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Natural History Museum

Smithsonian Voices

Why Curators Killed Hatcher, the 66-Million-Year-Old Triceratops

The popular dinosaur has a new starring role in the upcoming “Deep Time” exhibition—a meal for T. rex

A fisher from a small-scale fishery in Honduras hooks a yellowtail snapper—a species of fish that may vary its shape depending on where it's sourced.

To Pinpoint the Origin of a Fish, Check Out Its Physique

A new cost-effective tool may help small-scale fisheries simply and accurately determine the origins of a day’s catch.

Scientists don full-body suits to minimize contamination and disturbance of the precious artifacts uncovered in the 1617 church in Jamestown, Virginia, where a new skeleton awaits identification.

A Jamestown Skeleton is Unearthed, but Only Time—and Science—Will Reveal His True Identity

Jamestown Rediscovery archeologists use new technology to uncover the bones of one of the first English colonists

The display will eventually yield a formidable and fully-formed beast standing at about 15 feet tall and 40 feet long, poised to glut on the body of an unlucky Triceratops.

Homecoming King: The Nation’s T. rex Returns to the Smithsonian

The fully assembled skeleton will be displayed for the first time at the National Museum of Natural History in June 2019.

Using an artist's tools and the skills of a scientist, Tangerini makes “art in the service of science.”

The Botanical Artist Who Translates Plant Science Into Beautiful Art

The Smithsonian’s first and only botanical illustrator brings her subjects to life in all their scientific glory

Scientists at the Smithsonian's Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland extract a giant squid from its original formalin preservative.

Operation Calamari: How the Smithsonian Got Its Giant Squids

After a decade on view, these cephalopod specimens have a growing fan base

The smart, menacing, powerful T. rex of 1993's Jurassic Park has lodged itself in the minds of millions.

How We Elected T. rex to Be Our Tyrant Lizard King

The true story behind our obsession with the last and largest of the tyrannosaurs

The bones were discovered at a very shallow depth, indicating that they had been disposed of in a hurry, and with little ceremony.

Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle

What the amputated limbs and full skeletons of a Manassas burial pit tell us about wartime surgical practices

"We can’t separate human health from the health of the natural world,” says Sabrina Sholts, a physical anthropologist and organizer of the Smithsonian's new show, "Outbreak."

How Globalization Changed the Way We Fight Disease

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History explores the deadly past of global epidemics

A very happy World Bee Day to you. Let's talk pollinators.

How to Protect Your Local Pollinators in Ten Easy Ways

As the first annual World Bee Day looms, insect and garden lovers are abuzz with excitement

Fossil ostracods on a slide from the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The science team behind the recent Nature paper relied heavily on this collection for their analysis.

What the Large Penises of Tiny Crustaceans Tell Us About Evolution

Massive male sex organs have their perks, but in the long run, a little modesty pays

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Earth’s Past Climates

They have a lot to tell us about our future

In the new book North on the Wing from Smithsonian Books, author Bruce Beehler (above left) follows the spring migration of songbirds.

Thirty-Seven Warblers in a Hundred Days

A Smithsonian ornithologist follows the songbird migration north from the Gulf of Mexico. A new book tells his story

Curasub commissioner/owner Adriaan Schrier and lead DROP scientist Carole Baldwin aboard the custom-built submersible.

How a Team of Submersible-Bound Scientists Redefined Reef Ecosystems

In tropical Curaçao, Smithsonian researchers are constantly confronting the unknown

These black- and red-colored pigments reveal that humans were using pigments, potentially to communicate status or identity, by around 300,000 years ago.

New Research

Colored Pigments and Complex Tools Suggest Humans Were Trading 100,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Believed

Transformations in climate and landscape may have spurred these key technological innovations

At the time of capture, the Smithsonian's coelacanth specimen weighed about 160 pounds and measured a little less than five and a half feet long.

How the Smithsonian’s Coelacanth Lost Its Brain and Got It Back Again

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the discovery of a fish believed to have gone the way of the dinosaurs 70 million years ago

Eriauchenius milajaneae is one of the 18 new species of pelican spiders from Madagascar described by the scientists. This species was named after Wood’s daughter, and is known only from one remote mountain in southeast Madagascar.

Madagascar’s Ancient ‘Pelican Spiders’ Are As Striking As They Are Strange

New research offers an in-depth look at the island’s fascinating spider scene

Until now, no one had been able to show at a microscopic level that the turkey vulture’s larger olfactory bulbs conferred advantage in the smell department.

Turkey Vultures Have a Keen Sense of Smell and Now We Know Why

Inside the brains of this olfactory king of the roost is a powerful cellular mechanism for detecting carrion from hundreds of feet away

Large animal skeletons at the Finnish Natural History Museum.

The Hidden Biases That Shape Natural History Museums

Here’s why museum visitors rarely see lady animals, penis bones or cats floating in formaldehyde

This year's crop of Smithsonian winter shows is as disparate as it is delightful.

This Holiday Season, Make Merry in a Museum

From heavenly light shows to diabolical dollhouses, the Smithsonian’s winter exhibitions offer something for everyone

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