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National Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Voices

A man in a grey short sits in a lab setting, in front of a microscope and a computer screen.

Meet the National Museum of Natural History Volunteer Preserving Prehistory One Microfossil at a Time

Carlos Savignano is part of a dedicated group of FossiLab volunteers preparing Smithsonian fossils for display and future research

Alec Quinn | April 22, 2025

A circular rock is cut in half against a black background, revealing the plant material fossilized inside.

Meet the Scientist Studying 'Fossil Snapshots' of Ancient Insect Life

Paleobiologist Scott Lakeram analyzes 300-million-year-old coal ball fossils to reveal prehistoric plant-insect interactions frozen in time

Emma Saaty | March 6, 2025

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National Museum of Natural History Scientists Discover That Ancient Insects Perfected Their Plant Palates 165 Million Years Ago

The findings reveal that insects developed modern patterns of herbivory long before flowering plants flourished, upending a long-held hypothesis

Jack Tamisiea | March 3, 2025

Carrano, Kroehler, Oreska Cloverly 2006.jpg

Newly Described Fossil From Wyoming Sheds Light on When Frogs and Toads Lost Their Teeth

A fragment of upper jaw fossil from the Early Cretaceous is among the oldest examples of a toothless amphibian in the fossil record

Chihiro Kai | December 12, 2024
NHB2010-02039 LucyDiorama.jpg

After 50 Years, Scientists Still Love Lucy

Paleoanthropologists have learned a lot about Lucy, the world’s most famous hominin fossil, since she was discovered in 1974. And her fossils are still yielding new insights

Emily Driehaus | November 22, 2024
Art_Pansani_2024_SciRep 1.jpg

Meet the Scientist Decoding Human History in South America Through Giant Ground Sloth Fossils

Thaís Pansani examines the marks humans left on megafauna bones to determine when people arrived in South America and how they interacted with giant mammals

Chihiro Kai | October 29, 2024
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Fetching Fossils and Unwrapping Mannequins: Here’s What Happens When a Museum Exhibition Closes

In the wrap-up of “Objects of Wonder,” hundreds of the museum’s most treasured specimens are returning to the collection

Jack Tamisiea | September 19, 2024
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Dusting Dinosaurs and Elephants: How Specialists Keep the Museum’s Largest Treasures Spotless

To celebrate International Museum Day, learn how experts protect the museum’s most dramatic displays from dust bunnies and cobwebs

Naomi Greenberg | May 16, 2024
Yellow and white lichens are pictured against a back background on a tree branch.

Meet the Smithsonian Fellow Alumni Helping to Save the Planet

This Earth Day, learn about early-career researchers who are tackling issues from green technology to lichen biodiversity and coral rehabilitation

Emma Saaty | April 22, 2024
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Just Our Type: Museum's Dinosaur Skeleton Becomes the Scientific Standard for Its Species

In this month’s Specimen Spotlight, find out what makes the Smithsonian's Allosaurus specimen so special

Jack Tamisiea | April 17, 2024
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Newly Discovered Fossil from the Smithsonian’s Collection Named After Kermit the Frog

The new amphibian ancestor joins a growing list of species named after Jim Henson and his Muppet characters

Emily Driehaus | March 21, 2024
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What a Drawerful of Dung Reveals About the Lives of Ground Sloths

For International Sloth Day, learn about the scientific clues preserved in petrified poop

Jack Tamisiea | October 20, 2023
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How Smithsonian Fossil Preparators Are Re-Excavating a Tyrannosaur From Its Past on Display

This National Fossil Day, take an inside look at the effort to free the skeleton for research after more than a century in museum fossil halls

Jack Tamisiea | October 11, 2023
A large, brown tooth sits on top of a colorful map of the California coast

Summer Summary: A Mysterious Fossil Tooth, Metallic Planet and Marine Hitchhikers

Catch up on the museum discoveries you may have missed over the past few months

Emma Saaty & Jack Tamisiea | August 29, 2023
A multitude of sea lions sit very close together on a crowded beach.

Reading Between the Bones: New Research Reveals an Unexpected Growth Spurt in California Sea Lions

As climate change alters ocean ecosystems, scientists look to marine mammal ecology and morphology to predict how recovering species will fare in an uncertain future

Emma Saaty | May 11, 2023
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Dino-Sore: Smithsonian Paleontologist Diagnoses Ancient Ailments in the Museum’s Dinosaurs

For National Veterinary Day, Matthew Carrano gives several ancient reptiles a paleo-physical

Jack Tamisiea | April 28, 2023
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Smithsonian Scientists Discover One of the Earliest Mammal Ancestors That Ate Its Veggies

The new finding pushes the first signs of tetrapod herbivory back millions of years

Jack Tamisiea | April 5, 2023
A large research vessel with a cell tower on top sails across a dark blue stretch of ocean that expands towards a paler blue sky along the horizon.

Smithsonian Scientists Unearth Signs of an Ancient Climate Calamity Buried Beneath the Seafloor

The research puts modern oceanic climate change in context

Jack Tamisiea | February 2, 2023
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2022 in Review: The Year’s Top Discoveries by Museum Researchers

An Ichthyosaur graveyard, oyster middens and other headline-grabbing findings by scientists at the National Museum of Natural History

Jack Tamisiea | January 13, 2023
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