National Museum of Natural History

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has hundreds of scientists, researchers, curators and collection managers who connect people everywhere to life’s unfolding story. Here is a sampling of the unique voices that make up the chorus of ideas at the museum.

The 2016 Arctic sea ice summertime minimum, reached on Sept. 10, is 911,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average minimum sea ice extent, shown here as a gold line (NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio/C. Starr).

Can Science Help Policymakers Create the Arctic Policies We Need Right Now?

August 3rd, 2017, 12:42PM

/ BY Alyson H. Fleming & Nicholas D. Pyenson

A new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will dive deep into the Arctic world of narwhals to explore what makes this mysterious animal and its changing ecosystem unique and important. “Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend” will present Inuit perspectives on their relationship with narwhals and the latest scientific knowledge about these animals, while illuminating the interconnectedness among narwhals, people and their ecosystems (Smithsonian Institution).

Narwhals, Narwhals, Swimming in the...Smithsonian?

July 31st, 2017, 3:12PM

/ BY Laura Donnelly-Smith

Ginkgo biloba leaves could be the key to reconstructing past changes in carbon dioxide and climate (Rich Barclay, Smithsonian).

Can You Help Us Clear The Fossil Air?

June 8th, 2017, 3:04PM

/ BY Laura Soul & Rich Barclay

Before its residence at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, this pressed plant (Cyananthus macrocalyx subspecies spathulifolius) was housed at London's Natural History Museum where it survived a bombing during World War II (Photo Credit: Ingrid P. Lin, Smithsonian).

Are Pressed Plants Windows Into World History?

May 19th, 2017, 11:35AM

/ BY Gary Krupnick

Will the Blue Marble Stay Blue? This famous Earth photo, known as The Blue Marble, was taken on December 7, 1972 by astronauts on the Apollo 17 spacecraft – the last manned lunar mission that provided humans with such an opportunity. Beautiful and fragile, the Blue Marble became a symbol of the environmental movement and part of the official Earth Day flag (Photo credit: NASA).

This Earth Day, the Planet’s Health is Your Health

April 19th, 2017, 1:41PM

/ BY Daniel Lucey & Sabrina Sholts

Each species of tinamou—a nearly-flightless bird from South and Central America—lays a different color of glossy egg. The males build the nest and incubate the eggs, while the females nest-hop, laying eggs in multiple nests. Visit our #ObjectsofWonder exhibit to see the eggs of tinamous and other bird species (Photo Credit: Paul Fetters for the Smithsonian).

This Easter, Forget Everything You Know About the Egg Hunt

April 14th, 2017, 11:41AM

/ BY Christina Gebhard

The traditional Thanksgiving turkey is delicious, but is it paleo? (Photo Credit: Tim Sackton via Flickr)

This Thanksgiving, Try the Real Paleo Diet

November 22nd, 2016, 11:33AM

/ BY Briana Pobiner

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