The Terra Museum (now the Terra Foundation) was a separate Chicago art museum that closed in October 2004. Since April 2005, approximately fifty paintings from that museum have been on loan to the Department of American Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. The combined collections of the Terra and the Art Institute are located in a new suite of galleries. They provide one of the nation’s most comprehensive presentations of American art. The foundation’s collection of American works on paper are in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute.
Art Institute of Chicago promotes the study of art made by African-Americans. Its collection provide a historical illustration of the progress made by African Americans. Works also show African Americans' continuing struggle. The collection includes items dating from the Civil War era, from the Harlem Renaissance, from the civil rights struggles following World War II and from the contemporary period.
The Art Institute owns a collection of medieval art made in Europe during the years 800-1300 AD. It features both religious works and daily life objects. It includes painting and sculpture, luxury metalwork and stained glass, textiles and manuscript illumination. The museum owns major collections of arms and armor, jewelry, ceramics, and tapestries. The museum owns items from the Renaissance era (1300-1600) in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston, Massachusetts designed the Allerton Building in the Beaux-Arts style. It was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition as the World's Congress Auxiliary Building with the intent that the Art Institute occupy the building after the fair closed.
Two bronze lion statues are on the sides of the Art Institute's western entrance on Michigan Avenue. Their sculptor Edward L. Kemeys gave them unofficial names: the south lion is "stands in an attitude of defiance," and the north lion is "on the prowl." When a Chicago sports team plays in the championships of their respective league (that is, the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Finals, not the entire playoffs), the lions are frequently dressed in that team's uniform. Evergreen wreaths are placed around their necks during the Christmas season.
The east entrance of the museum is marked by the stone arch entrance that was moved from the old Chicago Stock Exchange building. Louis Sullivan designed the Exchange in 1894. The Exchange was torn down in 1972. But saved portions of the original trading room were rebuilt inside the Art Institute.
The Art Institute building is unusual because it is two sets of buildings linked by a two-story bridge over open-air railroad tracks. The construction of Millenium Park moved the Metra Electric and South Shore railroad lines underground. This made room for the new Modern Wing and exterior courtyards. Before this change, the lower level of the bridge building was formerly the windowless Gunsaulus hall, but is now home to the Alsdorf Galleries showcasing Indian, Southeast Asian and Himalayan Art. The renovation added windows facing north toward Millennium Park. Renzo Piano designed the gallery space in conjunction with his design of the Modern Wing. The gallery features the same window screening used there to protect the art from direct sunlight. The upper level of the bridge building formerly held the modern European galleries, But it was renovated in 2008. The galleries now show Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.
On May 16, 2009, the Art Institute opened the Modern Wing, the largest expansion in the museum's history. The addition, designed by Renzo Piano, makes the Art Institute the second-largest museum in the US. The Modern Wing is home to the museum's collection of early 20th-century European art, including Pablo Picasso’s "The Old Guitarist", Henri Matisse’s "Bathers by a River", and René Magritte’s "Time Transfixed." The Modern wing also houses contemporary art from after 1960; new photography, video media, architecture and design galleries. Those galleries show original renderings by Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Bruce Goff. The Modern wing also has temporary exhibition space; shops and classrooms; a cafe and a restaurant, "Terzo Piano", that overlooks Millennium Park from its terrace. In addition, the Nichols Bridgeway connects a sculpture garden on the roof of the Modern wing with the adjacent Millennium Park to the north and a courtyard designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol.
In 2009, the Modern Wing won a Chicago Innovation Awards.
The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries are on the ground floor of the museum. The Libraries' collections cover all periods of art, but is most known for its large collection of 18th-20th century architecture. The Libraries serve the museum staff, college, and university students, and the general public. The Friends of the Libraries is a support group for the Libraries. It offers events and special tours for its members.
Note that other notable works are in the collection but the following examples are ones in the public domain and for which pictures are available.
Kerberos (moon)
Kerberos (formerly known as S/2011 (134340) 1 and informally as P4) is a small moon of the dwarf planet Pluto. The satellite was discovered on 28 June 2011. It is the fourth moon of Pluto to be discovered. The others are Charon, discovered in 1978, Nix and Hydra, which were discovered in 2005, and Styx, discovered in 2012.
The moon was discovered by a Hubble Space Telescope observing team led by Mark Showalter, while they were trying to find out if Pluto had any rings. Kerberos was first seen in a photo taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, on June 28, 2011. More photos were taken on July 3 and July 18, 2011, to confirm that it exists. The moon was officially verified and announced on July 20, 2011. Kerberos was not seen in earlier Hubble photos because the exposure times were shorter. The moon may have appeared as a very faint smudge in photos taken in 2006, but was ignored because it was not clear. Kerberos is possibly also visible in images taken in 2010.
Kerberos has an estimated diameter of 13–34 km (8–21 miles).
Kerberos and Pluto's other moons are thought to have been created by a cosmic collision between the dwarf planet and another celestial body early in the Solar System's history.
Defence against predators
For most animals, defence against predators is vital. Being eaten is not the only threat to life: parasites and diseases may also be fatal. But animals, especially small animals, are often eaten.
Since life is about reproduction, anything that keeps a creature alive long enough for it to reproduce will be selected for. The next generation comes from the fertilised eggs of the previous generation.
Not surprisingly, then, animals have developed a wide range of defences against predation. Some of these defences apply also to plants: herbivory on plants can be very damaging, and reduce a plant's fertility. Many plants have some defence against herbivores.
Primary defences make it less likely that there will be a meeting between the predator and the prey. In many cases this means the predator has not noticed or recognised the prey.
There are various definitions of what a primary defence is:
If the prey is good to eat, it must either make itself scarce, or it must look as though it is not good to eat. A third possibility is that the prey is too small to bother with. In other words, the effort of catching and eating it would not be worth the effort expended by the predator.
Defences may be of two kinds. Either the prey is uneatable because it has some kind of chemical defence, or its body is protected by spines or stings. In that case the predator will reject it so long as the prey advertises its defence.