Stories

Welcome to Stories, a place to explore—and be inspired by—the wonder of our natural and cultural worlds.

A mother holds her dead child between the North American continent all depicted in red

Posters from Protests Against the Vietnam War on the 50th Anniversary of the War's End

Posters cared for by the Seaver Center for Western History Research Collection recall campus protests and national strife reverberating into our nation's struggles today

DJ Kurs Deaf West Theatre panelist First Fridays

Experiencing Sound

DJ Kurs, Artistic Director of Deaf West Theatre, who will join us for a discussion at First Fridays on May 2, shares his thoughts about how the deaf and hard of hearing experience sound and music.

Jeff Rice, wearing headphones and carrying a microphone, and Dr. Yewande Pearse inside circular cutouts on a blue and green background

First Fridays AMPLIFIED – Sound and Nature

A discussion with Dr. Yewande Pearse and Jeff Rice. How can studying and recording natural sounds benefit humans and help in wildlife conservation? What does the sounds around us mean in regards to our environment? What does nature sound like in the city? What did dinosaurs sound like?

Illustration of a long-legged crocodile-looking reptile looks at a mammal carcass on an ancient tropical islands

Research and Collections

How Ancient Crocodile-Like Predators Ruled the Islands of the Caribbean

NHM's scientist discovers that sebicids, ancient land-dwelling crocodile-like beasts, reigned over the West Indies as apex predators after vanishing from South America

Breaking Boundaries in Motion

Kanya Sesser | No Legs, No Limits

The lower jaw of a dire wolf from La Brea Tar PIts resting on a piece of paper with the words "Last known real dirw wolf in the world!!" Aenocyon dirus lower jaw 13,082 years old' written on it

Dire Wolves: Sorry, They’re Totally Still Extinct

NHM and Tar Pits experts weigh in on why dire wolves have not, in fact, been successfully cloned, and the surprising perils of de-extinction

Child participating in City Nature Challenge

Join the City Nature Challenge 2025

Share your observations to help scientists understand nature

Watch Video

4 people sit in directors chair on a stage, a woman on the far left holds a microphone, a man in a blue shirt, a woman in a white shirt, and very tall man in gray jacket from right to left

Elephant in the Room Dioramas: Art or Science?

Feb. 27, 2025 | Dr. Yewande Pearse in conversation with the artist, Saul Becker, creator of A Peculiar Garden, along with artist Yesenia Prieto from the art collective Special Species, the creators behind A Delicate Moment in Time, and NHM’s Exhibits Developer, Dr. Matt Davis.

Watch Video

Science of SpongeBob: Finding Fossils from Ancient Bikini Bottom

Join NHM and Nickelodeon as we explore the Science of Spongebob and unearth fascinating fossils of ancient marine life.

Yewande Pearse and AZA Allsop seated in chairs, facing each other on stage

AMPLIFIED – Healing Sounds

A discussion with AZA Allsop, MD PhD, Assistant Professor at Yale and Howard University and Director of the Center for Collective.

Watch Video

Stories

Our Channels

Join & Give