The Southern Arizona Museum of Science and Technology just moved into its new location at 2200 El Mercado Loop, Suite 1170, in the Sierra Vista Mall in Cochise County. The museum held its Grand Opening on Saturday, April 26, 2025, and I was very happy to have been invited and able to attend.
This museum, unique in its kind in Cochise County, is a natural history museum with fossils, minerals, meteorites, and live natural history exhibits. Curator Ron Hyde’s dream has been to share his fossil collection with the world. The museum is staffed entirely by volunteers, many from the local Huachuca Mineral & Gem Club.
At its new mall location, the museum will expand its retail merchandise offerings, which will help with the expenses and attract many young visitors—there were plenty on opening day! They all loved being allowed to hold the large fossil eggs of the theropod dinosaur Therizinosaurus, discovered in the Gobi Desert around 2013, and experience how heavy they actually are.
Please read my full article, "From Fossils to Fluorescents: New Science & Technology Museum Brings Prehistoric Wonders to Southern Arizona," which was previously published on Xpo Press and in the online and printed versions of the 2025 Tucson EZ Guide.
Helen Serras-Herman, a 2003 National Lapidary Hall of Fame inductee, is an acclaimed gem sculptor and FGA graduate gemologist with over 40 years of experience in unique gem sculpture and jewelry art. See her work at www.gemartcenter.com and her business Facebook page at Gem Art Center/Helen Serras-Herman. Helen has published over 70 articles for Xpo Press and the EZ Guides.