Museum research

Discover the journey of our largest specimen and what science and storytelling have revealed about Hope’s life.

Musango matusadonaensis is the fifth dinosaur ever named from Zimbabwe.

Antarctica was once a thriving, forested ecosystem filled with a diversity of dinosaur life. 

An ancient reptile once thought to be an early turtle ancestor actually belonged to an entirely different group.

Praearcturus gigas was among the first large predators to ever stalk the land, measuring over a metre in length.

Tracks left by some of the earliest complex animals are giving new insights into how they experienced the world.

By speeding up the process of describing new species, scientists can help to protect the precious places they live.

Say hello to Attenboroughnculus tau!

There’s increasing interest in deep-sea mining, but the impacts that this will have on the animals that live in the depths isn’t fully understood.

Ocean temperatures are rising around the world – and marine wildlife are feeling the heat.

The possibility of life on other planets is one of the biggest mysteries in science.

The Darwin Tree of Life project aims to sequence the genomes of all complex life in the UK.

Pohlsepia mazonensis is still a landmark fossil – but not in the way it was first thought.

The identity of a mysterious artefact found in Devon almost 160 years ago has finally been revealed.

The UK is one of the most nature depleted nations on Earth – and it’s about to get worse.

Twenty-four new species of crustaceans have been discovered as part of a project to name 1,000 deep-sea animals by 2030

Bones unearthed at several sites show that dogs were widely distributed across West Eurasia by at least 14,000 years ago.

Tanyka amnicola was a relic of an earlier and more experimental time in the evolution of life on Earth.  

Natural history museums contain an astonishing snapshot of the planet’s biodiversity.

Scientists are trying to understand how this extraordinary sense is changing the structure of bat skulls.

It has been called Galahadosuchus jonesi in recognition of David Rhys Jones.

Ancient wolf bones are revealing how today’s wolves might survive in a warmer world.

Almost two centuries after Charles Darwin’s pioneering voyage, his specimens are still inspiring groundbreaking new science.

A new species of amphibian that lived 150 million years ago has been discovered in Portugal.

A 2.6-million-year-old fossil is changing our understanding of early human evolution in Africa.

A prehistoric tool is reshaping our understanding of Europe’s early inhabitants.

The mysterious evolution of the sponges has been revealed. 

A dinosaur named Ajkaceratops has revealed that relatives of Triceratops lived in Europe after all.

The new species is found in Madagascar, a country closely linked to Gerald’s conservation work.

Horneophyton lignieri is changing what we know about plant evolution.

The identity of a mysterious Roman-era skeleton found in southern England may have finally been resolved.

The mystery surrounding dozens of small dinosaur fossils has finally been solved.

The impact of climate change on diseases spreading between animals is not well understood.

Five former Thereus butterflies from South America have been revealed as 16 different species.

We now know how good the sense of smell was in giant sloths, sabre-toothed tigers and other long-lost species.

In the last 12 months, we celebrated the start of our new science centre and appointed our first Director of Collections.

There’s intense interest in mining the deep sea for technology critical minerals. 

Some of the ocean’s most important habitats aren’t included in protected areas.

The lifestyle of the dingo was dramatically altered after European colonists reached Australia in 1788.

As animals and plants are removed from an ecosystem its ability to function falters.

Find out how scientists come up with a species name and what a type specimen is used for.

Life may have bounced back more quickly than expected after the worst mass extinction in history.

A new fossil fungus discovered in Scotland shows evidence of plants and fungi sharing nutrients to survive on land.

An extinct snake named Paradoxophidion richardoweni has slithered its way out of obscurity.

Museum specimens have helped scientists discover three new species of tree-dwelling toads.

New research reveals that these insects likely evolved in the Mediterranean basin more than 1,000 years ago.

One of the more unusual jobs of our scientists is to verify record-breaking catches of everything from titanic tuna to colossal cod.

Scientists are using DNA to predict how African reed frogs will be affected by environmental change.

As the animals which spread their seeds go extinct, island plants are at risk of disappearing forever.

New analysis shows that the vast majority of the areas we depend on for our survival aren’t being well looked after.

As Arctic winter warming events become more common, researchers are witnessing the melting landscape first-hand.

Columbian and woolly mammoths were breeding together for thousands of years.

It crucially also reveals promising genetic targets for potential control. 

Seaweed growing along the world’s coastlines could help to inspire new materials.

An extinct species known as Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae has revealed new twists in the tale of lizards and their relatives.

Dr Helena Bates explains what it’s like to be a researcher of meteorites, how she got into this career and shares advice for budding space experts.

DNA can tell us how species’ ranges are changing in response to environmental change.

The overlooked thumbs of rodents are key to understanding the lives of mice, rats and more.

The biggest study of starfish is challenging some long-held assumptions. 

Discover why Morocco is so important for studying dinosaurs.

Some of the world’s oldest evidence of human violence has been discovered in Vietnam.

The world’s most unusual dinosaur is even stranger than first realised.

The name of Istiorachis macarthurae honours the sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur.

Some of the most basic building blocks of the solar system are missing from one of its most dangerous asteroids.

Moon rock collected on the last Apollo mission is revealing more about one of the Moon’s most unusual structures.

A fossil of an extinct reptile known as a silesaur suggests that the size of early dinosaurs might have been underestimated.

The Cambrian Explosion may have been less of a burst of evolution, and more of a final flourish.

Bone-eating worms have been cleaning up the ocean floor for over 100 million years.

Sphenodraco scandentis would have climbed among the trees of ancient Jurassic forests.

Antarctic meltwater ponds are helping scientists understand how early organisms survived a frozen Earth.

How echinoderms evolved such an unusual shape has long troubled biologists. 

Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae is going on display in our Earth Hall.

Garden snails and aphids are venomous animals.

Two new species of ancient fungi are shedding light on the origins of these deadly parasites.

Scientists have taken a step forward in understanding how our species survived outside Africa.

The early evolution of pterosaurs is a mystery – and the ancient climate might explain why.

Scientists have tracked over 100 species of marine animals and found that plans to protect almost a third of our seas may be insufficient.

Studying an ancient extinction could help at-risk mussels, scallops and clams today.

Koala numbers have fallen drastically over the last 100 years due to hunting and habitat loss.

The ‘king’ of the dinosaurs might not be the all-American predator it appears to be.

A rare fossil has been identified as an ancient species of internal parasite.

The insect not only marks a major milestone, but also highlights the power of digitising our collection.

Marmoretta oxoniensis was a climber, not a swimmer.

Butchered remains of great bustards have been found in the graves of people buried 15,000 years ago. 

In order to better target interventions we need to know which causes have the biggest impacts.

Rare evidence about the lives of an ancient group of arthropods has been uncovered in the USA.

The earliest example of an important and widespread group of dinosaurs has been found in North Africa.

Looking fit is no guarantee of health for one of the world’s most plastic polluted birds.

A voyage to the Pacific has been investigating previously unexplored regions of the deep sea.

Understanding one of the largest groups of plants in the world could help tackle world hunger.

Finding out exactly when feathers evolved, and which animals had them, could offer important new insights into the distant past.

Find out how Homo sapiens left Africa and migrated to other regions of the world, including Europe, Asia and America.

Samples from the asteroid Bennu contain some of the ingredients needed for life to develop.

The remains of the earliest dinosaurs could lie beneath the Amazon rainforest and the Sahara Desert.

Over 15,000 mounds are scattered across Mars’ lowlands – but until recently, no one knew how they got there.

Conch snails make death-defying leaps to evade deadly predators.

A previously unknown rock type at the new Mars rover landing site is revealing more about the red planet.

Spinosaurs, tyrannosaurs and relatives of Velociraptor once stalked England’s south coast.

Threordatoth chasmatos was one of the last survivors of a once-widespread group of lizard-like animals.

The whale-sized shastasaurids went extinct over 200 million years ago.