It's not just polar bears and penguins who are affected by global warming. Humans also are impacted by disappearing Arctic sea ice and the rapid disintegration of 10,000-year-old Antarctic ice shelves.

The public is invited to a 6 p.m. reception to celebrate the opening of exhibits dedicated to the Science at the Poles Theme Semester and to the 7:30 p.m. annual endowed lecture in honor of retired Exhibit Museum director William Farrand, both at the Exhibit Museum of Natural History.

This year's lecturer is Waleed Abdalati of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Abdalati is scheduled to show why it is imperative to understand current climactic changes, some of which are larger and occurring more rapidly than once thought possible.

The program also will explore a space-based view of Earth from satellites. It provides both perspective and context that enable new insights into how and why the ice is changing and what these changes may mean for life on Earth.