Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

National Museum of Natural History

White-colored, fossil ammonite laying horizontally on top of a rock with a black background

What's Next for the 1.2 Million Prehistoric Fossils Now at Smithsonian

Digitization will soon allow researchers around the globe to access the latest specimens in the National Fossil Collection

Red xray of a fish on black background.jpg

Meet the Expert Studying Fishes That Spit Water to Hunt

Smithsonian Ichthyologist Matt Girard talks about how and why he studies archerfishes.

The vast diversity of anole lizards found throughout the Americas helps scientists understand what factors drive the evolution of life. (goatling, CC BY 2.0)

Say Hello to the Scientist Using Lizard Limbs to Unlock Evolution's Secrets

For this month's Meet a SI-entist, we caught up with Kevin de Queiroz to talk about the evolution of lizard legs and the joys of unplanned discoveries

The world’s smallest moth, the pygmy sorrel moth, has a wingspan as short as 2.65 millimeters. It belongs to a group called the leaf miner moths, which could become problematic pests for more farmers as global temperatures rise. (Patrick Clement, CC BY 2.0)

Who's the Smallest of Them All? Mini Moth Gets a Big Title

A group of curious researchers has finally awarded one species the coveted title of world's smallest moth

There are about 160,000 species of moths and butterflies worldwide, each with unique characteristics. (Smithsonian)

Seven Bizarre Moths to Celebrate National Moth Week

These are the coolest and most unusual moths in the Smithsonian’s collections.

Chris Meyer, a marine invertebrate zoologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, dives around French Polynesia with equipment used to track coral reef health. (Jenny Adler)

Meet the Reef Expert Collecting Environmental Time Capsules

Collecting DNA in waters worldwide can help scientists figure out which places are the most important for conservation.

This jellyfish, Scolionema suvaense, was raised in the National Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Zoology “AquaRoom.” Here, the species is sinking through food with its tentacles spread wide. (Allen Collins, Smithsonian)

Live Jellyfish Make a Splash in Marine Education

Smithsonian's AquaRoom helps scientists learn more about these animals’ lives and educate future generations about their marine neighbors.

Through research on living and preserved fungus-farming ants, entomologists are learning more about the insects’ deep connection to their environment and how that relationship might evolve in response to a changing climate. (Smithsonian)

How Fungus-Farming Ants Fertilize Climate Research

Research on deeply connected insect species is illuminating how interspecies relationships might evolve in response to climate change

Through research on living and preserved plants, botanists are learning more about how flora has responded to climate change over the past centuries. (USDA photo by Preston Keres)

Why Plants are Seeding Climate Studies

The National Museum of Natural History’s herbarium is helping botanists research climate-driven changes in plants, their biology and their abundance

Fossil plants reveal information about the temperature and precipitation of past climates. Scientists use what they learn from fossil plants to inform their research on modern climate change (USNM PAL 606436, Smithsonian)

What Fossil Plants Reveal About Climate Change

Paleobiologists use fossil plants to reconstruct Earth’s past climate and inform climate change research today.

The periodical cicada species, Magicicada septendecim, will erupt from the ground this spring in the mid-Atlantic region. The last time the species from Brood X appeared for their cyclical mating cycle was in 2004. (ARS Information Staff, USDA)

What to Expect When the Cicadas Emerge This Spring

A trillion cicadas expected to invade the Washington metropolitan region when the ground warms to 64 degrees.

Entomologist and Collections Manager Dr. Floyd Shockley cares for the 35 million specimens in the Entomology Collection at the National Museum of Natural History. He also studies the diversity, natural history and evolution of fungus feeding beetles. (Donald E. Hurlbert, Smithsonian)

Say Hello to the Scientist Caring for Smithsonian's 35 Million Entomology Specimens

In this Meet a SI-entist, Smithsonian Entomologist and Collections Manager Floyd Shockley reveals how insects impact our daily lives.

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 National Museum of Natural History's collections are important sources of information for scientific research on health and medicine.

There are over eight million feet of film in the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA), which is part of the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives. HSFA specializes in storing ethnographic footage created by anthropologists, filmmakers and travelers. (Brittany M. Hance and James Di Loreto, Smithsonian Institution)

How Film Helps Preserve the World’s Diversity

The Smithsonian's Human Studies Film Archive houses eight million feet of film which can help future generations reflect on the past.

Dom Pedro aquamarine was cut from a 100-pound crystal that was mined in the late 1980s. It weighs around 4.6 pounds, making it one of the largest aquamarine gemstones in the world. (Donald E. Hurlbert, Smithsonian)

How the World’s Largest Aquamarine Gem Came to Be

The Dom Pedro Aquamarine is one of the largest mineral crystals found inside Earth's rocks.

The parasitoid samurai wasp, Trissolcus japonicus, is one of many microscopic wasps being studied and sometimes used as biocontrol agents in the fight against invasive species. (Elijah Talamas, USDA)

How Tiny Wasps Became Agricultural Defenders

Scientists are studying how different species of wasps can be used for insect biocontrol in the United States.

This fossilized dinosaur head and vertebrae were discovered in 1883 but only recently gained its name, Smitanosaurus agilis. (Smithsonian)

Scientists Give Old Dinosaur a New Name

A new study has reclassified a fossil discovered in 1883 as a dicraeosaurid — a family of long-necked dinosaurs rarely found in North America.

Scientists described a new species of Bryde’s-like whale using the skeleton of a whale that washed ashore in the Florida Everglades in 2019 and is now part of the Smithsonian’s marine mammals collection. (NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC Permit No. 779-1633-0)

Scientists Describe New Species of Rare Bryde’s Whale

The study shows that the oceans still harbor many secrets that we might not realize we’re losing.

Leconte’s flatsedge (Cyperus lecontei) has distinctive spikelet scales and fruit which are used by scientists to identify it. (Carol Kelloff)

Get to Know the Scientist Behind the Smithsonian’s 140,000 Grass-Like Sedges

Learn more about these grassy plants and what they can tell us about sustainable life on Earth.

A meteorite in the process of being recovered by volunteers in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program. The shiny fusion crust on this meteorite suggests it may be an achondrite. (ANSMET)

What Antarctic Meteorites Tell Us About Earth’s Origins

Each year, Smithsonian scientists collect hundreds of meteorites from Antarctica that reveal details about the origins of Earth and our solar system.

Categories
Archive

Page 5 of 7