Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

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Lucy’s Legacy: Celebrating the 48th Anniversary of Her Discovery with a Selfie

The iconic ancient hominin gets her hands on a smartphone in anticipation of the museum’s upcoming exhibition exploring the global impact of cellphones.

A tan-colored skull and spine sticks out of a sandy surface. The jaws of the elongated skull are studded with sharp teeth that are angled at the viewer.

This November, Be Thankful for Specialty Spirits and Ancient Sea Monsters

A tan woolly mammoth skeleton facing left bends its front legs and tilts its tusks towards the bottom of the frame.

Celebrate Fabulous Fossils and More Natural History Programs This October

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Meet the Scientist Who Knows the Buzz About the Northern Giant Hornet

Jun Wen sits at a wooden table in front of a bookshelf examining a herbarium booklet of pressed plant specimens.

Meet the Scientist Who Maps the World’s Past and Present Plants

A flower with bright pink petals and a yellow interior blooms on the surface of a water near several green and brown lily pads.

New Smithsonian Exhibition Explores the Intersection of People and Nature

A Japanese macaque holds a stolen cellphone while shoulder deep in hot spring.

See Past Winning Photographs From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A wide shot of a museum exhibit, featuring a dark, faceless, naked female mannequin covered in orange genetic code in the background with a monitor in the foreground showing an orange and white graphic of two people with "What do you think?" between them.

Your Genomic Story Awaits at Smithsonian

Two people an augmented-reality experience wear headsets while reaching out to "touch" a holographic killer whale.

Smithsonian's New Holographic Experience Dives Into Marine Conservation

“Unsettled Nature” features artworks by Bethany Taylor and six other contemporary artists that show how humans have changed nature. (James Di Loreto, Smithsonian)

Artists Show Human Impact on the Planet in New Exhibit

A giant replica of the Aedes mosquito, a known vector for the disease yellow fever, has been waiting for visitors to return the National Museum of Natural History’s “Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World” exhibit. (James Di Loreto, Smithsonian)

Don’t Miss These Objects When the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum Reopens

Joshua Bell is the curator of globalization at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. He is working on a new exhibit about the global history of cellphones. (Smithsonian)

Meet the Scientist Studying How Cellphones Change Societies

The Chaco Canyon chocolate-drinking jars have a distinct shape, with connections to similarly shaped Mayan vessels. After testing distinguishable jar fragments from an excavated trash pile in in the canyon, archaeologists determined all of the drinking jars were used to consume cacao. (A336494, A336499, A336493, James Di Loreto, Smithsonian)

What Chocolate-Drinking Jars Tell Indigenous Potters Now

An illustration of the new coronavirus. Coronaviruses are named for the spikes on their outer surface, which look like points on a crown. (CDC)

‘One Health’ Could Prevent the Next Coronavirus Outbreak

This African Bush Elephant is just the first of many photogenic sites for visitors at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. (James Di Loreto, Smithsonian Institution)

How to Take the Perfect Selfie at the Smithsonian

Museum staff, Laura Donnelly-Smith and Sally Love, try out the new audio description app in the “Hall of Fossils – Deep Time.” (Lucia RM Martino, Smithsonian Institution)

New App Takes Smithsonian Visitors Beyond Visuals

Free post cards were given to service members when they visited the US National Museum (now the National Museum of Natural History) in the 1940s. (Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image # SIA2013-07711)

How WWII Service Members Helped Shape the Smithsonian’s New Fossil Hall

On opening day of the new fossil hall, visitors flocked to the windows of the FossiLab to see fossil preparation in action. (James D. Tiller, Smithsonian Institution)

Smithsonian Puts Backstage Fossil Preparation Center Stage in its New Fossil Hall

Siobhan Starrs joined the “David H. Koch Hall of Fossils – Deep Time” team in 2009. She spent a decade working on the exhibit, which opened on June 8. (Smithsonian Institution)

How Siobhan Starrs’ Harrowing Hike Shaped the New Fossil Hall

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s megalodon model is a 52-foot-long female based on a set of teeth discovered in the Bone Valley Formation in Florida. (Smithsonian Institution)

Megalodon May Be Extinct, but There’s a Life-size One at the Smithsonian

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