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National Museum of Natural History

The Smithsonian’s Division of Birds provided about 40% of the tissue samples for the new bird genomes in a landmark study. (James Di Loreto, Smithsonian)

Landmark Study Shares Smithsonian Bird DNA Collected Over Three Decades

A new study in Nature published the genomes — the complete DNA sequences — of 363 species of birds, opening the door for hundreds of new studies.

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.

Southern elephant seals normally live in the South Atlantic, often as far south as Antarctica. These are young male Southern elephant seals from the South Shetland and Anvers islands, Antarctica. (Daniel Costa / University of California, Santa Cruz under the National Marine Fisheries Service permits (numbers 87-1593 and 87-1851-00) and ACA authorization)

What A 1000-Year-Old Seal Skull Can Say About Climate Change

In a new study published today, scientists at the Smithsonian explain how a seal native to the South Atlantic but found in Indiana likely swam to the middle of North America over 1000 years ago.

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.

Bat ticks (Ornithodoros) under a microscope. These parasites primarily feed on bats and were collected from bats roosting beneath a Mayan Temple in Belize. Very little is known about these ticks and many species are unknown to science. (Kelly Speer)

Why We Need to Save the Parasites

Parasite extinction will have lasting and far-reaching consequences for biodiversity, and subsequently for humans.

Scientists plan to piece together the genetic code of all plants, animals, fungi and protists within the next ten years as part of the Earth BioGenome Project.

Scientists to Read DNA of All Eukaryotes in 10 Years

Researchers at the Smithsonian and around the world are working to sequence the genomes of every eukaryotic species on Earth in the next 10 years through the Earth BioGenome Project.

Some of the most exciting discoveries in human evolution happened in the last decade. (Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution)

These are the Decade’s Biggest Discoveries in Human Evolution

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Smithsonian’s “David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins” with some of the biggest discoveries in human evolution from the last 10 years.

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.

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History discovered all sorts of cool things in 2019 including the first North American medicinal leech (Macrobdella mimicus) in more than 40 years. (Anna Phillips, Smithsonian)

10 Popular Scientific Discoveries from 2019

Celebrate the new year with some of our most popular scientific discoveries from 2019.

Free post cards were given to service members when they visited the US National Museum (now the National Museum of Natural History) in the 1940s. (Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image # SIA2013-07711)

How WWII Service Members Helped Shape the Smithsonian’s New Fossil Hall

World War II service members played an important role in the shift toward audience-centric storytelling in the new "David H. Koch Hall of Fossils - Deep Time."

South American rivers are home to at least three different species of electric eels. One species, Electrophorus varii, named after the late Smithsonian ichthyologist Richard Vari, swims through murky, slow-flowing lowland waters. (D. Bastos)

Fish Detective Solves a Shocking Case of Mistaken Identity

Smithsonian scientist David de Santana discovered two new species of electric eels in the Amazon rainforest.

Smithsonian Curator Anna Phillips wants people to be less scared of blood-sucking leeches. Phillips and her colleagues recently discovered a new species of North American medicinal leech living in the eastern U.S. (Anna Phillips, Smithsonian Institution)

This Smithsonian Scientist is on a Mission to Make Leeches Less Scary

Smithsonian Curator Anna Phillips is on a quest to make leeches less repulsive to the public.

Researchers at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History traveled the world and made many new discoveries this year—including 18 new species of pelican spiders. (Nikolai Scharff)

Check Out Some of Our Most Popular Discoveries From 2018

Celebrate the new year with some of our most popular scientific discoveries from 2018.

The Smithsonian embedded the first Ceratosaurus ever discovered in the wall of the National Museum of Natural History in 1911. It remained stuck in the wall for more than 100 years. (Smithsonian Institution)

A Smithsonian Dino-Celebrity Finally Tells All

The Smithsonian’s <i>Ceratosaurus</i> is finally giving up its secrets as it prepares for a long fight with a <i>Stegosaurus</i> in the “David H. Koch Hall of Fossils – Deep Time,” opening June 8, 2019.

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.

With more disciplines working together, better use of big data, and more computer simulations and other quantitative approaches, archaeologists may be able to make meaningful predictions of the future. (Photo courtesy of Wendy Cegielski and Jay Etchings)

Convergence May Help Scientists Predict the Future

Archaeologists J.Daniel Rogers and Wendy Cegielski identified three distinct research trends that need to converge to address today’s greatest challenges.

The 2016 Arctic sea ice summertime minimum, reached on Sept. 10, is 911,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average minimum sea ice extent, shown here as a gold line (NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio/C. Starr).

Can Science Help Policymakers Create the Arctic Policies We Need Right Now?

If the future of the Arctic is to be governed by evidence-based policies, scientists must accelerate the exchange of knowledge and engage with policy makers.

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