SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Migrating Whales Are Topics of Tours, Talks

Every year around this time, the California gray whales make their trip from the Bering Sea to Baja California, passing close to the California coastline. Going out to see the whales has become quite popular in recent years. In some cases, overzealous whale watchers have been accused of interfering with the whales’ migration.

One way to avoid disturbing the huge mammals and learn about their lives, habitat and the effects humans may have on them, is to attend an informational program or go along on one of several whale-watching tours offered by the many museums or marine life related groups in the area.

The Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro, in conjunction with the American Cetacean Society, is having its 18th year of whale-watching trips every day through the beginning of April. Naturalists trained in whale behavior provide information to participants throughout the trips. Call (213) 832-4444 or (213) 832-2676.

Visitors to Channel Islands National Park can learn about whales in a program with park rangers each Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. through mid-April at the Visitor Center in Ventura. Call (805) 644-8262.

Farther north, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History naturalists will share their knowledge about whales on trips aboard the Condor on Saturday and Sunday mornings throughout March.

Reservations are required. Call (805) 682-4711 for registration forms.

ENVIRONMENT

Hands-on exhibits emphasizing the interaction of animals, including humans, and their environment will be one of the highlights at the 10th annual Environmental Education Fair at the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum in Arcadia on March 10 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call (818) 446-8251.

The Sierra Club’s Natural Science Section will be offering a Chaparral Field Ecology Workshop on March 9 and 10 in the Santa Barbara backcountry. Participants will learn about the birds, plants, geology and natural history of the area. Call (213) 429-6953 or (805) 967-0593.

BIOLOGY

Researcher Candace Pert, of the Clinical Neuroscience Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, will discuss “Emotions and Molecules of Mind-Body Communication” at the Santa Monica College Concert Hall, Thursday at 11 a.m. Call (213) 450-4811.

Duke University Prof. Steven Vogel, an expert on biomechanics, will give a lecture with the unlikely title of “Neither Square-Edged Squirrels Nor Stretchy Streetcars: Natural vs. Human Design” at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on March 11 at 4 p.m. Reservations are required. Call (213) 744-3342.

MARINE SCIENCE

Cabrillo Marine Museum naturalists will lead visitors in a series of tide pool tours at the Point Fermin Marine Life Refuge on March 4, 11 and 25. Times of the tours vary in order to take advantage of low tides. Call (213) 548-7562.

Interested students ages 15 to 21 can learn about marine biology under the instruction of Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County scientists in a four-week science seminar Saturday mornings, March 3-24, at the museum. Call (213) 744-6912.

SCIENCE POLICY

The science, law and policy of DNA fingerprinting will be the focus of Caltech’s next Human Genome Initiative seminar on March 7 at 4 p.m. at 119 Kerckhoff on campus. Call (818) 356-4087.

ASTRONOMY

The Magellan mission to Venus will be discussed by Steve Licata of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at a special program of the Los Angeles Valley College Astronomy Club in the college planetarium on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Call (818) 781-1200, Ext. 335.

The role of myths based on celestial observations will be explored in a class taught by Griffith Observatory director Edwin Krupp through UCLA Extension, March 10, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at UCLA. Call (213) 825-7093.