Research News

Newsroom of the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian is one of the world’s foremost research centers in science, the arts, and the humanities. In addition to research pursued by the museums, our research centers specialize in areas of inquiry spanning the globe and the farthest reaches of the universe.

A man in khaki-colored hiking gear stands with back to a large wooded vista.
Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo
NMNH Fungus Farming Ants - Ted Schultz

Entomologist Ted Schultz, the curator of ants at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the lead author of the new paper, on an ant-collecting exped

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Three people outside smile for a picture; two men sitting with legs in a dug hole and a woman inside the hole.
Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo
NMNH Fungus Farming Ants - Chapeco

Entomologist Ted Schultz (center), the curator of ants at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the lead author of the new paper, with

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Close up of thin, brown-range ant with spindly legs crawling over wispy, craggly surface.
Alex Wild
NMNH Fungus Farming Ants - Coral Fungus Agriculture

A coral-fungus-farming worker of the fungus-farming ant species Apterostigma collare, collected at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica in 2015, on its fungus garden.

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Close up of brown, slightly fuzzy ant looking down at miniscule baby ants.
Karolyn Darrow
NMNH Fungus Farming Ants - Higher Agriculture

The queen and workers of the leaf-cutting fungus-farming ant species Atta cephalotes, collected in Panama, on their higher-agriculture fungus garden.

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Close-up of brown ant holding clearish, white oval object.
Alex Wild
NMNH Fungus Farming Ants - Yeast Agriculture

A yeast-farming worker of the fungus-farming ant species Cyphomyrmex cf. rimosus, collected in Mindo, Ecuador, in 2011, on its fungus garden.

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Close-up of brown ant crawling on jagged surface.
Don Parsons.
NMNH Fungus Farming Ants - Lower Agriculture

A lower-fungus-farming worker of the rare fungus-farming ant species Mycetophylax asper, collected in Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2014, on its fungus garden.

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Man with short grayish-black hair smiles, standing on a boat with yellow handrail and wearing blue puffy jacket.
William Crawford
NMNH Surface Temp - Brian Huber

Smithsonian paleobiologist Brian Huber in 2017 on a deep-sea drilling vessel in the south and southwest waters of Australia studying Earth’s Cretaceous climate.

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Woman with long, light brown hair and sunglasses smiles, standing outdoors in front of mountain and river.
Lindsay Moon
NMNH Surface Temp - Emily Judd

Emily Judd, the lead author of the new paper and a former postdoctoral researcher at the National Museum of Natural History and the University of Arizona, at the Walcott Quarry in British Columbia, Canada, in 2019.

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Three pieces of gray stone with imprint of leaf in half-moon shape with discernible straight leaves.
Lucia RM Martino, James Di Loreto and Fred Cochard, Smithsonian.
NMNH Surface Temp - Fossil Palm Leaf

The new paper is part of an ongoing research effort that began in 2018, when Smithsonian researchers were helping develop the museum’s "David H Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time.

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Man in a hat and jacket stands outdoors at top of snow covered mountains holding poster of alligator.
Courtesy of Ira Block.
NMNH Surface Temp - Scott Wing

Smithsonian paleobiologist Scott Wing stands in the snow-covered badlands of Wyoming, where alligators once lived 56 million years ago.

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Woman in a white top, gray cardigan and purple scarf smiles outside a building with glass siding.
University of Arizona.
NMNH Surface Temp - Jess Tierney

Jessica Tierney, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Arizona and a co-author of the new paper.

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Interior room with multiple storage drawers of natural history specimens and rocks.
Chip Clark
NMNH Surface Temp - Paleobiology Collection

Fossils in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History research collection in its Department of Paleobiology.

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Black and white graphic of small shell shape from bottom, top and side.
Brian Huber, Smithsonian.
NMNH Surface Temp - Falsostuarti

Microscopic, single-celled organisms called foraminifera have a fossil record that extends from today to more than 500 million years ago. Although each organism is just a single cell, they build complex shells around themselves from minerals in the seawater.

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Black-and-white graphic of triangular shell from side, bottom and top.
Brian Huber, Smithsonian.
NMNH Surface Temp - Powelli

Microscopic, single-celled organisms called foraminifera have a fossil record that extends from today to more than 500 million years ago. Although each organism is just a single cell, they build complex shells around themselves from minerals in the seawater.

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Black and white graphic of shell shape with semi-circular shape, from bottom, side and top.
Brian Huber, Smithsonian.
NMNH Surface Temp - Calcarata

Microscopic, single-celled organisms called foraminifera have a fossil record that extends from today to more than 500 million years ago. Although each organism is just a single cell, they build complex shells around themselves from minerals in the seawater.

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Entrance to museum gallery with large white doorway feature in shape of trumpet.
Lucia RM Martino, Fred Cochard and James Di Loreto, Smithsonian.
NMNH Surface Temp - Entrance to “David H. Koch Hall of Fossils— Deep Time"

The “David H Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time,” a 31,000-square-foot dinosaur and fossil hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, takes visitors on a journey through deep time to explore ancient ecosystems, experience the evolution of plant and animal life and get up close with

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Overhead view of museum gallery with large skylight above lifesize models of dinosaurs and informational panels.
Lucia RM Martino, Fred Cochard and James Di Loreto, Smithsonian.
NMNH Surface Temp - “David H. Koch Hall of Fossils— Deep Time"

The “David H Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time,” a 31,000-square-foot dinosaur and fossil hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, takes visitors on a journey through deep time to explore ancient ecosystems, experience the evolution of plant and animal life and get up close with

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Gray pieces of stone with dark imprint of fan-shaped leaf.

This fossil palm leaf (Sabalites sp.), discovered in Petersburg Borough, Alaska, is on display in “The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time” at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. University of Alaska Museum Earth Sciences Collection 35034.

New Study Charts How Earth’s Global Temperature Has Drastically Changed Over the Past 485 Million Years, Driven by Carbon Dioxide
Smithsonian-Sparked Study Co-Led by University of Arizona Underscores Perils Presented by Unprecedented Rate of Human-Made Warming
09.19.2024
Natural History Museum Research News
A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and gray highlights framing faces wears black glasses and sits in wooden chair outdoors.

Megan A Smetzer, photo by Vance E. Williams.

Megan A. Smetzer Awarded the 36th Annual Eldredge Prize for “Painful Beauty: Tlingit Women, Beadwork and the Art of Resilience”
09.10.2024
American Art Museum Research News Education News
An image of a bright yellow sun with rays of light against a completely black background.

Solar wind flowing from the Sun measured by Parker Solar Probe near the edge of the corona and later with Solar Orbiter at a larger distance during a spacecraft alignment. The solar wind contains magnetic switchbacks, or large amplitude magnetic waves, near Parker Solar Probe that disappear farther from the Sun where Solar Orbiter is located.
Credits: Image background: NASA Goddard/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez, Spacecraft images: NASA/ESA

Smithsonian Scientists Help Uncover How Solar Wind Gets Its Energy
08.29.2024
Astrophysical Observatory Research News
Cover of book with black and white image of football player about to throw a football.

Cover of Game Changers: Sports Photographs from the National Museum of American History and Culture.

National Museum of African American History and Culture To Release Its First Book of Sports Photography
08.13.2024
African American Museum Research News
Image of flat tapestry with horizontal stripes in varying shades of orange, yellow, pink and red.
NMAI DY Begay: “Intended Vermillion"

DY Begay (Diné, b. 1953), “Intended Vermillion,” 2015. Wool with plant, insect, and synthetic dyes, 49 x 37 ½ in. Denver Art Museum: Commissioned and funded by Kent and Elaine Olson for the Denver Art Museum, 2015.266 

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Graphic design of blue circle with yellow sunburst in the center.
Smithsonian-Gallup Study Uncovers Gaps in How US Science Standards Are Preparing Students To Meet Sustainability Challenges of the Future
Stakeholder Insights Highlight Challenges and Opportunities for Integrating Sustainability Into US Classrooms
08.06.2024
Smithsonian Science Education Center Research News
Image of the side of brownish fish with small blue dots on scales.

Scientists cryopreserved skin samples from a starry goby, a common reef fish. The samples will undergo radiation exposure testing to prepare for biological material to be sent to the moon. Credit: Zerhan Jafar, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Smithsonian Scientists Devise Method To Secure Earth’s Biodiversity on the Moon
Proposed Lunar Biorepository Could Store Genetic Samples Without Electricity or Liquid Nitrogen
07.31.2024
Air and Space Museum National Zoo & SCBI Natural History Museum Research News

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