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National Museum of Natural History

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History sequenced the genomes of 363 bird species in 2020. (Brian Schmidt, Smithsonian)

10 Popular Scientific Discoveries from 2020

Here are some of 2020’s most popular discoveries involving scientists from the National Museum of Natural History.

Take a virtual field trip to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to see clouded leopards in a National Museum of Natural History Program streaming Jan 13. (Smithsonian)

Six Free Natural History Programs Streaming in January

Stream these free programs and more this January through the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

The original photos from late 1800s by famous snowflake photographer Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, are stored in the Smithsonian Archives. His pictures were instrumental in helping scientists examine snow’s crystalline properties. (Erin Malsbury, Smithsonian Open Access, Wilson A. Bentley)

Why Scientists Find Snowflakes Cool

Mineralogists study snowflakes to learn more about how water in its solid phase behaves.

Tens of millions of years of bird evolution guided some of the most important elements of human-powered flight. (Pixabay)

How We Lifted Flight from Bird Evolution

The path to flight in modern birds was full of forks, twists and dead ends.

Sequencing entire genomes from ancient tissues helps researchers reveal the evolutionary and domestication histories of species. (Thomas Harper, The Pennsylvania State University)

How Ancient DNA Unearths Corn’s A-maize-ing History

New study shows how extracting whole genomes from ancient material opens the door for new research questions and breathes new life into old samples.

Plants and animals around the globe use a wide variety of evolutionary strategies to survive harsh winters.

How Seven of Nature’s Coolest Species Weather the Cold

Check out these unexpected adaptations to extreme cold.

Scientists discovered a new species of odd-scaled burrowing snakes in northern Vietnam. (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists)

Rare Iridescent Snake Discovered in Vietnam

The discovery could help scientists piece together new information about snake evolution.

The National Museum of Natural History’s newest curator in the paleobiology department, Dr. Stewart Edie, opens a drawer with mollusk fossils in the museum’s invertebrate paleobiology collection. (Katie Collins, National History Museum, London)

Say Hello to the Smithsonian’s Newest Mollusk Expert

Learn what the ancient history of these sea creatures could tell us about biodiversity on ancient and modern Earth.

Although pumpkins and other gourds have become staples at Thanksgiving, they were not the only original crops in the Americas. Other crops domesticated around the same time, like sumpweed, little barley and goosefoot, are now gone from today’s palates. (Smithsonian)

Our Thanksgiving Menu Has Lost a Few Crops

Studying the domestication of any crop that people once ate helps scientists reveal how modern crops have evolved.

Yesmarie De La Flor answers your questions about what it’s like being a marine scientist in a National Museum of Natural History program streaming on Dec. 10. (Michelle Donahue, Smithsonian)

Seven Free Natural History Programs Streaming in December

Programs include a guided at-home science activity, a three-part seminar on the history of HIV and an evening with Rita Colwell.

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