Morrill Hall visitors can mingle with the mammoths and pose with the plesiosaur for free Thursday nights in July. The University of Nebraska State Museum at Morrill Hall, 645 N. 14th St., will offer free admission from 4:30 to 8 p.m. July 11, 18 and 25. The museum will be closed July 4.

The museum also will offer special activities Thursday nights in July.

Visitors can enjoy the new fourth-floor exhibition “Cherish Nebraska.” After being closed to the public for more than 50 years, the fourth floor has been transformed into state-of-the-art exhibits using modern technology. Visitors can come face-to-face with an ancient ambush predator that once roamed Nebraska, catch a show on the new five-foot globe, and experience science and natural history in new ways.

Visitors can also journey through the temporary exhibition “Museum Builders: A Story of Fossil and Friendship” to learn how two iconic individuals came together to expand the university’s museum, build Morrill Hall and carve a path for its future. Along the way, visitors will learn about the earliest fossil explorers and get to know one of the first women to become a paleontologist.

Learn more about the NU State Museum.