Museums
Dinosaur Sighting: A Stegosaurus in Paris
Our latest Dinosaur Sighting comes to us from our very own Sarah Zielinski, who writes for the Surprising Science blog here at Smithsonian. During a recent visit to Paris, Sarah spotted this Stegosaurus outside the Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle, and while she did not see anyone on it while s...
October 16, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
250 Years of Wedgwood
Two new exhibitions celebrate the enduring wares of ceramics designer and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood
September 29, 2009 |
By Nancy Mann Jackson
The Old Meets the New at Odgen's Dinosaur Park
There are at least two ways to look at dinosaurs. You can examine their fossilized bones, the stuff that comes directly from the fossil record, or you can imagine what those bones would have looked like when they were clothed in muscle, sinew, and skin during the animal's life. At the George S. Ecc...
September 23, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Ancient Greece Springs to Life
Athens’ New Acropolis Museum comes to America in an exhibition highlighting treasures of antiquity
September 22, 2009 |
By Jamie Katz
Q and A: Smithsonian Channel Host Tom Cavanagh
Actor Tom Cavanagh discusses what it is like to go behind the scenes of the Smithsonian museums
September 2009 |
By Beth Py-Lieberman
Dinosaur Treasures at the Utah Museum of Natural History
On the last day of our vacation, my wife and I had a few hours to kill before we had to get to the airport, so we started poring over a map of Salt Lake City to see if there was anything fun to do. A little icon in the upper right corner of the map caught our attention: there was a natural history ...
September 14, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
The Dinosaurs of Thanksgiving Point
During my trip to Utah several weeks ago I knew I had to stop by the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point, not far from Salt Lake City.As the Web site for the attraction states, the Thanksgiving Point facility "is not an ordinary museum." Its impressive collection of dinosaurs do not stand ...
September 08, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Overheard at the Natural History Museum
Summer might be coming to an end, but the Dinosaur Hall in the National Museum of Natural History still echoes with the voices of tourists. As a spinoff of DCist’s fantastic weekly series "Overheard in DC, here’s our version of “Overheard at the Museum”:An older gentleman: “I always thought they we...
August 31, 2009 |
By admin
Museums With Their Own Niche
Subjects as wide-ranging as lunchboxes, roller skating, and Bigfoot have museums dedicated solely to their study and appreciation
August 28, 2009 |
By Kristin Ohlson
Ride the Cartosaurus to See Tracks
There are a few ways to see Morrison, Colorado's famed "Dinosaur Ridge." If you just want to have a look at the tracks you can walk or bike up the roadside trail, but if you want a less strenuous guided tour you can hop onto the new electric-powered "Cartosaurus."According to Denver's CBS4 News the...
August 24, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Cast Your Vote for the #1 Dinosaur Museum
Earlier this summer I asked readers to decide which city deserved the title of "Dinosaur Capital of the World." Glen Rose, Texas took an early lead, but Drumheller, in Alberta, Canada, is now sitting comfortably in the top spot. A more contentious question, though, is "What is top museum to visit i...
August 20, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
A New Chapter in the Hope Diamond’s History
The National Museum of Natural History’s most famous gem gets a modern update
August 18, 2009 |
By Abby Callard
"Chinasaurs" Invade Maryland
As I walked through the traveling exhibit "Chinasaurs: Dinosaur Dynasty" in the Maryland Science Center, I felt like I was inside a giant typewriter. Scattered through the exhibit were animatronic versions of Protoceratops, Oviraptor and Velociraptor, and the hall was filled with the clipping and t...
August 17, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Day 1: A Geological Trip Back in Time
Smithsonian Secretary Clough flies to Wyoming to learn about a period of intense global warming that occurred 55 million years ago
July 23, 2009 |
By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Walk Durham's Dinosaur Trail
In 1996, damage caused by Hurricane Fran forced North Carolina's Museum of Life and Science to close down their beloved Pre-History Trail. The path, opened in 1967, was meant to take visitors on a journey through 300 million years, but in the wake of the storm it seemed like a good time to pause. N...
July 16, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Virtual Dinosaurs Come to Japan
One of the things I love about natural history museums is that you sometimes get to see real dinosaur bones. There is no substitute for seeing the fossilized remains of creatures that lived millions of years ago. If you want to see dinosaurs running around you will have to look to the movies, but a...
July 15, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Mama Velociraptor Needs Your Help!
The Cincinnati Museum has a bit of a problem. Not long ago the exhibit "Dinosaurs Unearthed" opened there, but what museum officials didn't know was that one of the Velociraptor brought to the museum was brooding a clutch of eggs! The babies hatched and escaped into the city, and the museum is call...
July 14, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Two "Sea Monsters" for the Price of One
In 1918 the paleontologists at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History were pretty busy. Rather than go out into the field to collect more specimens, they chipped away at specimens that had already been collected so that they could be put on display. When the famous fossil collector Char...
July 09, 2009 |
By Brian Switek

