American Museum of Natural History
Why are Fossil Shark Skeletons So Rare?
Happy Shark Week! Shark teeth are among the most common vertebrate fossils you can find, and yet fossilized shark skeletons are harder to come by. Paleontologist and Curator Emeritus John Maisey explains how sharks' cartilaginous...
American Museum of Natural History
Skylight: Mars's Closest Approach In 15 Years
Every few years Earth passes Mars in its orbit around the Sun. On July 31, 2018, the distance between Earth and Mars will be the shortest it's been since 2003—the red planet won't come this close again until 2035. Why will these...
American Museum of Natural History
Space Volcanoes - Shelf Life 360
Here on Earth, volcanic eruptions are dramatic manifestations of our dynamic planet. Elsewhere in our solar system, awe-inspiring extraterrestrial volcanoes—both active and extinct—provide clues to planetary formation and hints of how...
American Museum of Natural History
Climate Change Resilience: Cooling an Urban Heat Island
Cities tend to be much warmer than their surrounding areas, and global warming is exacerbating this heat island effect. Painting roofs white helps cool buildings and lower energy demand. In New York City, installing these reflective...
American Museum of Natural History
How is a nautilus different from a squid?
Happy Cephalopod Week! The weird and mysterious nautilus is a cephalopod, just like octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish. But how similar are these shelled critters to their relatives? Curator and paleontologist Neil Landman gives seven...
American Museum of Natural History
Acoustic Exploration of the Oceans With Kelly Benoit Bird
Marine scientist Kelly Benoit-Bird explores the oceans' depths with acoustic technology to better understand animal behavior like schooling, cooperation, and predator-prey interactions. At the Museum's Ocean Luminaries event held on...
American Museum of Natural History
The Big Ocean Myth with Prosanta Chakrabarty
Ichthyologist Prosanta Chakrabarty makes the case that the oceans aren’t as vast as we think. At the Museum's Ocean Luminaries event held on March 2, 2018, he discussed the threat of pollution and how museum collections hold promise for...
American Museum of Natural History
Undersea Tech and Ocean Exploration with Kakani Katija
At the Museum's Ocean Luminaries event held on March 2, 2018, engineer Kakani Katija discussed some of the incredible new tools and technologies scientists are using for undersea exploration. Katija is a principal engineer at the...
American Museum of Natural History
Skylight: How Does Our Solar System Move Around the Milky Way?
The planets orbit the Sun in a fairly flat plane. How does that plane relate to the orientation of the Milky Way? If we could see the Sun moving among our night sky constellations, which direction would it be heading? Watch this video to...
American Museum of Natural History
Revealing Climate Through Corals
What can corals reveal about how our oceans have changed over time? Paleoceanographer Nathalie Goodkin, an assistant curator in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History, explains how she...
American Museum of Natural History
Under the Volcanoes - Shelf Life #18
Volcanoes have enthralled and terrified humans for centuries. Today, researchers are trying to uncover the secret “ingredients” behind dangerous eruptions. Expeditions to Mt. Vesuvius—one of the world’s best-known volcanoes—and Alaska’s...
American Museum of Natural History
Seeing Is Believing - AMNH SciCafe
How do our brains make sense of the world our eyes see? How does attention affect our perception? And how is it possible to miss things even if they are right in front of us? Marisa Carrasco, a professor of psychology and neural science...
American Museum of Natural History
Why Isn't Pterodactyl a Dinosaur?
Are Pterodactyls and other pterosaurs considered dinosaurs? There are flying dinosaurs, right? And what are dimetrodon and plesiosaurs? Paleontologist Danny Barta explains what a dinosaur is, and is not! If you’re more of a space person,...
American Museum of Natural History
Earth Day 1970 – 2018: Sea Changes
The first Earth Day was in 1970. Since then, our population has doubled. On average, each person is eating more meat, throwing out more plastic, and producing 21% more CO2. Our habits on land are recorded in the oceans. See what’s...
American Museum of Natural History
Nature's Superheroes: The Pollution Problem
Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is causing the oceans to heat up. This is bad news for coral reefs and the animals that depend on them, such as animals with shells. Join Madeline, Charlie, and Ezra to learn about how...
American Museum of Natural History
Nature's Superheroes: More Trees Please!
Join Francesca, Asha, and Lydia as they explore what makes trees so important, the problems trees face, and what kids like you can do to help. Learn more at OLogy, the Museum’s science website for kids:...
American Museum of Natural History
Skulls Reveal Clues to Evolution of Carnivoran Diversity
New research reveals that the evolution of skull shapes in the mammalian order Carnivora is influenced by much more than what a species eats. Using data from more than 50 living species, and shape and biomechanical modeling, Z. Jack...
American Museum of Natural History
Unseen Oceans – Now Open
With the use of 21st-century technologies like robotics, satellite monitoring, and more, scientists are revealing the unseen habitats of the oceans’ most mysterious animals and mapping remote, inhospitable areas in unprecedented detail....
American Museum of Natural History
Our Senses: What Sluggish Sloths Tell Us About Balance
We don’t always think of balance as one of our senses, but scientists often consider it as essential as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. For a species like the three-toed sloth, however, there’s little need for this sixth sense....
American Museum of Natural History
Skylight: More Than Meets the Eye
The sky is awash in light, but there’s much more beyond the visible that we cannot sense with our eyes. What do we see when we use telescopes to peer into the invisible? #astronomy #space #visiblelight #wavelength #infrared #MilkyWay...
American Museum of Natural History
Our Senses: How Mammals See the World In Many Colors
Humans see a variety of colors because our eyes have three types of cone cells. But things don't look quite as vivid for some of our fellow mammals—some see in two colors, others just in black and white. Color vision evolved in primates...
American Museum of Natural History
Our Senses: Touch, From Single Cell To Whiskers
Touch is perhaps the most primordial sense – even some single-celled organisms are able to sense pressure. Humans have many different types of touch receptors, including one that can also be found at the base of cat and mouse whiskers....
American Museum of Natural History
Our Senses: An Immersive Experience Now Open!
This new exhibition delves into how our brains, adapted over millennia to help our ancestors survive their environments, work with sensory organs to shape and reframe our perceptions of everyday encounters. #senses #brain #science #sight...
American Museum of Natural History
12-Foot Amethyst Geode Time Lapse
Look what just arrived! This 12-foot-tall sparkling amethyst geode from Uruguay is one of the world’s largest. It was born when molten magma poured from the Earth’s crust 135 million years ago. View it in the Museum’s Grand Gallery...