Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

National Museum of Natural History

20240821-817A4155-02RP-S.JPG

To Get on the Same Frequency as Early Reptiles, this Scientist Compares Tiny Fossilized Bones to Modern Lizard Ears

Using the fossil record and modern cold-blooded critters, paleontologist Kelsey Jenkins recreates the hearing capabilities of ancient animals

NMNH-2025-02363-2.jpeg

What Do You Get a Museum That Has Almost Everything for the Holidays? One of the Most Spectacular Dome-Headed Dinosaur Skulls Ever Unearthed

The National Museum of Natural History’s new Pachycephalosaurus skull sheds light on enigmatic group of dinosaurs and will be on display during the holiday season

Pic 1 - Life Reconstruction Mirasaura_Copyright Gabriel Ugueto.jpg

Paleontologists Discover a ‘Marvelous’ Triassic Reptile That Sported a Sail of Feather-Like Structures on its Back

The odd structure is distinct from anything seen in living animals and likely created a colorful display

Carrano, Kroehler, Oreska Cloverly 2006.jpg

Newly Described Fossil From Wyoming Sheds Light on When Frogs and Toads Lost Their Teeth

A fragment of upper jaw fossil from the Early Cretaceous is among the oldest examples of a toothless amphibian in the fossil record

NHB2017-00615.jpg

Fetching Fossils and Unwrapping Mannequins: Here’s What Happens When a Museum Exhibition Closes

In the wrap-up of “Objects of Wonder,” hundreds of the museum’s most treasured specimens are returning to the collection

Screenshot 2024-06-06 at 2.44.10 PM.png

Check Out These Wondrous Objects on Display Before They Return to the Museum’s Collection

From whale earwax to a shimmering ammonite shell, the “Objects of Wonder” exhibition spotlights some of the museum’s most intriguing specimens

Yellow and white lichens are pictured against a back background on a tree branch.

Meet the Smithsonian Fellow Alumni Helping to Save the Planet

This Earth Day, learn about early-career researchers who are tackling issues from green technology to lichen biodiversity and coral rehabilitation

Kermit Smithsonian close up_TMS Edit copy.jpg

Newly Discovered Fossil from the Smithsonian’s Collection Named After Kermit the Frog

The new amphibian ancestor joins a growing list of species named after Jim Henson and his Muppet characters

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

IMG_6197.jpeg

What a Drawerful of Dung Reveals About the Lives of Ground Sloths

For International Sloth Day, learn about the scientific clues preserved in petrified poop

Screen Shot 2023-09-28 at 10.39.47 AM.png

How Smithsonian Fossil Preparators Are Re-Excavating a Tyrannosaur From Its Past on Display

This National Fossil Day, take an inside look at the effort to free the skeleton for research after more than a century in museum fossil halls

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

IMG_6325.jpg

Dino-Sore: Smithsonian Paleontologist Diagnoses Ancient Ailments in the Museum’s Dinosaurs

For National Veterinary Day, Matthew Carrano gives several ancient reptiles a paleo-physical

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

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

IMG_9964.jpeg

2022 in Review: Smithsonian Staff Sifts Through an Ocean of Fossils

Integrating shimmering ammonites, toothy mosasaurs and a massive haul of specimens into the growing National Fossil Collection

A tan-colored skull and spine sticks out of a sandy surface. The jaws of the elongated skull are studded with sharp teeth that are angled at the viewer.

This November, Be Thankful for Specialty Spirits and Ancient Sea Monsters

Tune into programs about “underground astronauts,” archetype-busting archaeologists and more with the National Museum of Natural History

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 small bonfire burns in the foreground with a sunset in the background.

Explore How Fire Shaped Human Evolution and More Natural History Programs This March

Tune in to programs on the future of biodiversity, how to talk about climate change and more through the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Fossilized weigeltisaurid skeleton on beige background

The Oldest Airborne Vertebrate Animal Was a Reptile With 'Weird' Wings

Paleontologists describe a 255-million-year-old weigeltisaurid fossil that likely glided through the air with the help of expansive winglike membranes

Categories
Archive

Page 1 of 2