Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

National Museum of Natural History

All modern dogs are descended from a wolf species that when extinct around 15,000 years ago. Grey wolves, pictured here fighting for food with now extinct dire wolves (red), are dogs’ closest living relative. (Art by Mauricio Antón)

Meet the Scientist Studying How Dogs Evolved From Predator to Pet

Learn about how humans of the past helped build the bond between us and our favorite furry friends.

Leconte’s flatsedge (Cyperus lecontei) has distinctive spikelet scales and fruit which are used by scientists to identify it. (Carol Kelloff)

Get to Know the Scientist Behind the Smithsonian’s 140,000 Grass-Like Sedges

Learn more about these grassy plants and what they can tell us about sustainable life on Earth.

By studying recent mass extinctions on islands like Hawaii, Dr. Helen James is painting a picture of bird biodiversity today. Her research involves digging up fossils in caves to study bygone species, like the Kioea. (Johnny Gibbons)

Meet One of the Curators Behind the Smithsonian’s 640,000 Birds

Dr. Helen James' work on avian extinction helps scientists understand how bird species today respond to threats like human encroachment and environmental change.

The National Museum of Natural History’s newest curator in the paleobiology department, Dr. Stewart Edie, opens a drawer with mollusk fossils in the museum’s invertebrate paleobiology collection. (Katie Collins, National History Museum, London)

Say Hello to the Smithsonian’s Newest Mollusk Expert

Learn what the ancient history of these sea creatures could tell us about biodiversity on ancient and modern Earth.

The Hope Diamond came to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in 1958. Since then, museum scientists have uncovered a lot about the diamond’s intriguing past. (Dane A. Penland, Smithsonian)

Get to Know the Hope Diamond’s Keeper

We caught up with Dr. Jeffrey Post to hear the story of this infamous blue diamond, see what makes the National Gem and Mineral Collection so special and learn about the countless things minerology can reveal about the past and future.

Cole had been using fossils in the National Museum of Natural History’s Springer collections for her research long before joining the museum as a curator. (Selina Cole, Smithsonian)

Meet the Scientist Using Fossils to Predict Future Extinctions

Selina Cole has dedicated her career to understanding the emergence and disappearance of species throughout Earth’s history.

The Pacific bigfin squid (Magnapinna pacifica) in the Smithsonian collections that Mike Vecchione and Richard E. Young used to describe the deepest-known species of squid. (Richard E. Young)

Get to Know the Scientist Discovering Deep-Sea Squids

For this month's "Meet a SI-entist," we chatted with the Smithsonian's curator of cephalopods to learn more about these wonderfully weird animals on World Octopus Day.

While digging through decaying carcasses, vultures expose themselves to dangerous pathogens. Gary Graves studies the unique microorganisms in the guts of these birds that help them resist infections. (Joyce Cory)

Meet the Scientist Studying Vulture Guts for Clues to Disease Immunity

We caught up with the Smithsonian's curator of birds for “Meet a SI-entist” to talk about what makes vultures lovable, curating the National Bird Collection and co-organizing ornithology’s most ambitious project.

The Smithsonian’s National Mosquito Collection has about 1.9 million specimens from around the world that researchers use to study diseases like malaria. (Paul Fetters for the Smithsonian)

Get to Know the Scientist in Charge of Smithsonian’s 1.9 Million Mosquitoes

We caught up with Dr. Yvonne Linton to talk about what it’s like managing the Smithsonian's almost 2 million mosquito specimens and trying to determine ones are most dangerous to people.

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

In this month's "Meet a SI-entist," we will introduce you to the scientist studying the global history of cellphones.

As the ocean continues to warm, scientists look to the past for answers on how to manage today’s environmental problems. (Sophie McCoy/NOAA)

Get to Know the Scientist Reconstructing Past Ocean Temperatures

Meet the scientist reconstructing past ocean temperatures to solve today's environmental problems.

Kay Behrensmeyer pioneered the field of taphonomy, or the study of how organisms become fossils. (Smithsonian)

Meet the Scientist Studying How Organisms Become Fossils

In the latest iteration of "Meet a SI-entist," get to know the scientist who pioneered a new scientific field - taphonomy.

Mount St. Helens in 2018. (USGS)

40 Years After Mount St. Helens, Scientists Make Tiny Eruptions to Study Volcanoes

Meet the scientist who makes and studies tiny volcanic eruptions at the Smithsonian.

Sabrina Sholts is the curator of biological anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. (Paul Fetters, Smithsonian)

Get to Know the Scientist Studying Ancient Pathogens at the Smithsonian

Check out what an ancient pathogen expert does at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Categories
Archive

Page 3 of 3