NEWS

Get ready for Earth Day with Museum DIY activities and special programs on Thursday, April 22, 2021! Earth Day DIY Activities Make Your Own Rain Barrel Make your own rain barrel to water your garden with instead of using well water or your city water supply.* Learn how to make your own rain barrel *This… Read More >

Illustration of the Karoo Basin during the mass extinction at the end of the Permian, some 252 million years ago. The protomammal Lystrosaurus shown in the foreground. Lystrosaurus is what paleontologists call a “disaster taxon” — a group that thrived during a time when most other life was struggling. Illustration: Gina Viglietti. Our planet’s worst… Read More >

By Marianne Barrier, PhD; Lab Manager, Genomics & Microbiology Research Lab I’m amazed when I hear stories of individuals who knew at a young age exactly what they wanted to do and followed their passion straight into their chosen career. My path has been more of a winding road with lots of interesting side trips… Read More >

The loss and decline of many charismatic vertebrate species such as mammals and birds, and even of perhaps less-charming creatures such as amphibians and reptiles, has been documented and prominently featured in the popular media. However, many invertebrate species, which comprise nearly 99 percent of all animal diversity and occupy an important trophic level in the… Read More >

Eastern ratsnake (Panterophis alleghaniensis). Photo: Jeff Beane/NCMNS. A recent discovery published in Herpetological Review may be short, but as co-author Jeff Beane points out, it’s still very important. Why? “Because it documents a couple of unusual things,” says Beane, the Museum’s Collections Manager for Herpetology. Green salamander (Aneides aeneus). Photo: Jeff Beane/NCMNS. New Predator of Green Salamanders… Read More >