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National Museum of Natural History

State shells pictured in a circular arrangement against a gray background.

New Smithsonian Exhibition to Showcase Objects From All 50 States

A man wearing an orange rain jacket sits on a boat, framed by the ocean and a glacier behind him.

Meet the Scientist Tracing 10,000 Years of Indigenous Life Along Alaska's Southern Coast

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

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Meet Sylvia Earle, the Trailblazing Marine Biologist Who Has Spent Her Career Giving Algae Their Long-Deserved Due

A brown and white quail stands in a grassy field in front of taller grasses behind it.

Across the Smithsonian, Researchers are Working Together to Save Virginia’s Birds

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

Meet the Smithsonian Fellow Alumni Helping to Save the Planet

Brown mussel shells sit in a white box with orange paper underneath.

Interested in Using Museum Collections to Better Understand Freshwater Mussels? There’s Now an App for That

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

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

A group of several bison with dark fur traverses a light green colored landscape of grasslands as rays of late afternoon light stream through several gold-tinged clouds. In the distance are more bison and the horizon is framed by distant mountains.

For the Love of the Buffalo

Elephant-like mammoth and mastodons trudge across a pond while a group of giant camels stop for a drink. In the background are snow-capped mountains. Crouching in the grassy foreground are a pair of sabertooth cats.

What the Demise of Mammoths Can Teach Us About Future Extinctions

Under the waves swirls a bed of sea grass. Above the water is a coastal home attached to a dock.

New Study Puts Smithsonian Conservation Efforts to the Test

Pink Hyperiid

Say Hello to the Scientist Using DNA to Track Plankton Diversity

A bat hangs upside-down on a thin branch during the day. Green leaves line the frame of the photo.

Real Bats Are Superheroes Too

Composite image of ten different species of zooplankton on black background.

An Ode to Zooplankton, the Hidden Heroes of the Sea

A humpback whale breaches the surface of the ocean on a sunny day.

World's Biggest Whales Eat Three Times More Food Than Scientists Thought

Composite photo of seven different colorful and partially transparent deep-sea animals on black background

Massive Yet Misunderstood, What Is the Ocean's Midwater?

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

Mangroves line a channel connecting the Belize River to the coastal lagoon system. These trees are hundreds of years old and provide important habitat to both terrestrial and marine species. (Steve Canty, Smithsonian Marine Station)

Together, We Can Save the Mangroves

Invasive species like lionfish can harm natural, human, and economic health. (Barry Brown)

Five Species to Wrap Up Invasive Species Week

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