Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

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

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

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This Invasive Species Awareness Week, Learn How Museum Researchers Track the Rogue Wildlife Infiltrating American Ecosystems

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Fearsome Flies: Meet the Scientist Studying the Top Predators in the Insect World

A blue bird with white and grey spots lies against a white background.

Celebrate the Holiday Season with the Museum’s Stunning Collection of Blue Specimens

A shelf of brown boxes with white bones peeking out of the top has small black beetles crawling all over them.

Meet the Smithsonian’s Spookiest Staffers: Flesh-Eating Beetles

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

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A Bounty of Butterflies Arrives at the Smithsonian

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How Leafcutter Ants and Other Culinary Creatures Prepare a Feast

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A Final Meal for the Ages

A small, tan fox with large, pointed pink ears blends into its sand-colored enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

Five Wild Ways Animals Beat the Summer Heat

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

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

Several grey, white and orange king penguins perch on top of their eggs, which are snuggly sheltered under a flap of their flabby skin between their feet.

Get To Know the Natural World’s Most Devoted Dads

A small yellow frog with big eyes

Meet Seven Species Named After Musicians

Mosquitoes are more than blood-sucking menaces. They also pollinate flowers, have intricate sex lives and eat other disease-carrying mosquitoes. (Lawrence Reeves)

The Secret Lives of Mosquitoes, the World’s Most Hated Insects

Leafcutter ants can be found across Central and South America. They build gigantic, subterranean nests with complex societies. (Chip Clark, Smithsonian)

Thinking of Eating Cicadas? Here are Six Other Tasty Insects to Try Too

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

The periodical cicada species, Magicicada septendecim, will erupt from the ground this spring in the mid-Atlantic region. The last time the species from Brood X appeared for their cyclical mating cycle was in 2004. (ARS Information Staff, USDA)

What to Expect When the Cicadas Emerge This Spring

Entomologist and Collections Manager Dr. Floyd Shockley cares for the 35 million specimens in the Entomology Collection at the National Museum of Natural History. He also studies the diversity, natural history and evolution of fungus feeding beetles. (Donald E. Hurlbert, Smithsonian)

Say Hello to the Scientist Caring for Smithsonian's 35 Million Entomology Specimens

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15 Years Later, the National Museum of Natural History Is Still Asking What It Means to Be Human

Smithsonian Scientists Discover That Traditional Agricultural Practices in the Amazon Helped Yield an Enduring Crop Clone

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