Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, Long Now Boston, and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Lisa S. Gardiner—science writer, geoscientist, educator, and author of Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us about Climate Change—for a discussion of her book Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival.

What is the long-term future for burial practices? Come hear about sustainable alternatives to traditional burial and cremation. There is a small but growing movement away from toxic embalming, caskets built for forever, and even fossil fuel-intensive cremation. Methods like earth composting, water composting, and mycelial (mushroom) caskets are becoming part of the conversation. Join us as Long Now Boston explores ways we can positively affect the world we live in for future generations.

Please join Long Now Boston and Porter Square Books to welcome Riley Black for the release of her latest book, When the Earth was Green, a gorgeously composed look at the longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth. Writer Evan Urquhart will join Black in the fascinating conversation.

Long Now Boston had an awe-inspiring evening at the Harvard College Observatory on Jan 27, 02025.   We had excellent presentations by Philippe Reekie leading us through the Observatory's history and his own research into the possibility of extraterrestrial life – how organic molecules and microbes could be preserved for millennia in salt crystals, and Thom Burns and Lisa Bravata of the Harvard Plate Stacks at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, showing off some of their beautiful, rare early astrophotographs, and offering glimpses into the rich history of astronomical discovery, focusing on the women who did a large share of the work and the preservation efforts needed to maintain this collection of valuable historical assets.