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National Museum of Natural History

A slab of multicolored, sedimentary rock is pictured with vibrant trees and water surrounding it.

Meet the Scientist Venturing to Remote Canada in Search of the Earth’s Oldest Rocks

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Inclusive Innovations: An Accessible Natural History Experience

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Dusting Dinosaurs and Elephants: How Specialists Keep the Museum’s Largest Treasures Spotless

Yellow and white lichens are pictured against a back background on a tree branch.

Meet the Smithsonian Fellow Alumni Helping to Save the Planet

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Just Our Type: Museum's Dinosaur Skeleton Becomes the Scientific Standard for Its Species

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How Smithsonian Fossil Preparators Are Re-Excavating a Tyrannosaur From Its Past on Display

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Dino-Sore: Smithsonian Paleontologist Diagnoses Ancient Ailments in the Museum’s Dinosaurs

In an aerial shot of the desert, a dry lakebed is surrounded by swaths of white salt flats.

Clay-Encrusted Microbes Provide Clues to How Early Life Developed on Earth and Potentially Mars

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

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2022 in Review: The Year’s Top Discoveries by Museum Researchers

A man wearing a white hard hat, neon vest, dark gray pants and yellow gloves sits in a pit of dark rock. Just below his knees is a boulder with a piece of lighter gray fossil sticking out of the top.

Meet the Smithsonian Director Bringing a Deep Time Perspective to the International Climate Discussion

An orange and tan Megalodon hangs over the museum's food court with its supersized mouth agape.

Diving with Sharks Through Deep Time

Two small fossil fragments of ancient brittle stars appear green as they rest on Ben Thuy's fingertip.

Scientists Describe Two New Species of Ancient Brittle Star

Fossilized weigeltisaurid skeleton on beige background

The Oldest Airborne Vertebrate Animal Was a Reptile With 'Weird' Wings

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing global warming. This means glaciers in Antarctica are melting. Those same glaciers were originally made when carbon dioxide dropped 34 million years ago. (NASA/Jim Ross)

Drop in Greenhouse Gas Caused Global Cooling 34 Million Years Ago, Study Finds

Zircons are the oldest minerals in the world and come in colors like the rich blue above. Researchers have now used these gemstones to identify when modern plate tectonics began. (Ken Larsen)

New Study on Zircons Finds Plate Tectonics Began 3.6 Billion Years Ago

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

This is a giant spindle magnetofossil, created by a mysterious creature over 50 million years ago. So far, the iron fossils have only been found during two periods of intense global warming. (Kenneth Livi, Courtney Wagner, and Ioan Lascu)

New Way to Study Magnetic Fossils Could Help Unearth Their Origins

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

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History sequenced the genomes of 363 bird species in 2020. (Brian Schmidt, Smithsonian)

10 Popular Scientific Discoveries from 2020

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