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Natural History Museum

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UPDATE: Spidernaut Dies at Natural History Museum

After 99 days in space, the museum’s new jumping spider made it only five days before dying of natural causes

Matthew Carrano, a paleontologist with the National Museum of Natural History, recommends Dinosaur State Park in Connecticut for those evotourists interested in dinosaurs.

A Smithsonian Paleontologist Suggests His Evotourism Sites

For even more ideas on where to take an evolution vacation, we turned to one of our own dinosaur experts

Cristián Samper, evolutionary biologist and the director of Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, discusses his favorite evotourism sites.

Cristián Samper on Appreciating Evolution

The director of the Natural History Museum discusses why understanding evolution is so critical

South Florida has a problem with giant pythons as demonstrated here by a ranger holding a Burmese python in the Everglades.

Attack of the Giant Pythons

The Smithsonian’s noted bird sleuth, Carla Dove, eyes smelly globs to identify victims in Florida

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Rodents of Unusual Size Do Exist

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Overheard at the Natural History Museum

Krantz was a true teacher in life, and his skeleton will ensure he is one in death as well.

Grover Krantz Donated His Body to Science, On One Condition…

“I’ve been a teacher all my life,” Krantz said, “and I think I might as well be a teacher after I’m dead, so why don’t I just give you my body.”

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‘South Park’ Hits the Natural History Museum, Aims for the Hope Diamond

“About Last Night” South Park episode sheds light on the recent election

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Sleep Over Party at the Zoo

Are you a Washingtonian who likes to camp? Try urban camping in the mock wild, at Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Fakes are an all too real part of the museum world. “There are always artists capable of making and selling things that seem old,” says anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh.

Why the Smithsonian Has a Fake Crystal Skull

The Natural History Museum’s quartz cranium highlights the epic silliness of the new Indiana Jones movie

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One Love: Discovering Rastafari!

The curator of a groundbreaking exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History discusses Rastafarian culture

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Sneak Peak: Systema Naturae

Jeweler Harry Winston donated the famous Hope Diamond—the largest-known deep blue diamond in the world—to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. It arrived in a plain brown package by registered mail, insured for one million dollars. Surrounded by 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds and hanging from a chain with 45 diamonds, the rare gem attracts 6 million visitors a year to the Natural History Museum.

Diamonds Unearthed

In the first installment of a multi-part series, Smithsonian diamond expert Jeffrey Post explains how the rare crystals form

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Reading the Bones

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Whole Worlds to Order

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Waiting, Waiting … CLICK

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