Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

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Meet the Scientist Decoding Human History in South America Through Giant Ground Sloth Fossils

Thaís Pansani examines the marks humans left on megafauna bones to determine when people arrived in South America and how they interacted with giant mammals

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Fetching Fossils and Unwrapping Mannequins: Here’s What Happens When a Museum Exhibition Closes

In a black and white photo, three women and one man sit together in a room with a large circular window behind them, surrounded by papers.

Honoring the Overlooked Contributions of Women Anthropologists in the National Anthropological Archives

A white, fluffy dog stands in front of a brown mural with other dogs

NMNH in Review: Top Discoveries by Museum Scientists in 2023

A blue bird with white and grey spots lies against a white background.

Celebrate the Holiday Season with the Museum’s Stunning Collection of Blue Specimens

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Meet the Archaeologist Leading the Museum’s Repatriation Efforts

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“Endlessly Fascinating Devices”: Why the National Museum of Natural History is Exploring the Cultural Nature of Cellphones

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Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Studying the Mysterious Mongolian Deer Stones

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2022 in Review: The Year’s Top Discoveries by Museum Researchers

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Lucy’s Legacy: Celebrating the 48th Anniversary of Her Discovery with a Selfie

A group of several bison with dark fur traverses a light green colored landscape of grasslands as rays of late afternoon light stream through several gold-tinged clouds. In the distance are more bison and the horizon is framed by distant mountains.

For the Love of the Buffalo

A landscape shot featuring a cloudy gray sky, snow-covered mountains in the distance above a turquoise expanse of glacial ice on the horizon and a dark blue expanse of water in the foreground.

Community Archeology Helps Bridge Gap Between Science and Tradition

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When Was the World Our Oyster? We Asked the Anthropologist Investigating Sustainable Oyster Practices Through History

A humpback whale breaches the surface of the ocean on a sunny day as three birds fly overhead.

10 Popular Scientific Discoveries From 2021

Headshot of paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner in a red sweater holding an early human skull up text to her face on white background.

Meet the Scientist Studying How Humans Started Eating Meat

A pile of gourds spilling out of a tipped over container onto a brick floor with a bale of straw in the background.

Say Hello to the Scientist Harvesting Clues About Ancient Gourds and Maize

A group of seven squashes and an ear of corn on grass littered with fallen leaves.

How Ancient Humans Helped Bring Pumpkins to Your Thanksgiving Table

Historic black and white photograph of Sitting Bull sitting down with a feather in his hair and holding a pipe.

New Study Adds to Decade-Old Repatriation of Sitting Bull's Belongings

While this year’s Arctic sea ice extended further than last year’s, there still wasn’t as much of it as there was only two decades ago. Thinner and younger sea ice in winter and less ice in the summer are two of the many elements of the Arctic’s new reality. (Credit: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard. Public domain.)

Climate Change Redefines What 'Normal' Means in the Arctic

Landscapes have been managed by humans for thousands of years – some sustainably, others less so. The Martu people of Australia burn the grasses in continent’s Western Desert. The practice yields food, but also increases biodiversity in the area. (Rebecca Bliege Bird)

New Study Pushes Origins of Human-Driven Global Change Back Thousands of Years

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Scientists at the National Museum of Natural History Discover Two Squirrel Species Long Obscured by Mistaken Identities

The Murder Mystery Linking a Bird Specimen at the National Museum of Natural History to the Mysterious Death of an Arctic Explorer

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