Nature

Art Museums & Institutions African American Heritage Museum 661 Jackson Rd., Newtonville; 609-704-5495. www.aahmsnj.org . Tue.-Fri. 10 am-3 pm. Barnes Foundation 300 North Latchs La., Merion Station; 610-667-0290. www.barnesfoundation.org . $15 (reservations required), free for active duty military families 5/30-9/5. Thu.-Sun. 9:30 am-5 pm. Brandywine River Museum Rte. 1 & Rte. 100, Chadds Ford; 610-388-2700. www.brandywinemuseum.org . Scribner's Magazine: The Early Years in Illustration.

The UPS strike raised questions about the nature of work and the changing relationships among employers, managers and employees. Tell us about your job or jobs. What's changed since you entered the workforce and what have you had to do to accommodate those changes? If you're just starting out in the working world, what are you expecting, and what are you doing to make it happen? Send your essays to Community Voices/On Work at the address above.

The Cheltenham Art Center's adult painting class took a field trip to the bank of the Schuylkill Monday. Some of the class members took as inspiration the natural work of art, the river scene, as subject matters. At right, Myra Ladenson works on "Patterns," partially inspired by the bridge above her.

The 100th episode of Nature, expanded tonight to 90 minutes for a program of highlights dubbed Great Moments From Nature (Ch. 12, starting at 6:55 p.m. to make room for lots of pledge breaks), offers an occasion to ponder the enduring appeal of animal shows. What is so endlessly fascinating about scenes of fuzzy ducklings, ponderous hippopotamuses and bug-eyed bugs going about the mundane business of existence? The obvious answer is: We ain't them. And yet as you watch, you realize, hey, we are sort of like them.

Gobots, Masters of the Universe and other high-tech heroes may have captivated kids' imaginations these days, but there are plenty of reasons why children should at least be introduced to the natural world. Many children spend 90 percent or more of their time in a man-made environment, says Pete Kurtz, a naturalist at the Pennypack Environmental Center in Northeast Philadelphia. "Some children who come here are afraid of nature," says Kurtz. "They're afraid to sit on the ground.

More than two dozen diamondback terrapins, a threatened species, were released yesterday at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor. They had been raised by college interns, high school students and children in the Philadelphia Zoo's Apprentice and Zoological Summer Camp Program.

Members of the Cheltenham Art Center's adult painting class work along the banks of the Schuykill River Monday. Some took as inspiration the natural work of art, the river scene, as subject matters. Others just painted what came naturally to them.

Even with today's global narrative hammering home the point that we must take better care of the environment, you may be surprised - and fascinated - by one sculptor's creative response to that challenge. Highlighted in the exhibition "Field Guide: Markus Baenziger" at Haverford College's Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery is the fresh perspective of a Swiss-born artist from Brooklyn new to Haverford's faculty. The intensity of focus and feeling in his work is strong, and the images become key elements in the tale this show tells, often capturing a sad, resonant - and occasionally high-spirited - beauty.

Joseph Elias may refer to the Palestine Liberation Organization as guerrilla freedom fighters (Letter to the Editor, Nov. 24) but nowhere in the history of mankind have "freedom fighters" entered airports, Olympic Games, ocean liners, airplanes and buses to wantonly slaughter men, women and children, time and time again. Nowhere in history have "freedom fighters" used hospitals and civilian apartment houses to house their armament, tanks, ammunition, etc. The cry of wanting their homeland back is a sham.

Gerald loves outdoor activities, especially anything that involves nature. When the 9-year-old is inside, you can frequently find him absorbed in playing video and board games. He also enjoys going to the movies. Gerald gets along well with other children his age and makes friends easily. His social worker says he is well-mannered and a pleasure to be around. A good student, Gerald is enrolled in special-education classes where he focuses on strengthening his reading and language-arts skills.

Art Museums & Institutions African American Heritage Museum 661 Jackson Rd., Newtonville; 609-704-5495. www.aahmsnj.org . Tue.-Fri. 10 am-3 pm. Barnes Foundation 300 North Latchs La., Merion Station; 610-667-0290. www.barnesfoundation.org . $15 (reservations required), free for active duty military families 5/30-9/5. Thu.-Sun. 9:30 am-5 pm. Brandywine River Museum Rte. 1 & Rte. 100, Chadds Ford; 610-388-2700. www.brandywinemuseum.org . Scribner's Magazine: The Early Years in Illustration.

Ever since the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was built in 1928, a four-acre chunk of riverfront that served as a ferry terminal has lain vacant. Trash has piled up, and invasive species have taken over. In 2004, the site was bathed with an unsavory brew of oil that spilled from the tanker Athos 1. On Monday, city officials will celebrate the makeover of Lardner's Point as the city's newest park. More than just a pretty park on a pier, it is an ecological restoration that turned a concreted shoreline into a freshwater marsh, thick with plants and beneficial to wildlife.

BRYCE HARPER showed why his manager put him in the No. 3 spot for his fifth career game. The 19-year-old phenom hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the sixth inning, lifting the Washington Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night. Ross Detwiler (3-1) did his part as well. The lefthander allowed one run and three hits over 6 1/3 innings in his longest outing this season. He retired the first eight batters he faced and didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning.

The risks of owning natural-gas stocks in your portfolio flared with the recent news that Chesapeake Energy's chairman had taken out more than $1 billion in undisclosed loans using company wells as his collateral. Natural gas has proved a frustrating conundrum for investors. For years, the prices of natural gas and crude oil traded together — both up and down. But that tandem relationship broke down in late 2008. Oil prices skyrocketed to more than $100 a barrel, but natural gas plummeted roughly 45 percent just this year, to $2 per MBtu (1,000 Btus)

ASUNCION, Paraguay — On a map of South America, Paraguay looks a little like the tucked-away footnote, no mountains or ocean coastline. But over my last two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, I've discovered a wealth of delights along the country's southeastern border. So when my parents came to visit me on a break from the hustle and bustle of the Northeast, I decided to show them some of the startling vistas of nature, signs of man's grand engineering, and spots of soothing tranquillity that Paraguay has to offer.

Animals acting like humans? That's nothing new for Disney. But, usually, the film characters are imaginary. Oscar the chimp and his family are stunningly human: They exhibit tenderness, frustration, stoicism, and playfulness. They are the stars of Chimpanzee , the newest film from Disneynature — the nature-doc offshoot of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. They offer a drama of human proportions. The film, which opens Friday in advance of Earth Day, is the latest in a series of Disneynature releases that includes Earth (2009)

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announced Monday it will hold a forum May 31 in Philadelphia to examine policy issues related to the increased use of vehicles powered by electricity and natural gas. Pennsylvania has become a center of natural gas production because of the Marcellus Shale formation, PUC Chairman Robert F. Powelson said in a statement. "This activity, the corresponding drop in electric generation prices coupled with the appreciation of oil prices, has clarified the need for the PUC to explore policies and regulatory frameworks that can support investments in natural gas and electric vehicles.

When Pennsylvania's new natural gas law, which takes effect Saturday, was being debated, the focus was on high-profile issues such as the new impact fee. But just before it passed, medical provisions were added that now have some physicians worried it will compromise public health. Except in an emergency, a physician who needs proprietary information about chemicals used in natural gas drilling to assess a patient must provide "a written statement" to a company, according to the act, and must sign a confidentiality agreement.