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National Museum of Natural History

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How Did Animals Conquer the Deep Sea? Mussels and Clams Point to Two Different Strategies

New research shows why some shelly critters flourished in the ocean's harshest habitats — and others didn't

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To Get on the Same Frequency as Early Reptiles, this Scientist Compares Tiny Fossilized Bones to Modern Lizard Ears

Using the fossil record and modern cold-blooded critters, paleontologist Kelsey Jenkins recreates the hearing capabilities of ancient animals

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How Did the Ostrich Cross the Ocean? Its Ancestors Flew There

A remarkable fossil in the National Museum of Natural History’s collection reveals that the ancestors of modern flightless birds were capable of flying long distances

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Ginseng Family Secrets, Super-Flexible Whale Jaw Joints and More in the National Museum of Natural History's Summer Summary

Explore a few exciting discoveries by museum researchers that you may have missed over the past few months

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Red or Black, but Nothing in Between: Multicolored Beaks Are a Big Turn Off for Female Jamaican Hummingbirds

Museum scientist Gary Graves has spent decades investigating why red-billed and black-billed streamertail hummingbirds remain distinct species despite on-going hybridization

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To Correct Some Fishy Anatomy, Researchers at the National Museum of Natural History Get Inside the Head of a Coelacanth

The new work adds to the legacy of Dave Johnson, a long-time museum curator famed for his detail-oriented research on fishes

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Meet the Scientist Studying 'Fossil Snapshots' of Ancient Insect Life

Paleobiologist Scott Lakeram analyzes 300-million-year-old coal ball fossils to reveal prehistoric plant-insect interactions frozen in time

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National Museum of Natural History Scientists Discover That Ancient Insects Perfected Their Plant Palates 165 Million Years Ago

The findings reveal that insects developed modern patterns of herbivory long before flowering plants flourished, upending a long-held hypothesis

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Top Discoveries at the National Museum of Natural History in 2024

Fungus-farming ants, fossilized footprints and a prehistoric critter named after a Muppet are just a few of the year’s most notable findings

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Newly Described Fossil From Wyoming Sheds Light on When Frogs and Toads Lost Their Teeth

A fragment of upper jaw fossil from the Early Cretaceous is among the oldest examples of a toothless amphibian in the fossil record

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After 50 Years, Scientists Still Love Lucy

Paleoanthropologists have learned a lot about Lucy, the world’s most famous hominin fossil, since she was discovered in 1974. And her fossils are still yielding new insights

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To Understand How Species Evolve, Scientists Flock to Where Charismatic Birds Intermingle

For decades, researchers have explored a region in Panama that serves as a “manakin melting pot”

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Through the Fossil Grapevine: Museum Scientist Helps Untangle How the Fruit Thrived in the Aftermath of Extinction

The batch of newly-described fossils includes a species named after Smithsonian botanist Jun Wen

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Meet the Smithsonian Fellow Alumni Helping to Save the Planet

This Earth Day, learn about early-career researchers who are tackling issues from green technology to lichen biodiversity and coral rehabilitation

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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

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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

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Meet the Scientist Studying the Scary Speed of Spider Jaws

This Halloween, learn how arachnologist Hannah Wood uses the fossil record to track the evolution of these misunderstood critters

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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.

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How 3D Worms Provide a Peek Into Historic Smithsonian Collection

Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Smithsonian scientists provide worldwide access to some of the museum's most delicate specimens

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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

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