Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences Closes After a Fight to Save It

NPR reports that Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences closed this week, after an intense fight by local residents, politicians and scientists to save it. The museum was beloved for its dinosaurs, which is the sort of collection people assume will simply always be there for the next school group and the one after that. What stands out is the coalition: neighbours, elected officials and working scientists, three groups with very different reasons to care, all arguing for the same building. A natural history museum can feel more permanent than the city around it, since its specimens are older than everyone who visits them. That is part of why a closure like this reads as a loss of something that was meant to stay put.