Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

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Peer Through the Glare to Glimpse the Night Sky in New Smithsonian Exhibition

‘Lights Out’ explores how ecology and culture revolve around the night and how light pollution is threatening this essential darkness

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In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt Won a Presidential Election…And a Pair of Ostriches

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How Leafcutter Ants and Other Culinary Creatures Prepare a Feast

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Four Reasons Why There Is More to the Hummingbird Than Meets the Eye

A black-and-orange orchard oriole perches on a bright red flower and uses its beak to peck at the petals.

A Bird in the Hand: How a Smithsonian Zoologist Spent the Pandemic Tracking Nectar-Robbing Orioles

A flower with bright pink petals and a yellow interior blooms on the surface of a water near several green and brown lily pads.

New Smithsonian Exhibition Explores the Intersection of People and Nature

Several grey, white and orange king penguins perch on top of their eggs, which are snuggly sheltered under a flap of their flabby skin between their feet.

Get To Know the Natural World’s Most Devoted Dads

Baby turtles emerge and scatter from a small hole in the sand

Meet Some of the Animal World’s Marvelous Moms

A gray and white bird perches among leafy branches

Celebrate Black Birders Week and More Natural History Programs This May

A small bonfire burns in the foreground with a sunset in the background.

Explore How Fire Shaped Human Evolution and More Natural History Programs This March

A humpback whale breaches the surface of the ocean on a sunny day as three birds fly overhead.

10 Popular Scientific Discoveries From 2021

Male acorn woodpeckers, like the one on the left, have more offspring over their lives when they’re polygamous, according to new research. (Vivek Khanzode)

Study Finds Polygamy Helps Male Acorn Woodpeckers Thrive

The National Museum of Natural History’s 146 million objects and specimens are studied by researchers worldwide who are looking to understand all aspects of the natural world. (Chip Clark, Smithsonian)

How Museum Collections Advance Knowledge of Human Health

The broad-tailed hummingbird uses its fiery throat feathers, called a gorget, to attract a mate. (Kati Fleming, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Eight of Nature’s Wildest Mating Rituals

By studying recent mass extinctions on islands like Hawaii, Dr. Helen James is painting a picture of bird biodiversity today. Her research involves digging up fossils in caves to study bygone species, like the Kioea. (Johnny Gibbons)

Meet One of the Curators Behind the Smithsonian’s 640,000 Birds

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 Smithsonian’s Division of Birds provided about 40% of the tissue samples for the new bird genomes in a landmark study. (James Di Loreto, Smithsonian)

Landmark Study Shares Smithsonian Bird DNA Collected Over Three Decades

While digging through decaying carcasses, vultures expose themselves to dangerous pathogens. Gary Graves studies the unique microorganisms in the guts of these birds that help them resist infections. (Joyce Cory)

Meet the Scientist Studying Vulture Guts for Clues to Disease Immunity

Smithsonian anthropologists hold up the world’s longest beard after it was donated to the National Museum of Natural History in 1967. (Smithsonian)

Five of Nature’s Best Beards for World Beard Day

Scientists use a California condor specimen from 1835 — part of the Smithsonian’s very first collection of items — to study the critically endangered species. Pictured: a young California condor in Pinnacles National Park. (Gavin Emmons)

How Scientists Still Use the Smithsonian’s First Collections, 175 Years Later

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Peer Through the Glare to Glimpse the Night Sky in New Smithsonian Exhibition

A Bounty of Butterflies Arrives at the Smithsonian

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