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National Museum of Natural History

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An Oyster With Teeth Reveals When Mollusks Covered the Chesapeake Bay

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The Smithsonian Curator Who Loved Frogs

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Meet the Scientist Analyzing Historic Bison DNA to Understand How the Species Rebounded From the Edge of Extinction

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Farewell to Baird Auditorium: A Century of Science, Culture and Creativity

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The History of the World in Seven Snails

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The Murder Mystery Linking a Bird Specimen at the National Museum of Natural History to the Mysterious Death of an Arctic Explorer

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The ‘Ultimate Honor’: Why a Colorful Mineral Honors the Smithsonian‘s Namesake

In a black and white photo, three women and one man sit together in a room with a large circular window behind them, surrounded by papers.

Honoring the Overlooked Contributions of Women Anthropologists in the National Anthropological Archives

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Peer Through the Glare to Glimpse the Night Sky in New Smithsonian Exhibition

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

A diver uses a camera to study a barnacle-covered submarine resting on the seafloor

How Shipwrecks Shape the Seafloor

A green ridged cactus towers vertically over the camera with a deep blue sky in the background

How a Smithsonian Botanist Cracked the Cactus Code a Century Ago

A large elm tree with branches full of green leaves stands in the sunlight

How a Historic Smithsonian Elm Thrives, Over 150 Years After its Planting

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How X-Rays Unlocked the Mystery of Crystals

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The Hybridized Nature of Washington's Iconic Cherry Trees

The original photos from late 1800s by famous snowflake photographer Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, are stored in the Smithsonian Archives. His pictures were instrumental in helping scientists examine snow’s crystalline properties. (Erin Malsbury, Smithsonian Open Access, Wilson A. Bentley)

Why Scientists Find Snowflakes Cool

Scientists use a California condor specimen from 1835 — part of the Smithsonian’s very first collection of items — to study the critically endangered species. Pictured: a young California condor in Pinnacles National Park. (Gavin Emmons)

How Scientists Still Use the Smithsonian’s First Collections, 175 Years Later

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

Past and present female scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have advanced humankind’s understanding of the natural world and its place in it. L to R: Adrienne Kaeppler, Hannah Wood, Marian Pettibone, Sorena Sorenson and Kay Behrensmeyer. (Smithsonian Institution).

Get to Know the Leading Ladies of Science at the Smithsonian

The seeds of common poppy (Papaver rhoeas) only germinate when the soil in which they live is disturbed. Intense fighting during World War I decimated Europe’s physical environment, causing thousands of poppies to bloom where battles once raged. (Gary Houston, CC0 1.0)

100 Years Ago, Poppies Became More Than Just Flowers

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