Fossils

Through advanced microscopy and imaging techniques, La Brea Tar Pits scientists successfully identify a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance between two species of juniper with lessons for the region’s climate future

The exceptionally rare fossil skull of a new bird species from the Age of Dinosaurs reveals that avian skulls achieved their recognizably modern shape using archaic structures—an unexpected but stunning example of parallel evolution—while also unearthing a missing link in the long evolutionary history of the bird brain.  
 

NHM Commons will open with a Celebratory Block Party and New Exhibitions, Programs, and Experiences

A new study used museum collections to map ammonite diversity around the globe before their total extinction and found they were not in decline prior to their extinction alongside non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago