National Museum of Natural History

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To Recreate a 17th-Century Masterwork, an Entomologist at the National Museum of Natural History Got Creative with Butterflies, Bees and a Bit of Rosemary

The display will be featured in a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art as part of a historic collaboration along the National Mall

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

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

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

Entomologist Torsten Dikow, a leading expert on assassin flies, is working to connect a global community of researchers through the democratization of insect science

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

Learn how this rare hue shows up in the natural world with some of the Smithsonian’s bluest 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

This Halloween season, learn how the National Museum of Natural History’s dermestid beetle colony transforms decaying animal carcasses into spotless skeletons.

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

‘Lights Out’ explores how ecology and culture revolve around the night and how light pollution is threatening this essential darkness

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A Bounty of Butterflies Arrives at the Smithsonian

Entomologist Floyd Shockley drove across the country to pick up a premier butterfly and moth collection

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How Leafcutter Ants and Other Culinary Creatures Prepare a Feast

Celebrate Thanksgiving with some of the animal kingdom’s greatest cooks, including marshmallow-roasting apes and salt-sprinkling monkeys

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A Final Meal for the Ages

For World Mosquito Day, meet the “one in a million” fossil that proved fossilized blood is more than just science fiction

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

As we enter the dog days of August, learn how several animals stay cool

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

Research entomologist Matt Buffington monitors new insect arrivals in North America to see if they cause trouble for native species

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

See the historic giant hornet ‘nest zero’ and explore how communities near and far interact with nature in ‘Our Places’

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

Celebrate Father’s Day with pudgy penguins, karate-kicking frogs and other dependable animal dads

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Meet Seven Species Named After Musicians

On the eve of the Grammy Awards, learn how scientists sing the praises of their favorite musical artists in the names of ants, snakes, flies and more

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

While some are a nuisance, others working as nighttime pollinators may be critically important to a functioning ecosystem

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

The practice of eating insects, known as entomophagy, is widespread around the world.

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

Research on deeply connected insect species is illuminating how interspecies relationships might evolve in response to climate change

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

A trillion cicadas expected to invade the Washington metropolitan region when the ground warms to 64 degrees.

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