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Stream these programs and more through the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Titanoboa fossils show this Paleocene serpent was the largest snake ever!

In a normal year, University of Wyoming associate professor in botany and geology Ellen Currano would spend about a month searching for plant fossils. But…

4:04 In a normal year, University of Wyoming associate professor in botany and geology Ellen Currano would spend about a month searching for plant fossils. But in the midst of the pandemic last summer, Currano wasnt allowed to do her usual research. Typically, Currano said the first step in the process is pouring over geologic maps. Once she picks a broad area to study, she goes there to walk and drive around. Currano looks for drab gray and brown rocks because plants arent preserved inside dar...

April 29th, 2021, 6:00AM / BY Emily Leclerc Fossil plants reveal information about the temperature and precipitation of past climates. Scientists use what they learn from fossil plants to inform their research on modern climate change (USNM PAL 606436, Smithsonian) In a world obsessed with human ingenuity, plants are perhaps the most underappreciated innovators. Their ability to adapt sprouts from necessity. Plants cannot root elsewhere when faced with an inhospitable...

How the Chicxulub Impactor gave rise to modern rainforests New and improved plant sex: Plants produced attractive flowers containing sugary rewards for insects who carry pollen (basically the male sperm of the plants) to other flowers, helping plants reproduce. This strategy was so successful that flowering plants took over tropical forests, and the world. WASHINGTON, DC .- Tropical rainforests today are biodiversity hotspots and play an important role in the world’s climate systems. A new stu...

Archyde April 4, 2021 by archyde About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid collided with what is now known as Yucatan, plunging Earth into darkness. The impact transformed the tropical rainforests, giving birth to flowers. Today, tropical rainforests are a hotspot for biodiversity and play an important role in global climate systems. A new study was published today in La science It sheds light on the origins of modern rainforests and can help scientists understand how tropical forests wil...

March 30th, 2021, 6:00AM / BY Anna Torres Participate in the City Nature Challenge by spotting and recording animals and plants in your city starting Apr 30. (Katja Schulz) A special performance of “A Passion for the Planet,” the City Nature Challenge and an evening with Howard Youth; stream these free programs and more this April through the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Sixth Annual Mother Tongue Film Festival Ongoing The film �...

Loading video... VIDEO: What happened in the tropics when an asteroid hit the planet and how did it shape todays rainforests? view more  Credit: Monica Carvalho Tropical rainforests today are biodiversity hotspots and play an important role in the worlds climate systems. A new study published today in Science sheds light on the origins of modern rainforests and may help scientists understand how rainforests will respond to a rapidly changing climate in the future. The study led by resea...

March 11th, 2021, 6:00AM / BY Emily Leclerc Sylvester Musembi Musyoka, a Kenyan colleague and field crew leader, recording a large mammal fossil bone during a virtual field project to collect fossils in Kenyan excavation sites that were in danger of being damaged by severe weather. (Nzioki Mativo/Smithsonian) When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic one year ago, it brought much of the world to a halt. Countries closed their borders, internationa...