Harvard Museum of Natural History

10/09/2026

Let’s play telephone! ☎️ The catch? The next player hasn’t even been born yet. Over millions of years, mammals have been playing “intergenerational telephone,” sharing messages about the environment with their developing offspring.

Join Sasha Post, Graduate Student, Harvard Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, for a presentation on the strategies humans use to play telephone, why these strategies evolved, and how we can change the game to improve public health.

Regular museum admission rates apply. See details:
https://tinyurl.com/ScienceSpotlightsOct26

09/28/2026

Reminder: This Friday, 10/2 at 5:30 PM, Peter Grima will be presenting “Emily Dickinson: The Poet as Botanist.” This program is free, open to all, and will occur in-person at Harvard University and on Zoom. Visit our website for details and registration information. See you there! https://rhodora.org/meetings/
(Photo Credit: Houghton Library, Harvard University)
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture

09/27/2026

The Nor’easter couldn’t stop our Celebremos plans! Visitors learned about Native Birds of Puerto Rico and cultivating coffee, made Guanín pendants that honor the Taíno people and clay figures of Saints using techniques from wood carvers, enjoyed Bomba music and dancing, and more. Thank you to everyone who made it out despite the rain. See you next year! 🇵🇷

📷 by EJSP Visual - Julieta Sarmiento Photography

09/22/2026

We hope you'll join us for Half-Earth Day 2026, Half-Earth at 10: Honoring A Legacy of Hope on October 12 in Sanders Theatre!

Scientists, artists, and Indigenous leaders will explore how courage, imagination, and wisdom pass from one generation to the next - including Florian Schulz, Photographer & Speaker at National Geographic.

Florian's photography documents Alaskan wildlife in one of the most remote landscapes left on Earth, one of the last great functioning wilderness systems we have.

At Half-Earth Day, he’ll share immersive stories of caribou migrations, polar bears, bears, whales, and the Indigenous communities connected to these living ecosystems.

Tickets on sale now at https://bit.ly/4rdtoEl

Presented by the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation together with the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Harvard University Herbaria, the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, and the Harvard University Native American Program.

Sponsoring free admission to the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology on October 12, Indigenous Peoples' Day.

09/17/2026

Don't you just want to boop his nose? An amazing discovery!

Breaking news! Scientists have described the first new wild cat species in over a century: Leopardus tilcayo (the Tilcayo cat). 🐾

Found in Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forest by an international research team — including Paola Nogales Ascarrunz — this elusive, 3-pound feline is smaller than the average domestic cat.

Long thought to belong to a single widespread species, DNA analysis revealed five distinct wild cats — including L. tilcayo, defined by its slender frame, muted fur and extra-large spot markings. "We chose to name the species 'Tilcayo' — the name local communities use to describe the cat," shares Nogales Ascarrunz. "It’s our way of honoring their ancestral knowledge and connection to this animal."

Scientists are now deploying camera traps across the cloud forest to find L. tilcayo in the wild and build targeted conservation plans to protect them from habitat loss. “Describing a new cat species after more than 100 years shows how much we still have to learn about the biodiversity around us. But it also reminds us that we need to protect the Yungas forests, which are home to so many species — including some we are only beginning to understand.”

Photos by fellow Explorer Fernando Faciole

09/14/2026

Romer Hall in the Harvard Museum of Natural History is home to the world’s only mounted Kronosaurus, a 42-foot-long prehistoric marine reptile, which was originally found somewhat by chance.

In 1931, graduate student William E. Schevill was touring Queensland after participating in a Museum of Comparative Zoology expedition. There he met Australian rancher R. W. H. Thomas, who showed William bones embedded in limestone on his grounds. The bones turned out to be the most complete skeleton of a Kronosaurus ever discovered! In 1958, the restored skeleton was unveiled in Romer Hall.

09/08/2026

How would you communicate if you were rooted in place like a plant, unable to move around or speak? Over hundreds of millions of years, plants have evolved to interact with the environment around them.

Stop by the Harvard Museum of Natural History on Saturday, September 19, from 2:00–2:30 pm ET, to hear how Claire Li, graduate student, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard, decodes the chemical language of plants, and exciting ways humans can put these compounds to use.

Regular museum admission rates apply; recommended for ages 10 and up. More details: https://tinyurl.com/SciSpotlightsSept26

09/02/2026

Caroline Fernald, Harvard Museums of Science & Culture Director, is a self-proclaimed Dolly Parton Super-Fan. Dolly was a powerful ally to the LGBTQ+ community. In her life and in her songwriting, she championed marriage equality, challenged discrimination among her peers, and supported trans rights. Parton wrote the song "Travelin’ Thru“ for Transamerica, the film about a transgender woman traveling across the country, and received an Academy Award nomination for best original song. 🏳️‍⚧️

This blue morpho butterfly 🦋 on view in the new exhibit Collecting Wonders is dual gender--it has two sets of DNA in one individual. The bright blue half has male traits, and the dark-edge half has female traits. This is called bilateral gynandromorphism: it affects one in about 10,000 butterflies. Growing up in Tennessee, Dolly loved chasing butterflies among the Great Smoky Mountains and appreciated the symbolism of their beauty and freedom, even incorporating butterfly-inspired designs into her Dollywood branding.

09/02/2026

Celebrate Puerto Rico’s rich culture and natural wonders at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. Bring the whole family to this FREE event—there’s something for everyone to enjoy!

🇵🇷 Jorge Arce & Humano deliver bomba and plena music to get you dancing.
🇵🇷 Expert carver Carlos Santiago introduces you to traditional carvings of saints.
🇵🇷 Test your skills preparing cassava and dive into the history of coffee production.
🇵🇷 Listen to coqui calls, and learn about the island’s native birds.
🇵🇷 Explore a variety of activities and make simple crafts to take home.
🇵🇷 Enjoy delicious Puerto Rican food (available for purchase).

Leer en Español: https://tinyurl.com/HMSCCelebremos

Limited free garage parking is available with registration; Cambridge street parking is free on Sundays. Presented in collaboration with the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy, Inc., the Mass Cultural Council, Ágora Cultural Architects, Cambridge Arts Council, and IBA - Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción.

08/11/2026

The Great Mammal Hall, a two-story gallery, some 60 feet long by 40 feet wide, is the most dramatic gallery in the Harvard Museum of Natural History, with an arrangement of specimens that includes a full-sized giraffe, a bison, a narwhal, and three whale skeletons suspended from the rafters. Some creatures on display here, such as the Steller’s sea cow, have now become extinct.

On the balcony, visitors can find specimens from Harvard's extensive collection of birds from around the world and can closely examine the impressive toothed jaw of a s***m whale and the baleen of a right whale. Come visit 9am-5pm, 7 days a week; no reservations required!

Photo by Tony Rinaldo