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talking points Fun with science and history Museum exhibits, popular with locals, keep children as well as adults entertained by Bruce Spotleson M useums and tourists typically go hand in hand, but here in Las Vegas, the Natural History Museum is busier with locals than out-of-town visitors. Next to Cashman Field and in the heart of the emerging cultural corridor, the museum at 900 Las Vegas Blvd. North offers a bright harbor from the city's noise and neon, as well as a chance for children to see things that will widen their eyes. I'm no kid, but even I was wowed by a tour from Executive Director Marilyn Gillespie and fundraiser Deanna Ackerman. We first encountered a section on parasites, this year's traveling exhibit. Let me tell you: Parasites look a little unsettling when they're magnified to human size. "Kids love it," Ackerman noted. We moved on to a stunning display of a lion frozen in the act of attacking a wildebeest. The piece was constructed by a taxidermist at the Smithsonian Institution. Some 30,000 Clark County students gape at such displays annually. For many, it's their first time in a museum. We passed by a tank with a swimming shark and some rays before encountering Bonnie, an 11-foot Burmese python, the same species disrupting the Florida ecosystem. She was rescued from a closet eight years ago and could grow to be 25 feet. Her original mate, Clyde, died last year. She's now pursuing a relationship with a younger, smaller male named Boots, who was asleep in a corner. I wished him luck. We then approached exhibits on fossils and extinct animals, which I found particularly fascinating. "The kids in the community call us the dinosaur museum," said Gillespie, who has served as the museum's director since before it opened in 1991. "We have the only exhibit in the state that talks about early man." One of the more popular and striking exhibits is the 5,000-square-foot "Treasures of Egypt," a gallery of scenes and re-creations from ancient Egypt, including a replica of King Tut's tomb. I was impressed by a display that allows visitors to perform a virtual CT scan on a mummy. "It's the first use of this technology in the United States," Gillespie said with pride. The exhibits were bolstered by donations from the Luxor, which gave the museum several replica items. As the tour wrapped up, we walked up to a display of a Mayan calendar. It looked impossible to decipher. Indeed, Gillespie pointed out that misinterpretations had led some people to believe that the world would end Dec. 21. Gillespie said the predictions were misguided. "The Maya never said it was the end of the world," she said. I left thankful for that, as well as what I had learned: The Natural History Museum is a place that strives to help locals understand and appreciate the world's wildlife, ecosystems and cultures. Incidentally, tourists are welcome, too. One of the more popular and striking exhibits is the 5,000-square-foot 'Treasures of Egypt,' a gallery of scenes and re-creations from ancient Egypt. Make UNLV Now happen If the goal is to bring tourists to Southern Nevada, this stadium fits the bill by Richard N. Velotta T he Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's mission is to put heads in beds. It therefore should become an industry advocate for the proposed $800 million, 60,000-seat UNLV Now stadium — and direct room-tax money toward it. Many critics have whined about dedicating so much money and seating to one of the weakest college football programs in the country. But they're not seeing the big picture. Officials say the stadium would host other large-scale events that don't fit in existing Las Vegas venues. It is being marketed as an "indoor mega-event center." The building would sit on the UNLV campus, be the home of Rebels football and be a tool to recruit better athletes, but it also could host special events and secure the city's grip on being the premier conventions and meetings destination in the country. 20 20130128_VI20_F.indd 20 The fact that the stadium will have a roof makes it extremely versatile. The LVCVA gets thousands of requests a year to host meetings. It distributes the requests to local resorts, whose parent companies pursue negotiations. Some events work best in the Las Vegas Convention Center, which the LVCVA operates. Sometimes, planners have to juggle calendars to work out the logistics of moving a major show in while another is moving out. Sometimes, dates get changed because an organization wants to stage an event here but all the venues are booked. And sometimes, a group that wants to come to Las Vegas ends up going somewhere else. My colleague Paul Takahashi recently reported that a University of Michigan study found that 15 new events could result in $393.2 million in new spending in Southern Nevada. What kind of events could the stadium draw? Think music festivals and mega-concerts. There's a good list of performers who could fill a 60,000seat venue. A bigger facility might even reduce ticket prices. After seeing the success of the Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas Events, the private nonprofit company that works with the LVCVA on special events, hopes to book similar festivals. Backers of the stadium have suggested it would allow a new college football bowl game or a Mountain West Conference football championship game to be added to the calendar. With the UFC's popularity soaring, the venue could host major fights. Circuses. Marching band competitions. Car shows. Maybe another college basketball tournament to go along with the four already on the calendar? Some have suggested Las Vegas could host NFL exhibition games or NCAA Regional or Final Four tournament games. Of course, there would have to be a change in philosophy for the NFL or NCAA to play here since their executives object to Nevada's sports books taking bets on games. (Didn't anybody tell the NFL that they have sports books in London?) But there are plenty of other events that would keep the building busy. There's precedence for room-tax money to be spent on highway improvements. The LVCVA already doles out some of its budget to venue construction and upkeep. Leading the charge in devoting a portion of its funds to UNLV Now makes sense. And it would certainly help put heads in beds. What kind of events could the stadium draw? Think music festivals and megaconcerts. There's a good list of performers who could fill a 60,000-seat venue. | 28 JANUARY 2013 | 1/24/13 2:42:20 PM