This grizzly bear sow and her two cubs near the road on the way into the park.

Yellowstone: Worth the Wait

June 16, 2023

Twelve North Carolina educators are now in Yellowstone National Park on one of the Museum’s Educators of Excellence Institutes. They met at RDU at 4am on Wednesday, June 14, for ten days exploring the ecology and geology of our first national park, learning from experts and getting ideas and information to bring back to students… Read More >


An eastern cottontail captured on camera through the Raleigh Backyard Sustainability Survey Project. Credit: eMammal.

During ‘Anthropause,’ Animals Moved More Freely

June 12, 2023

An eastern cottontail captured on camera through the Raleigh Backyard Sustainability Survey Project. Credit: eMammal. Click image for larger version. By Laura Oleniacz, NCSU News A new study used GPS data to track the movements of 43 species of mammals around the globe before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing that animals were able to… Read More >


Life reconstruction of a juvenile Iani smithi. Illustration: Jorge Gonzalez.

New Dino, ‘Iani,’ Was Face of a Changing Planet

Life reconstruction of a juvenile Iani smithi. Illustration: Jorge Gonzalez. CC-BY-NC. Click image for larger version. By Tracey Peake, NCSU News A newly discovered plant-eating dinosaur may have been a species’ “last gasp” during a period when Earth’s warming climate forced massive changes to global dinosaur populations. The specimen, named Iani smithi after Janus, the… Read More >


Students from Exploris Middle School in downtown Raleigh identify microfossils as part of the Cretaceous Creatures project.

Microfossils major part of museum’s public science project

June 7, 2023

Eighth grade students across the state, like these shown here at Exploris Middle School in downtown Raleigh, have spent the last year studying microfossils as part of the Cretaceous Creatures public science project through the Museum. Photo: Mike Garr/NCMNS. By Jennifer Allen, CoastalReview.org More than 4,500 eighth graders during this school year have been helping… Read More >


Yellow flowers in the Beggartick genus at Prairie Ridge.

The Problem-Solving Power of Science: Unveiling the Facts

June 5, 2023

In a NC Department of Natural & Cultural Resources blog post, Secretary Reid Wilson topically notes that science is “everything, everywhere, all at once,” and a new department partnership, The NC Science Trail, will help you to connect with 60+ locations to explore the amazing science & nature our state has. The Museum is proud… Read More >