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.
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Black Bears in Your Los Angeles Backyard

We asked our Curator of Mammalogy and Curator of Community Science what to do about big, hairy nosy neighbors
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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.
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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.
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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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New Study More Than Triples the Estimates of Insect Species From 6 Million to 20 Million

Ground-breaking study explodes the number of estimated insects, emphasizing the need for conservation and natural history collections
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Fossils Under San Pedro High School Reveal a Pleistocene Beach in a Miocene Sea

Discover some of the last fossils and the lasting impact of the bone beds beneath San Pedro High School
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Orcas: Culture Beneath the Surface

Dive into the matriarchal culture of orcas
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From the David Attenborough of Queens to the First-ever Curator of Community Science, Meet Dr. Christine Wilkinson

Explore some of the common misconceptions about coyotes with our new Curator of Community Science
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The SNERCH for True Love: A Sinistral Snail Tale

This Snail Search season, be on the lookout for snails with counter-clockwise shells
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