GOOD NEWS: Aquarium’s Holland lectures oceans, wildlife and Lowcountry

Four lectures offered by the Holland Lifelong Learning initiative at the S.C. Aquarium between now and February will focus on issues that directly impact the oceans and Lowcountry. Lectures will include talks on sharks, the saltmarsh, seafood, and why zoos and aquariums matter.

“Thanks to the Holland family’s generosity and their appreciation of the Aquarium’s educational role, we are able to go deeper than ever in presenting the public with ways to think about the importance of water, wildlife and wild places,” said Kevin Mills, Aquarium president and CEO. “We look forward to engaging the community in stirring conversations about the changing world and our need to protect it.”

• Sharks: Unlikely Allies, by Dr. John N. Forrest Jr., Director of Student Research, Yale University School of Medicine: 6:30 p.m., Sept. 17, S.C. Aquarium, Charleston. Forrest will discuss the medical advances for humans derived from shark biomedical research, presenting key discoveries linking our species like never before.
• Saltmarsh Science: What’s Brewing? by Bill Roumillat, fisheries biologist, College of Charleston: 6:30 p.m., Oct. 21, Holy City Brewing Tap Room, Charleston. Sip on delicious craft brews (including the award winning Pluff Mud Porter) while exploring the science of our local saltmarsh environments with Roumillat.
• Simplifying Seafood: What’s Cooking? by St. Jude Farms: 6:30 p.m., Nov. 11, Charleston Harbor Fish House, Mount Pleasant. From dockside to tableside, join Good Catch Program Manager Shelley Dearhart and fishery experts from St. Jude Farms to learn simple cooking tips and wow your family with delicious, sustainable meals.
• Why Do Zoos and Aquariums Matter? with Dr. Sylvia Earle, marine conservationist and National Geographic Society Explorer-in-residence; and Jeanne Gang, founder and principal of Studio Gang Architects and MacArthur Fellow: 6:30 p.m., Feb. 19, 2016, American Theater; dinner immediately following at the William Aiken House. Join this panel as they look at how aquariums, zoos, and other conservation institutions help to increase our capacities for concern, empathy, affection and care for the whole community of life. (Tickets will be sold for this event).
• More info on all events: http://www.scaquarium.org

Also in good news:

Stop offshore drilling rally: 6:30 p.m., Sept. 15, Yacht Club Room, Fish House Restaurant at Patriot’s Point, Mount Pleasant. U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, S.C. Sen. Chip Campsen and Conservation League Energy Director Hamilton Davis will offer remarks at a “Not Worth The Risk” rally for the S.C. coast. Free food and Palmetto beer. RSVP here.

Natural history. The Charleston Museum has announced that it will renovate its Natural History Gallery to present a visually-compelling display of indigenous fossils and specimens that tell the Lowcountry’s story of natural history. The budget for the project is $887,000. The museum, which has half of the money in hand or committed, will unveil a fundraising campaign in October for the project, which is expected to be implemented in 2017. See what the updated facility will look like.

Read the report on the BAR. The final version of a report on what to do with the city’s Board of Architectural Review is now online. The City of Charleston and Historic Charleston Foundation hired architectural consultant Andres Duany and his firm, DPZ, to study and propose changes to the board. Its recommendations are to create two separate boards — one for larger projects and another for everything else. Duany will present the final report at a special meeting of the city’s planning commission at 5 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Sottile Theatre, 44 George Street, Charleston. Read the report here.

Lots of patents. The MUSC Foundation for Research Develop generated a record 69 patents during the 2015 fiscal year, more than double the amount from technologies developed at the Medical University of South Carolina the previous year. “To have so many technologies successfully go through such rigorous review, both domestically and abroad, speaks to the novelty of the technologies that are being created at MUSC,” said Jesse Goodwin, who is both deputy director for FRD and technology development officer for MUSC SCTR Institute. “The fact that the patents are being nationalized into so many countries speaks to the importance of the technologies.” More: frd.musc.edu