Discoveries

Exhibitions

Deep Sea Challenger sub underwater and exploring

Pressure: James Cameron Into the Abyss

Explore the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER
Dec 12, 2022–Feb 20, 2023

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Scanning Electron Microscope Lab

See how big discoveries can come from the tiniest things in the Gem and Mineral Hall.

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Exhibition | NHM

Dinosaur Hall

Step into our award-winning Jane G. Pisano Dinosaur Hall, and enter the age of dinosaurs.

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Exhibition | LBTP

Fossil Lab

What happens after the fossils at La Brea Tar Pits are excavated? This is where you find out.

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Exhibition | LBTP

3D Theater

Travel back in time with Titans of the Ice Age.

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Stories

A pair of small wierd-looking sperm whales feeding on squid at a murky sea floor

Not Deformed, Just Weird: Ancient Pygmy Sperm Whale Species Is the Most Asymmetrical Mammal of All Time

New species of prehistoric sperm whale Scaphokogia huachafo had a Picasso-like face and fed on the Miocene seafloor more than five million years ago

NHM Scientists Brace for Unlikely Visitors and Strange Creatures During the Super El Niño

It's the strongest El Niño in more than a hundred years, and far-flung creatures are already arriving in Southern California, with more expected in the coming months. Studying them will help NHM researchers better understand the impacts of the massive climate event.

Animalia: Mollusca: Bivalvia: Mytilida: Mytilidae: Arcuatula: Arcuatula senhousia

Barcoding the Shoreline

Our Marine Biodiversity Center scientists have been sampling tidepools to build a "biolibrary" to identify the inhabitants of the coast's precious ecosystems.

A pair of hands hold brown bits of fossil leaves.

Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum Carbon Release Study

A Tar Pits researcher reconstructed forests of 56 million years ago—with chilling parallels for our warming planet: climate change led to a widespread browning of Earth's landscapes—against a backdrop of elevated atmospheric CO₂, global warming, and reduced rainfall triggered by volcanically driven carbon release—and trees are at the root of these drastic changes.

Reconstruction of Spea labreae, a black toad with orange spots in front of a tar pit, flanked by three other toads

Meet Spea labreae, a New Species of Ice Age Toad Discovered at La Brea Tar Pits

The first new extinct toad species and the first description of the Mexican burrowing toad at the Tar Pits help us understand the impacts of climate change on species distributions, past, present, and future.

An elephant, tapir, saber-toothed cat, llama, and pecarry face off with a pair of giant sloths, a pair of armadillos, a big rodent, and a terror bird, the former on the North American side and the latter on the South America; a globe is in the top left

10-million-year-long Mammal Layover in Mexico Primed the Pump for the Great American Biotic Interchange Between North and South America

Published in the journal Science, a new study by NHM researchers shows that Mexico acted as a biodiversity "holding pen" for 10 million years ahead of the Great American Biotic Interchange that opened the floodgates between North and South America 2.8 million years ago.

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NHMLAC Discovery Talk: New Cloud Forest Species

Join Dr. Adam Clause, Postdoctoral Fellow, as he shares his extraordinary discovery of a new species of lizard living in the lush mountaintop forests of southern Mexico.

Video: Happy Hour with Dr. Aaron Celestian

Join Dr. Aaron Celestian for an exploration of his research suggesting that life can persist in the coldest environments and minerals are critical for life.

Video: Happy Hour with Dr. Greg Pauly

Dr. Greg Pauly, Curator of Herpetology and Co-Director of the UNRC, gives a peek at how NHMLAC's community science work is revolutionizing the detection and management of potential invasive species.

NHMLAC Discovery Talk with Dr. Adam Clause

Join Adam Clause, Herpetology and Urban Nature Research Center Postdoctoral Fellow, as he explores what he has been doing while sheltering-in-place, his research on how plastic litter might be threatening non-marine turtles, and how he worked with other departments in the museum to make his discoveries.