2000, however, collisions with wind turbines worldwide and white-nose syndrome in North America are the primary reported causes of mass mortality in bats. In additions, storms, floods, drought and other weather-related factors also historically caused mass mortality, and could increase in the future due to climate change.

Surprisingly, the authors did not find convincing evidence that bats regularly die in large proportion due to infectious diseases caused by viruses or bacteria.  This finding comes at a time when increasing evidence points to bats as natural reservoirs of several viruses that cause disease in humans. Despite often being more social than other animals, bats may somehow avoid deaths from diseases that sweep through dense populations, the researchers said.

Plowright, who hails from Australia, is concerned about the future health of the world’s bat populations.

“Bats cannot easily rebound from mass mortality events, and climate change may create additional stressors on bat populations,” Plowright said.

The researchers conclude that bats could “benefit from policy, education and conservation actions targeting human-caused mortality.”

Plowright, who joined MSU’s faculty in fall 2014, teaches in the WIMU Regional Program in Veterinary Medicine, which is a cooperative program between MSU, Washington State University, the University of Idaho and the Utah State University.

“Raina brings an absolutely unique, internationally recognized infectious disease ecology research program to the department and MSU,” said Professor Mark Jutila, head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. “Her research is focused on emerging diseases of wildlife with potential for spillover into livestock and humans, which is of particular relevance in Montana.”

The MSU Department of Microbiology and Immunology is housed in the College of Agriculture and College of Letters and Science.

In addition to Plowright and O’Shea, co-authors of the study were Paul M. Cryan with USGS, David T.S. Hayman with Massey University in New Zealand and Daniel G. Streicker with University of Glasgow in Scotland.

 If you love Montana, music and artwork, we’d love to see how you can bring it all together for the official 6th Red Ants Pants Music Festival poster!
 
Beginning today through March 1st, 2016, folks can submit artwork through the Red Ants Pants Music Festival website here: http://redantspantsmusicfestival.com/join-the-colony/poster-contest/

The Red Ants Pants Music Festival poster has become a keepsake for fans and one more way the festival can help promote creativity in the arts. The winner's work will be featured as the backdrop for the 2016 Music Festival Poster.

We print thousands of these posters and distribute them throughout the region and US as part of our marketing efforts. This contest is a great way to get your beautiful artwork the attention it deserves!

The winner will receive six (6) weekend passes to the 2016 Red Ants Pants Music Festival, and will be announced at our Lineup Release Party on Saturday, April 2nd 2016! All submissions are due by Tuesday, March 1st... good luck!

SLAM is seeking local sculptors to create functional bike racks as part of their community art installation program.

Designs will be selected based on creativity and functionality and will be installed in parks around the Bozeman area in the spring/summer of 2016.  Proposals will be accepted until midnight on Wednesday, January 20, 2016.

Guidelines for the project:
 
The proposed design must be constructed of metal, or some other weather-resistant and durable material.

It must accommodate a minimum of 10 bicycles.

It must contain elements in the design that will allow it to be bolted to a concrete pad.
 
Please submit proposals with your design, cost per bike rack, timeline, and examples of your work to info@slamfestivals.org or SLAM P.O. Box 2008 Bozeman, MT  59771

Nominations will be accepted through March 13, 2016.  Information and nomination forms can be found at: highplainsbookawards.org.The list of the 2015 winners and other past recipients is also available on the website.
 
The 2016 Awards include twelve categories: Best Medicine and Science Book; Best Children's Book, Best Fiction; Best Nonfiction; Best Creative Nonfiction; Best Poetry; Best First Book; Best Woman Writer; Best Art & Photography; Best Short Stories; Best Culinary and Best Young Adult.
 
Nominated books must have been published for the first time in 2015. Winners receive a $500 prize and are invited to participate in the annual High Plains BookFest in October 2016.
 
All nominated books are read and evaluated by community readers.  Finalist books in each category will be announced by June 2016. Winners in each category will be determined by a panel of published writers with connections to the High Plains region.
 
Winners will be announced at an Awards Banquet in October, 2016, in Billings, Montana. The Awards Banquet is held in conjunction with the annual High Plains BookFest. Writers interested in participating in the 2016 High Plains BookFest should contact Writer's Voice director Corby Skinner via email: corby@skinnerbenoit.com.

Questions concerning the nominations process should be directed to: Dee Ann Redman, Billings Public Library, 510 North Broadway, Billings, MT 59101, email: hpba@ci.billings.mt.us.

Wisetail Works, the charitable giving arm of Bozeman indie tech firm, Wisetail, announced a $100,000 grant to Thrive, a community non-profit providing proactive, preventative programming to support Montana children and families at home, at school and in life.

Recently, Thrive received national recognition and evidence-based status for several of their signature programs after scientific studies demonstrated their proven effectiveness. In 2014, Thrive's programs served over 8,800 parents and children ages birth to teen with free and low-cost programs. As Thrive anticipates double digit growth in the coming years, they applied for a Wisetail Works grant.

 
The Wisetail Works grant will allow Thrive to expand while ensuring all staff and volunteers receive centralized training to accomplish the organization’s mission.
 
“Wisetail Works is proud to help power Thrive’s good work to ensure children, families, educators and the community are connected and all working together to help our kids succeed. Our intention is to help Thrive do even more mentoring and education to make Montana an even better place to live, work, play and raise a family,” said Justin Bigart, CEO of Wisetail.

"Thrive is thrilled to have been selected for this incredible opportunity. Wisetail's software will give our growing staff base, many of whom work in schools and other locations outside of our central Bozeman office, the chance to connect and learn together from anywhere. We are excited to provide our staff with this amazing platform so they can support local children and families even more effectively," said Carrie Hook, Executive Director of Thrive.

 
ABOUT WISETAIL WORKS
Wisetail Works launched in June 2015 as the charitable giving arm of Wisetail, actively working to benefit social, economic and environmental causes in the state. Past Wisetail Works grant recipients include the Montana Code School, Gallatin Valley Land Trust’s bridge project and Montana’s Crisis Intervention Team, (CIT Montana) which is an umbrella group that coordinates crisis intervention training and development across the state.

ABOUT THRIVE
Thrive is a community non-profit based in Bozeman, MT whose vision is to ensure that all children succeed at home, at school, and in life. For over 30 years, Thrive has provided mentoring, education and support to local children and families in Southwest Montana. Thrive's programs are based on the core belief that when children succeed the whole community benefits. Recently, Thrive received national recognition and evidence-based status for several of their signature programs after scientific studies demonstrated their proven effectiveness. In 2014, Thrive's programs served over 8,800 parents and children ages birth to teen with free and low-cost programs.

The Bozeman Public Library Foundation is seeking submissions for its 2017 Atrium Gallery Exhibition Series. The Atrium Gallery located in the Library lobby will showcase both traditional and innovative contemporary art forms, as well as the work of both established and emerging artists of our region.

The Library’s primary objective is to feature exhibitions that will expand public appreciation of art and reflect the diversity of the community. Selections will be made by the Library Art Committee, which is made up of local artists, community members, Library Foundation, and Library staff. Each exhibit will run for one to three months, determined by the committee.

The Bozeman Public Library is committed to promoting the visual and aesthetic enhancement of the Bozeman community through this ongoing presentation of rotating exhibits of public art in the Library. Proposals must be received by April 30, 2016.  Incomplete or late proposals will not be considered. For complete description of the program and guidelines, visit www.bozemanlibrary.org/about/art.php. For additional information, please contact Paula Beswick at 406-582-2426 or director@bozemanlibraryfoundation.org.

Zoot Enterprises is inviting Montana artists to submit proposals for displaying their work in the Zoot Art Gallery. The museum quality gallery boasts 108 square feet of wall hanging space and large floor areas for sculpture. One exhibiting artist described it as “. . . arguably the finest gallery space in the area.”

Exhibits rotate approximately every three months, and are selected by the Zoot Committee for the Arts (ZCA). Application materials deadline is February 19, 2016 COB.

When Zoot founder and CEO Chris Nelson planned Zoot’s new headquarters building he required an unusual design element: space for a dedicated, first-rate art gallery. 

“Art spurs creativity in the work place and we wanted to have that environment here. It’s also important to provide local artists with a venue to display their works.” says Nelson.

All work sold through the gallery is commission-free. Underwriting is provided for artists’ opening receptions.

Public hours are 9 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday. For further information and to download the application materials visit the Zoot art gallery website at www.zootartgallery.com or contact the gallery coordinator, Darcy Barry at dbarry@zootweb.com