Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

National Museum of Natural History

NMNH-2008-19316_DarwinGodwit-000002.jpg

How A 190-Year-Old Shorebird Preserves Darwin’s Legacy

In honor of Charles Darwin’s 215th birthday, meet the only original Darwin specimen in North America

C3 - dorsalis5_Quentin_Martinez.jpg

Smithsonian Scientists Discover New Species of Hedgehogs Hiding in Plain Sight

Soft-furred hedgehog specimens deposited decades ago in the museum’s collection are new to science

A man sits in front of a large, white machine and a row of computer screens in a lab setting.

Uncovering Earth's Secrets One X-ray at a Time

The National Museum of Natural History’s analytical laboratories are revolutionizing how scientists study everything from Civil War tooth fillings to Earth’s oldest rocks

Two black and white orcas jump out of the blue water

NMNH in Review: A ‘Killer’ Arrival at the Smithsonian

After stranding on a Florida beach, an orca’s odyssey to the museum will offer rich research opportunities

A white, fluffy dog stands in front of a brown mural with other dogs

NMNH in Review: Top Discoveries by Museum Scientists in 2023

Indigenous woolly dogs, ground sloth pendants and more headline-grabbing findings by scientists at the National Museum of Natural History

Collections (IZ)_credit Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution (1).jpg

1.1 Billion Objects and Counting: Inside the Effort to Tally Natural History Specimens Around the Globe

This year, NMNH director Kirk Johnson helped spearhead an effort to add up the collections of the world’s largest museums

A blue bird with white and grey spots lies against a white background.

Celebrate the Holiday Season with the Museum’s Stunning Collection of Blue Specimens

Learn how this rare hue shows up in the natural world with some of the Smithsonian’s bluest specimens

Lippert NMNH headshot - Copy.jpg

Meet the Archaeologist Leading the Museum’s Repatriation Efforts

With more than 20 years of experience at the Smithsonian, Dorothy Lippert is championing a collaborative approach to repatriation

A black plate of whale baleen is lit up against a dark background with brown hair-like material coming from the bottom of the specimen.

How a Whale Skull at the Smithsonian Became a Beacon for Marine Mammal Conservation

Take a dive into the museum’s marine mammal collection and learn how a rare North American whale is racing against extinction

A shelf of brown boxes with white bones peeking out of the top has small black beetles crawling all over them.

Meet the Smithsonian’s Spookiest Staffers: Flesh-Eating Beetles

This Halloween season, learn how the National Museum of Natural History’s dermestid beetle colony transforms decaying animal carcasses into spotless skeletons.

IMG_6197.jpeg

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

A giant eye sits in a clear, glass container next to a smaller octopus and squid in glass containers on either side of the eye.

I Spy… A Giant Squid Eye

Gaze into the enormous eye of a giant squid behind the scenes in the museum’s Invertebrate Zoology collection.

A man wearing a ripped white shirt stands among thick greenery, holding a plastic sample bag

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Untangling the Branches of Hawaii’s Evolutionary Tree

From fragile ferns to towering trees, NMNH botanist Warren Wagner has spent over 30 years researching plants from the dense forests of the Pacific Islands.

Screen Shot 2023-08-14 at 11.37.40 PM.png

For the Love of Lizards: Meet One of the Smithsonian’s Lizard Experts

For more than fifty years, museum herpetologist George Zug has studied all manner of reptiles and amphibians

The ceiling of the NMNH rotunda creates a circular pattern above the underside of the grey trunk of the elephant.

Behind the Lens: Meet the Photographers Capturing the Museum’s Most Stunning Moments.

From tiny bat jaws to colossal geodes, the photography team at the National Museum of Natural History has spent decades documenting the Smithsonian’s hidden wonders.

Screen Shot 2023-07-11 at 10.45.39 PM.png

Starstruck: A Suite of Strange Sea Stars Discovered in the Smithsonian’s Collection

Museum researcher describes several new species from specimens collected decades ago from Antarctica

IMG_4302.JPG

Museum Collections Provide Some Muscle for Mussel Conservation

For Endangered Species Day, learn about the marvelous biology and murky future of freshwater mussels

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

NZP-20181224_002MC.jpg

How Lugging a Liquid Nitrogen Tank into the Amazon Helped Spark Ornithology’s Genetic Revolution

Almost 40 years ago, Smithsonian zoologist Gary Graves collected tissue samples in the jungle that formed the nucleus of the museum’s DNA collection

Tsavorite 116.76 carat Square-Cushion Smithsonian Dark Background.jpg

The Story Behind the Smithsonian’s Newest Gem: the Exquisite Lion of Merelani

The stunning tsavorite gemstone arrives at the museum with a well-documented history

Categories
Archive

Page 3 of 7