Calendar

This marks the 100th week of the Globe's Health/Science calendar. It's a quiet time of year for lectures, seminars, and other public events, so instead we're highlighting some intriguing but little-known spots that you can visit (almost) any day of the year.

HOUSE OF DAVID -- LITERALLY

Behind Harvard Yard, not far from Harvard's grand brick science museums, lies another fascinating collection: the Semitic Museum, dedicated to the archeology of the Middle East. The permanent exhibits here include a spectacular walk-in reconstruction of an Israelite house from the Iron Age, where a farming family would have lived around the time of King Solomon's reign. The house, a two-story cutaway, is part of an exhibit about how the domestic life of ancient Israel reflected the society's patriarchal and God-centered worldview. "The Houses of Ancient Israel: Domestic, Royal, Divine," Semitic Museum, 6 Divinity Ave., Cambridge. Open Dec. 21, 22 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Dec. 23 10 a.m.-noon. Call 617-495-4631 for information. Free.

SPLITTING HEADACHE

Maybe the strangest exhibit in Boston is the Warren Anatomical Museum, an assortment of vintage medical oddities that includes the skull of Phineas Gage, the railroad foreman whose personality changed drastically after he survived an iron rod being shot through his head. Fascinating, though not for the faint of heart. Also housed in the building are items from the Boston Medical Library of 1805, a collection that dates from a time when Boston was emerging as a medical powerhouse. The small display includes a 16th-century encyclopedia of medicine, as well as portraits of distinguished doctors of the day. Countway Library, Harvard Medical School, 10 Shattuck St., Boston. Open today and Wed., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thurs. 9 a.m.-noon; and Dec. 27-30, noon-5 p.m. Call 617-432-6196 for information and normal hours. Free.

BRIGHT IDEA

A museum dedicated to light bulbs? Only at MIT. The Dibner Institute, MIT's science-history wing, has hundreds of bulbs from the early days of electric light. Long before the bulb was standardized into today's frosted-glass commodity, light bulbs were crystal-clear housing for the elaborate filaments twisting delicately inside. The Westinghouse Hibben Collection, MIT, Burndy Library, Building E56, 38 Memorial Drive, Cambridge. Open today and Wed., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Thurs. 9 a.m.-noon. Call 617-258-5240 for regular hours and more info. Free.

FOR THE BIRDS

Every winter, as predictably as geese fly south, bird enthusiasts pull on their woolly hats and take to the field for the Christmas Bird Count, a census of the air conducted by hundreds of groups across the country. The century-old tradition has helped build important national statistics on migration patterns, bird population, and the number of people willing to brave the December weather with binoculars and a notebook. There are several counts scheduled in Massachusetts (none actually on Christmas Day); call the Mass. Audubon Society at 781-259-9500 or check http://massbird.org/birdobserver/CBC.htm for places and dates.

GREEN CHRISTMAS

Tired of going to the movies on Christmas? The excellent greenhouse complex at Wellesley College is open today (and every day of the year), with one of New England's best collections of tropical plants, as well as the enticingly named "wet tropical house," "warm temperate house," and "desert house." Wellesley College Greenhouses, Science Center, 106 Central St., Wellesley. Call 781-283-3094 for information. Open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.

Event notices can be sent to healthscience@globe.com.