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Exhibition: “Whales: From Bone to Book”
The Smithsonian Libraries will open its new exhibition “Whales: From Bone to Book” in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History on May 25. This exhibition is a...
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Discovery: Turtle shells appeared 40 million years earlier than previously...
Unique among Earth’s creatures, turtles are the only animals to form a shell on the outside of their bodies through a fusion of modified ribs, vertebrae and shoulder girdle bones. The turtle shell is a...
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T. rex to rule Dinosaur Hall in Washington, D.C.
A close-up of the skull of the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known as the Wankel T.rex which was installed in front of the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana in 2001....
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Blood molecules preserved for millions of years in abdomen of fossil mosquito
Sometime during the Middle Eocene a prehistoric mosquito slurped down a final blood meal then died and sank to the bottom of a pond in what is now northwestern Montana. Slowly covered in fine sediments...
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Smithsonian scientist confirms missing link in big cat evolution
After years of sleuthing for clues about where and when pantherine felids (“big cats”) originated, a Smithsonian scientist and an international team of researchers are one step closer to understanding...
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Quality of insect fossils from Montana’s Flathead River astounds scientists
Out in Montana’s Big Sky Country Dale Greenwalt spends his summers seeking the incredibly tiny and fragile. Armed with a putty knife honed razor-sharp on its front edge, Greenwalt probes the cliffs...
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Algae assassin found responsible for whale mass grave in Chile
It has all the hallmarks of a paleontological crime scene: a massive graveyard along a remote desert highway containing the fossil bones of at least 40 dead whales and a slew of other marine victims....
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One Scary Chicken—New species of large, feathered dinosaur discovered
Finding a fossil is the first step, recognizing it for what it truly is, is the real challenge. While closely studying three fossil skeletons from museum collections a team of scientists from the...
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Discover sloths in a whole new way!
Here at Smithsonian Science we are celebrating Sloth Week with four little-known facts about sloths, some of which we found in the Smithsonian’s very own collections! 1. The Smithsonian has a...
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Human Evolution Rewritten: We owe our existence to our ancestor’s flexible...
Many traits unique to humans were long thought to have originated in the genus Homo between 2.4 and 1.8 million years ago in Africa. A large brain, long legs and the ability to craft tools along with...
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Five amazing fossil finds that will make you want to be a fossil hunter
Smithsonian intern Catalina Suarez Gomez excavating a fossil in the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia. What do you want to be when you grow up? Would you want to explore the world searching for long lost...
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New App adds Virtual Flesh to Victorian-era Bone exhibit
Point your smartphone at the skeleton of a vampire bat mounted in a museum case, wait a minute and you will see it wiggle, jump down and scuttle away. Of course, the bat’s not actually escaping, but...
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Key Link in Turtle Evolution discovered
Pappochelys could grow up to 8 inches in length, had a long tail and used its tiny, peg-like teeth to feed on small insects and worms in what is now southern Germany. In June 2015, an international...
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Did mystery worms cause world’s first mass extinction?
Earth’s first multicellular creatures had soft bodies. This illustration shows a community of Ediacaran biota, some of which resemble living ocean creatures. Others are unlike any known organisms and...
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Fossils help scientists build a picture of the past—and present
A word to the wise: don’t ask a paleontologist to pick a favorite fossil. It’s like asking your mother which child she loves most, or asking a baseball slugger to choose his favorite bat. With over 40...
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New Montana ant species emerge from 46-million-year-old rock
“Crematogaster aurora,” queen. This specimen is the oldest known species in its genus. She was a stunning brown queen; drowned some 46 million years ago in a shallow lake in Montana. Her remains,...
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T. rex to rule Dinosaur Hall in Washington, D.C.
A close-up of the skull of the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known as the Wankel T.rex which was installed in front of the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana in 2001....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blood molecules preserved for millions of years in abdomen of fossil mosquito
Sometime during the Middle Eocene a prehistoric mosquito slurped down a final blood meal then died and sank to the bottom of a pond in what is now northwestern Montana. Slowly covered in fine sediments...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Smithsonian scientist confirms missing link in big cat evolution
After years of sleuthing for clues about where and when pantherine felids (“big cats”) originated, a Smithsonian scientist and an international team of researchers are one step closer to understanding...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Quality of insect fossils from Montana’s Flathead River astounds scientists
Out in Montana’s Big Sky Country Dale Greenwalt spends his summers seeking the incredibly tiny and fragile. Armed with a putty knife honed razor-sharp on its front edge, Greenwalt probes the cliffs...
View Article