Skip to main content
Smithsonian Magazine white logo
Search Shop Newsletters Renew Give a Gift Subscribe
i

Sections

  • Smart News
  • History
  • Science
  • Innovation
  • Arts & Culture
  • Travel
  • At the Smithsonian

More from Smithsonian magazine

  • Newsletters
  • Photo Contest
  • Podcast
  • Videos

Our Partners

  • Smithsonian Store
  • Smithsonian Journeys

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

National Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Voices

Three black and white acorn woodpeckers perched on a branch with wings spread.

Discover How Animals Show Their Love and Other Natural History Programs This February

Stream programs on early human ancestry, the history of disease and more through the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Madison Goldberg | January 31, 2022

The National Museum of Natural History’s 146 million objects and specimens are studied by researchers worldwide who are looking to understand all aspects of the natural world. (Chip Clark, Smithsonian)

How Museum Collections Advance Knowledge of Human Health

The National Museum of Natural History's collections are important sources of information for scientific research on health and medicine.

Emily Leclerc | April 7, 2021

An artistic representation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. (NIAID)

Six Videos that Put the Pandemic in Context

These six video webinars explore the life cycle of modern outbreaks — from infection to immunity — and put COVID-19 into historical context.

Ashley Peery & Erin Malsbury | September 23, 2020

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

An exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History puts the new coronavirus outbreak into context, showing how and why new viruses emerge and what we can do to stop them from spreading.

Margaret Osborne | February 14, 2020
A drawer of pinned adult mosquitoes from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s National Mosquito Collection. The specimens shown here were digitized recently. Meaning, their bionomic information is databased and individual specimens are cataloged. (David Pecor, WBRU)

Can Scientists Stop One of the World's Deadliest Mosquitoes?

The National Mosquito Collection provides invaluable insight into how species behave and how scientists can detect them before they spread disease.

David Pecor | May 23, 2018

Meet the People Leading the Fight Against Pandemics

"Outbreak" highlights the faces and voices of the people who work to identify pathogens, respond to outbreaks, treat patients, and research cures—as well as those who have survived infection.

Angela Roberts Reeder | May 18, 2018

New Smithsonian Exhibit Spotlights "One Health" to Reduce Pandemic Risks

Sabrina Sholts, Curator of Physical Anthropology discusses her work on "Outbreak," an upcoming exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History that aims to raise public awareness about pandemic risks in order to decrease them.

Sabrina Sholts | April 18, 2018
Will the Blue Marble Stay Blue? This famous Earth photo, known as The Blue Marble, was taken on December 7, 1972 by astronauts on the Apollo 17 spacecraft – the last manned lunar mission that provided humans with such an opportunity. Beautiful and fragile, the Blue Marble became a symbol of the environmental movement and part of the official Earth Day flag (Photo credit: NASA).

This Earth Day, the Planet’s Health is Your Health

We are now living in a highly connected world. Human health threats anywhere can have impacts everywhere. However, we can only be as healthy as the global ecosystem in which we live and on which we depend. This is the main message of Planetary Health--an evolving discipline of enormous scope, where human health is inseparable from the state of Earth systems.

Daniel Lucey & Sabrina Sholts | April 19, 2017
Categories
  • Administration (1)
  • Anthropology (56)
  • Botany (34)
  • Earth BioGenome Project (1)
  • Education and Outreach (39)
  • Entomology (42)
  • Exhibitions (40)
  • Invertebrate Zoology (51)
  • Laboratories of Analytical Biology (2)
  • Mineral Sciences (52)
  • Office of the Director (4)
  • Paleobiology (77)
  • Smithsonian Marine Station - Fort Pierce (10)
  • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (1)
  • Specimen Spotlight (13)
  • Vertebrate Zoology (87)
Archive
  • 2016 (1)
  • 2017 (11)
  • 2018 (21)
  • 2019 (32)
  • 2020 (57)
  • 2021 (74)
  • 2022 (55)
  • 2023 (43)
  • 2024 (47)
  • 2025 (17)
Smithsonian Magazine Logo in white on the site footer

Follow Us

Explore

  • Smart News
  • History
  • Science
  • Innovation
  • Arts & Culture
  • Travel
  • At the Smithsonian
  • Photo Contest
  • Podcast
  • Video

Subscription

  • Subscribe
  • Give a gift
  • Renew
  • Manage My Account

Newsletters

  • Sign Up

About

  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Content Licensing
  • FAQ
  • Feedback
  • Internships & Employment
  • Member Services
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • Staff

Our Partners

  • Smithsonian.com
  • Smithsonian Store
  • Smithsonian Journeys
  • Smithsonian Channel
  • Smithsonian Books
  • Smithsonian Membership

© 2025 Smithsonian Magazine Privacy Statement [5/20/25] Cookie Policy [5/20/25] Terms of Use Advertising Notice Your Privacy Rights Cookie Settings