FAMILY

A LIFE’S WORK In “The Life and Work of George Washington Carver,” the New York Botanical Garden celebrates the remarkable career of this botanist and researcher who, in the 1800s, was one of a relative few black Americans to achieve prominence and social recognition for his work. After cotton crops were devastated by disease and insect damage, Carver, right, taught former slaves how to plant alternative crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He also created the Jesup Agricultural Wagon, a mobile school manned by Tuskegee University faculty who set out to educate farmers. The botanical garden is housing this exhibit in its Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, where a re-creation of a Jesup Wagon is featured, as well as “lab” experiments focusing on the various uses of the crops Carver espoused, and an opportunity for children to examine and diagnose sick plants. Today through Friday, 1:30–4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m., through Friday, February 22, NYBG, 2466 Arthur Ave. at 200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard, the Bronx, 718-817-8700, $13 general, $11 students and seniors, $5 children (2–12 years), free for children under 2 and members.

CRASH LANDING The American Museum of Natural History presents “Cosmic Collisions,” an IMAX film that teaches viewers about the outer-space collisions that have a transformative effect on the universe. The film, which is narrated by Robert Redford, features computer simulations developed by astrophysicists at the museum and scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Today, every half hour between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., ongoing, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, 212-763-5100, $15 general, $11 students and seniors, $8.50 children, free for members.

MUSIC

TICKLING THE STRINGS Harpist and singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom plays an additional concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The show has been added to her sold-out engagement with the Brooklyn Philharmonic under the direction of Michael Christie. Ms. Newsom performs songs from her 2006 album “Ys” with the orchestra, and a second set with her band. With her 2004 debut album, “The Milk-Eyed Mender,” Ms. Newsom gave a new voice to the harp and demonstrated the possibilities of blending distinctly different styles — from Appalachian folk to African rhythms — to create new sounds. Ms. Newsom’s performance in Brooklyn is part of “BP Presents,” Mr. Christie’s pet project to lend his orchestra to ground-breaking young artists. Thursday, 8 p.m., BAM, Howard Gilman Opera House, Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Ave., between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street, 718-636-4100, $25–$55.

MENDELSSOHN AND MORE The chamber music ensemble Lautreamont Concerts performs a program of Mendelssohn at the Chelsea Art Museum. The program features two works written before the composer had reached the age of 30: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor and String Quartet No. 3. Pianist Steven Graff also performs a musical intermission of works by Fauré and Satie. Other members of the ensemble — all international soloists from the Juilliard School and the Paris and Moscow conservatories — include violinists Steven Zynszajn and Francisco Salazar, cellist Alistair MacRae, and violist Whitney LaGrange. Thursday, 7 p.m., Chelsea Art Museum, 556 W. 22nd St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-255-0719, $15 general, $10 students and seniors.

HUNGRY FOR BRAHMS Violinist Viviane Hagner gives a recital at the 92nd Street Y. The performance comes on the heels of Ms. Hagner’s debut with the New York Philharmonic earlier this month. Russian pianist Tatiana Goncharova joins the Munich-born Ms. Hagner. She performs three selections by Brahms — Scherzo in C minor, “Hungarian Dances,” and a world premiere of Detlev Glanert’s arrangement of waltzes, Op. 39 — as well as Bartok’s Sonata for Solo Violin and Bach’s Chaconne in D minor. Thursday, 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, 212-415-5500, $40 general, $25 for ages 35 and under.

PHOTOGRAPHY

FIRE STARTER Sarah Pickering’s work is marked by her fascination with explosions and fire. Her latest collection, “Fire Scene,” was created while she was an artist-in-residence at a British fire-training center. The photographs depict simulations of the various ways in which fires can start. Selections include “Makeshift Cooking” (2007), above. Through Saturday, March 15, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Daniel Cooney Fine Art, suite 506, 511 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-255-8158, free.

READINGS

CIRCLE OF VERSES Three breakout poets read and reflect on their influences at “Our Life in Poetry: New Poets/New Poetics” at the Philoctetes Center. Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the recipient of the Paris Review’s Bernard F. Connors Prize for her poem, “Circus Fire, 1944.” A. Van Jordan’s second collection, “M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A” (Norton), was named one of the best books of 2005 by the London Times. Patrick Rosal has published poems and essays in several anthologies. With the publisher of Persea Books, Michael Braziller, the poets discuss the aesthetic ideas they have adopted and abandoned and the influences found across artistic mediums. Tonight, 7 p.m., Philoctetes Center, 247 E. 82nd St., between Second and Third avenues, 646-422-0645, free.

TALKS

LIFETIME IN LIBRETTOS A nonprofit for young opera performers, the George London Foundation, continues its annual conversations series. German-born soprano Anja Silja is joined by the great-granddaughter of composer Richard Wagner, director Eva Wagner-Pasquier. Ms. Silja, a protégée of Wagner’s grandson, discusses her more than 40-year career. A former DJ on the classical music station WQXR, Nimet Habachy, is moderator. Tonight, 5 p.m., New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy B. Cullman Center/ Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Ave. at 65th Street, 212-956-2809, $20.

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