Stories

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

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

Join the City Nature Challenge 2025

Share your observations to help scientists understand nature

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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.

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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.

Child enjoying City Nature Challenge participation

AMPLIFIED – Healing Sounds

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

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Illustration of ice age bird, the teratorn.

Meet Teratorn, the Largest Bird Found at La Brea Tar Pits

The teratorn was undoubtedly big, but was it a big vulture or something else?

nickelodeon characters spongebob with guests at nature fest NHM

Science of SpongeBob Trailer

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles is partnering with Nickelodeon to learn ALL about the science of SpongeBob SquarePants!

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Science of SpongeBob: Micro Plastics, Major Problem

Pollution like microplastics is a major problem for our real-life sea creatures behind Bikini Bottom. Find out how you can help with fish expert Dr. Bill Ludt, NHM’s Curator of Ichthyology, and Rory Hu, Nick News Correspondent. Original video from 2023

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Woman smiling on the right side of the image, Gary the snail on the right giving a slimy green thumbs up above logos reading 'Our World' and 'Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County'

Science of SpongeBob: Shell Yeah, It's Earth Month!

Gary the Snail has a posse! Discover just how many mollusks are sliming it up out there and what the shell is going on with NHM’s Curator of Malacology Dr. Jann Vendetti. Original video from 2023

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A skeletal looking Vinciguerria mabahiss under a microscope and black background

Research and Collections

The Lights Below

A new study shines a light on the mechanics of bioluminescence in the rare fish Vinciguerria mabahiss and we explore some of the other fish lighting up the deep

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