Clik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Smithsonian Discovery: 46-million-year-old beetle had zinc jaws
Modern day rove beetle species “Paederius riparius.” (Photo by K.V. Makarov) Remember the scene in Moonraker where Robert Kiel, as the steel-toothed character Jaws, bites through a tram cable that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
First North American Monkey Fossils Found in Panama Canal Excavation
“Cebus capucinus,” the species of Cebus common in Panama today. (Photo by Andres Hernandez, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) Seven fossil teeth exposed by the Panama Canal expansion project are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Smithsonian celebrates Panama Canal expansion!
Smithsonian staff scientist, Carlos Jaramillo (shown here), and Bruce McFadden from the Florida Museum of Natural History led a 5 year project to collect fossils from and understand the geology of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Species of Extinct River Dolphin Discovered in Smithsonian Collection
A fossil that has been in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since it was discovered in 1951 is today helping scientists piece together the evolutionary history of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Paleo-detectives energize great whale mystery: how & when baleen evolved
Baleen hangs from the palate of this gray whale swimming in the Pacific near Baja, California. (Flickr photo by Ryan Harvey) A bizarre change occurs in the mouth of a humpback whale during its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Resin from shipwreck hints at trade routes and botany of ancient Asia
If you’ve seen the movie Jurassic Park, you know that amber played a significant role in rebuilding a lost world: A mosquito trapped within its glossy resinous interior provided the genetic material...
View ArticleUsing Fossils in Panama to Model Future Climate Change
When Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute paleobotanist Carlos Jaramillo learned that Panama was expanding its canal in 2006 and blasting 100 million tons of rock to do so, he knew he had to move...
View ArticleWhat is it like to discover a new dinosaur?
Amateur paleontologist, Ray Stanford, describes his experience of discovering the impression of a dinosaur and determining that it was a new species. This video is associated with the exhibit cases...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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 ArticleClik here to view.
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....
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View Article