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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Events

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Tours & Activities

Scanning Electron Microscope Demonstration

Join an NHM scientist at the Scanning Electron Microscope Lab to learn how we use this important tool in discoveries about our natural world. Get an overview of this specialized equipment’s capabilities, see specimens in amazing detail, and have a chanc

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weekly

11:00 am

Tuesdays and Thursdays

Museum Educator leading visitors along a path with big cat paw prints

LBTP

Tours & Activities Kids & Family Adults

Excavator Tour

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen.

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daily

1:00 pm

Museum Educator wearing a headset with a microphone and holding a skull.

LBTP

Tours & Activities

Discoveries From the Tar Pits

Join a Museum Educator to hear about exciting discoveries from the Tar Pits! These 20-minute presentations highlight what we can learn at the Tar Pits, followed by a Q&A opportunity. Topics are always changing.

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weekly

3:30 pm

3:30 pm daily: Meet at the Fossil Lab

11 am Sat./Sun.: Meet at the flagpole outside Museum

LBTP

Tours & Activities Kids & Family Adults

Excavator Tour

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen.

Learn more

daily

1:00 pm

LBTP

Tours & Activities

Discoveries From the Tar Pits

Join a Museum Educator to hear about exciting discoveries from the Tar Pits! These 20-minute presentations highlight what we can learn at the Tar Pits, followed by a Q&A opportunity. Topics are always changing.

Learn more

weekly

3:30 pm

3:30 pm daily: Meet at the Fossil Lab

11 am Sat./Sun.: Meet at the flagpole outside Museum

Stories

A life-like painting of a large lizard lurking over a nest of dinosaur eggs with one already in its mouth

2025 Excavated: A Look Back at Some of the Biggest NHM Discoveries

From prehistoric giant lizards and ancient raccoons to newly discovered spiders and heroic extinct dugongs, NHMLAC researchers had a busy year describing new species. Meet some of the coolest creatures our researchers described this year, along with other inspiring discoveries.

An artistic reconstruction of a herd of ancient sea cows foraging on the seafloor.

For Ancient and Modern Seagrass Ecosystems, Having a (Sea)Cow Is Super Important

A new species of extinct dugong from the Persian Gulf highlights sea cows as underwater lawn mowers protecting biodiversity

Dr. Rodrigo Monjaraz Ruedas holding specimens in a jar and wearing a head lamp at night

Sumérgete en el mundo los Arácnidos con nuestro nuevo Curador de Entomología, el Dr. Rodrigo Monjaraz Ruedas

Conoce a uno de los dos nuevos curadores de Entomología del Museo de Historia Natural, NHM y explora con nosotros la biodiversidad de arácnidos secreta en las entrañas de la tierra.

Cave Dive Into Arachnids With Dr. Rodrigo Monjaraz Ruedas, Our New Entomology Curator

Welcome one of NHM’s two new Entomology Curators and explore the secret biodiversity of arachnids deep below the Earth’s surface

Fossil tree limb with a fossil bird on top of it framed by demolished wall

Fossil Trees Help Grow Our Understanding of Ancient Climate

A new study reveals how ancient trees from La Brea Tar Pits helped warm the planet during the last ice age by coughing up CO2

Illustration of aquatic sloths chilling by the beach next to some penguins and sea lions during a sun set

Dive Into the Weird Miocene World of Aquatic Sloths

A new paper by an international team of researchers, including NHM's Curator of Marine Mammals, Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe, uncovers more secrets of aquasloths with one of the most complete skeletons ever discovered

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L.A. on Wheels Scavenger Hunt

Go on a Museum scavenger hunt to explore how L.A. turns transportation into a celebration of creativity and community!

Teachers and students raising their arms with an illustration of a sloth in the background

Ice Age Discoveries

Red-tailed Hawk in Cedar Creek smoke - 2 cropped(

Project Phoenix: Investigating Bird Responses to Smoke

This groundbreaking community science project seeks to understand how wildfire smoke is impacting birds.

Skulls, dragonfly, gears, and other scientific illustrations in yellow, pink, and white on purple background

STEAM Programs

Join us for Girls in STEM Programming at the Natural History Museum! Our Girls in STEM Programming has opportunities for girls ages 8-18 to participate in hands-on STEM activities, meet real scientists, and explore future career paths in a fun and engaging way.

Newspaper clipping showing collection of publisher and Museum donor William Preston Harrison, 1896

NHMLAC Discovery Talk: Decolonizing Ethnology Collections with KT Hajeian

KT Hajeian, Anthropology Collections Manager hosts a NHMLAC Discovery Talk!

News & Press

The Ocean in a Cup: Environmental DNA Successfully Captures Marine Biodiversity

Environmental DNA left behind by ocean animals can be measured to inventory the marine life in a particular area

Burro-ing Into the Past

A new study reveals that introduced donkeys and indigenous pumas are helping to resurrect extinct food webs in Death Valley.

Eating bamboo? It's all in the wrist.

An ancient fossil reveals the earliest panda to survive solely on bamboo and the evolutionary history of panda's false thumbs

Earth’s First Giant

The two-meter skull of a humongous new ichthyosaur species, Earth’s first known giant creature, reveals how both the extinct marine reptiles and modern whales became giants on earth

Tooth Fast, Tooth Curious?

A new study uncovers a novel approach to a plant-based diet, unique to long-necked dinosaurs