Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

National Museum of Natural History

Collections (IZ)_credit Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution (1).jpg

1.1 Billion Objects and Counting: Inside the Effort to Tally Natural History Specimens Around the Globe

This year, NMNH director Kirk Johnson helped spearhead an effort to add up the collections of the world’s largest museums

A black monkey sits on a tree branch, looking at the camera and eating flowers

Embark on a Journey to the Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Station

Join a museum intern on a visit to Panama’s Barro Colorado Island to celebrate 100 years of scientific discovery

Screen Shot 2023-10-31 at 11.27.18 AM.png

Meet the Scientist Studying the Scary Speed of Spider Jaws

This Halloween, learn how arachnologist Hannah Wood uses the fossil record to track the evolution of these misunderstood critters

A man wearing a ripped white shirt stands among thick greenery, holding a plastic sample bag

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Untangling the Branches of Hawaii’s Evolutionary Tree

From fragile ferns to towering trees, NMNH botanist Warren Wagner has spent over 30 years researching plants from the dense forests of the Pacific Islands.

A colorful worm is lit up against a black background

How 3D Worms Provide a Peek Into Historic Smithsonian Collection

Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Smithsonian scientists provide worldwide access to some of the museum's most delicate specimens

A large, brown tooth sits on top of a colorful map of the California coast

Summer Summary: A Mysterious Fossil Tooth, Metallic Planet and Marine Hitchhikers

Catch up on the museum discoveries you may have missed over the past few months

A multitude of sea lions sit very close together on a crowded beach.

Reading Between the Bones: New Research Reveals an Unexpected Growth Spurt in California Sea Lions

As climate change alters ocean ecosystems, scientists look to marine mammal ecology and morphology to predict how recovering species will fare in an uncertain future

NZP-20181224_002MC.jpg

How Lugging a Liquid Nitrogen Tank into the Amazon Helped Spark Ornithology’s Genetic Revolution

Almost 40 years ago, Smithsonian zoologist Gary Graves collected tissue samples in the jungle that formed the nucleus of the museum’s DNA collection

thumbnail_final edaphosaur.jpg

Smithsonian Scientists Discover One of the Earliest Mammal Ancestors That Ate Its Veggies

The new finding pushes the first signs of tetrapod herbivory back millions of years

image001 (1).jpg

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Studying the Mysterious Mongolian Deer Stones

Archaeologist William Fitzhugh has spent the past two decades documenting carved stone monoliths in the Mongolian countryside to uncover the secrets of an elusive ancient culture

P1030374_EC_semi_MC.JPG

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Venturing to Volcanoes to Understand the Origins of Earth’s Surface

Elizabeth Cottrell collects rocks and analyzes samples in the lab to help reveal what makes Earth so unique

In an aerial shot of the desert, a dry lakebed is surrounded by swaths of white salt flats.

Clay-Encrusted Microbes Provide Clues to How Early Life Developed on Earth and Potentially Mars

Smithsonian scientists study saline lakes in the Chilean desert to travel back in time to ancient Earth and beyond

A large research vessel with a cell tower on top sails across a dark blue stretch of ocean that expands towards a paler blue sky along the horizon.

Smithsonian Scientists Unearth Signs of an Ancient Climate Calamity Buried Beneath the Seafloor

The research puts modern oceanic climate change in context

1_-_matthew_carrano_-_opisthiamimus_use_this_one.jpg

2022 in Review: The Year’s Top Discoveries by Museum Researchers

An Ichthyosaur graveyard, oyster middens and other headline-grabbing findings by scientists at the National Museum of Natural History

PhronimaD416T-018.jpg

To Understand How Animals See in the Abyss, Scientists Peer Through the Eyes of an Alien Amphipod

The team utilized computer models to understand how a four-eyed crustacean sees in the deep ocean’s twilight zone

A tan woolly mammoth skeleton facing left bends its front legs and tilts its tusks towards the bottom of the frame.

Celebrate Fabulous Fossils and More Natural History Programs This October

Tune into programs about pioneering archaeologists, festive bat celebrations and more with the National Museum of Natural History

A big-eared, large-nosed, frown-mouthed furry grey and white medium-sized animal sits in the "v" of a small tree, holding one of the branches. In front of the animal is a woman with black hair wearing business clothes and smiling as she snaps a selfie.

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Unlocking Crucial Conservation Clues in the Genetic Code of Koalas

For Save the Koala Day, learn how conservation geneticist Rebecca Johnson’s work helps protect these iconic marsupials

Elephant-like mammoth and mastodons trudge across a pond while a group of giant camels stop for a drink. In the background are snow-capped mountains. Crouching in the grassy foreground are a pair of sabertooth cats.

What the Demise of Mammoths Can Teach Us About Future Extinctions

Smithsonian scientist's research illustrates how North American ecosystems are still reeling from the megafaunal extinction that closed the ice ages

A fruit bat with large, dark eyes, big ears and light brown fur wraps its gray wings around a tree branch.

To Uncover the Origins of Diseases, Smithsonian Researchers Dust Bat Specimens for Viral Fingerprints

Smithsonian scientists utilize a new formula to extract fragile genetic data from bats collected decades ago

6) Eroding Late Holocene Native American oyster midden at low tide in Fishing Bay, Maryland.JPG

When Was the World Our Oyster? We Asked the Anthropologist Investigating Sustainable Oyster Practices Through History

Smithsonian anthropologist Torben Rick studies how different communities sustained oyster populations for centuries, and how that changed in the wake of colonization

Categories
Archive

Page 4 of 6