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Natural History Museum

An illustration of ancient sea cows

A Trove of Sea Cow Fossils in Qatar Reveals a New Species That Munched on Seagrass 21 Million Years Ago

The findings suggest that sea cows have been engineering ecosystems in the Persian Gulf for tens of millions of years

Both the Czechoslovakian wolfdog and the chihuahua have some recent wolf DNA, a new study suggests.

A DNA Analysis of Almost 3,000 Canines Suggests That Most Dogs Have a Little Wolf in Them

The two subspecies split about 20,000 years ago. But since then, they may have interbred more often than Smithsonian scientists thought

Why is the Midwest covered with prairies instead of forests? 

Why Aren’t There Forests in the Midwest? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve Got Questions. We’ve Got Experts

What made the U.S. Post Office Department decide to start its airmail service so early, before air travel was even common?

Why Did the U.S. Post Office Start Airmail So Early? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

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A Chance for Healing, 170 Years After a Lakota Massacre

Dozens of personal belongings from the Rosebud Sioux tribe find their way home after spending decades in the Smithsonian collections

Jane Goodall visiting a chimpanzee rescue center in 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda

Jane Goodall, Legendary Primatologist and Anthropologist, Dies at 91

She was considered the world’s leading expert on chimpanzees and was renowned for her global conservation efforts

Yunxian 1 (left) and Yunxian 2 (right) are skulls unearthed in China that had been badly crushed. Scientists digitally reconstructed Yunxian 2 (center) and analyzed its relationship to other early human fossils.

Scientists Reconstruct a Million-Year-Old Skull and Suggest It Could Rewrite Our Timeline of Human Evolution

A recent study dramatically pushes back the date for the emergence of our species, though some researchers call for further evidence

The Nyayanga excavation site in Kenya, in July 2025. Fossils and Oldowan tools have been excavated from the tan and reddish-brown sediments, which date to more than 2.6 million years old.

Early Humans Moved Stones Long Distances to Make Tools 600,000 Years Earlier Than Thought

A new study takes another look at some of the oldest known stone tools and suggests their makers transported materials for up to eight miles

The Blue Water valley viewed from Ash Hollow State Historical Park, not far from the massacre site. The park’s visitor center will store the belongings while the Lakota decide on their final disposition. Smithsonian opted not to include photographs of the items out of respect for descendants of the victims. 

The Return of Plundered Belongings Offers a Chance for Healing to a Grieving Lakota Community 170 Years After a Long-Forgotten Massacre

In the conclusion of a long-awaited turn of events, the Great Plains tribe has now reclaimed cherished items stolen from their ancestors by the U.S. Army

A handler holds her Chihuahua dogs in the grooming area at the 149th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on February 10, 2025, in New York City. 

How One Chihuahua Proved to Be a Link to the Ancient Dogs That Moved to Latin America With the Spread of Agriculture

New research shows that ancient dogs did not join Indigenous people in Central and South America until farming became popular—especially of maize

Reconstruction and illustration of Mirasaura in its natural forested environment, hunting insects

This Surprising Ancient Reptile Had a Colorful, Corrugated Sail on Its Back. New Research Suggests It Was Used to Communicate

A 247-million-year-old fossil from a German natural history museum reveals the secrets of Mirasaura

An artist’s reconstruction of the fossilized landscape, plants and animals found preserved in a remote bonebed of Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park

A Bone Bed From the Dawn of the Dinosaurs Has Revealed the Oldest Known Pterosaur Found in North America

Fossil surprises abound in new research that unearths the history of the Triassic Period

A 99-million-year-old fly encased in amber shows infection with a prehistoric zombifying fungus.

Rare Amber Fossils Capture ‘Zombie’ Fungus Infecting Insects During a Time When Dinosaurs Still Walked the Earth

An ant and fly from the Cretaceous period offer insights into the history of Ophiocordyceps, the fungal parasite made popular by HBO’s “The Last of Us”

The Dragon Man skull, described as Homo longi in 2021, belongs to a Denisovan, according to new research.

Iconic ‘Dragon Man’ Skull Offers First Glimpse of What a Denisovan’s Face Looked Like, New Genetic Studies Suggest

The mysterious ancient humans were only known from fossil fragments. Now, two papers argue a skull uncovered in China belongs to this group, after examining preserved DNA and proteins

I have an ancestor who was in Massachusetts in 1640. What is the best way to research ships that arrived before that time? 

How Do I Research Ancestors Who Sailed to America in the 1600s? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Scientists determined the most effective method of halting the disease was covering a coral colony with a weighted plastic bag, then injecting a seawater solution that contains the probiotic. They left the colony covered for two hours to allow the probiotic bacteria to colonize the coral.

A Deadly Disease Is Eating Away at Caribbean Corals and Wreaking Havoc on Reefs. Could Probiotics Be the Solution?

New research suggests the probiotic McH1-7 could help stop the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease among wild corals near Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Geologist Michael Ackerson holds a sample from Canada's Acasta Gneiss formation, home to some of the oldest rocks on the planet.

The Secrets of How Life Began May Be Hidden Inside the World’s Oldest Rocks

Smithsonian researchers trekked to a remote site in northern Canada to collect four-billion-year-old rock samples that could unlock mysteries about Earth’s earliest history

An adult male Hudsonian godwit perches in a white spruce tree in Churchill, Manitoba.

Inside the Epic Migrations of North America’s Most Fascinating Shorebirds, From Godwits to Curlews

Ornithologist Bruce Beehler tracks down what he calls the “Magnificent Seven,” a charismatic group of migratory birds, in his new book

 Winston Red Diamond.

See for Yourself One of the World’s Rarest Red Diamonds at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum

Unraveling the surprising science that gives colorful diamonds their special allure

Heliconias planted as ornamentals in a garden in Panama

Nearly Half of the Colorful and Charismatic Heliconia Tropical Plant Species Are Threatened With Extinction, New Study Reveals

Using data from over 10,000 herbarium specimens, Smithsonian scientists uncover the urgent conservation needs of the plants, which are critical to tropical ecosystems

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