American Museum of Natural History

New research reveals how pterosaurs evolved the neurological structures required for powered flight! This study is based on the discovery an ancient pterosaur relative—a small lagerpetid archosaur named Ixalerpeton from 233-million-year-old Triassic rocks in Brazil—and was published recently in Current Biology by an international team, led by the University of Tübingen in Germany. Researchers used high-resolution 3D imaging techniques to reconstruct the shape of the brain cavity in more than three dozen species of pterosaurs and other extinct species, including close relatives of pterosaurs. They then mapped the changes in brain anatomy that accompanied the evolution of flight using statistical analysis. “Pterosaurs are some of the most inspiring extinct groups, because they were the first vertebrates to evolve flight. But many aspects of their biology and evolution remain mysterious,” said study co-author Roger Benson, the Museum’s Macaulay Curator of Dinosaur Paleobiology. “It’s exciting to see how the brain evolved in some ways similar to birds, but in other ways very different.” Read more about the research: https://bit.ly/3Mn6CJJ Image: Matheus Fernandes #newresearch #paleontology #museums #stem #evolution

Join us at the Museum from January 15–17, 2026, for a citywide hackathon that brings together scientists, technologists, designers, policymakers, and community members to generate creative, data-driven solutions for building a more resilient New York City. Teams will use inventive problem-solving to explore how New York City’s extensive open data resources and climate models from research partners can illuminate how climate risks vary across neighborhoods and what strategies might best mitigate their impacts. Urban Futures: Co-Creating Climate Resilience is produced in collaboration with LEAP- STC and Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners. This hackathon welcomes applicants from a broad range of backgrounds. Applications are open through December 12! For more details and to apply, visit: https://bit.ly/3XCIlSh Photo: Alvaro Keding/© AMNH #newyorkcity #hackathon #stem #climateresilience #museums

Through exhibits, programs, and experiences that inspire wonder and curiosity, the Museum makes science accessible to all. This #GivingTuesday, help us continue this important work. Your gift could… 📚 Provide free school visits for hundreds of thousands of New York City public school students every year  🎓 Support a new generation of scientific educators. Nearly 50 percent of Earth science teachers certified in New York City since 2014 graduated from the Museum’s Master of Arts in Teaching Earth Science Residency Program (MAT ESRP). 🔭Expand equitable access to the Museum, ensuring learners of every age, ability, and background can walk through our doors and explore our halls and programs Support the Museum this Giving Tuesday: https://bit.ly/4iAiELJ Thank you (yes, you!) for supporting the Museum and its community. Photos: Alvaro Keding & Daniel Kim/© AMNH

🦖🐋A Night at the Museum: The Overnight Experience is back! Tickets for the January, February, and March sleepovers will be available starting Wednesday, December 3, at 10:30 am for Members at the Adventurer level and above. Tickets for the general public go on sale on Wednesday, December 10, at 10:30 am. Discover the Museum after dark before drifting off to sleep underneath the Blue Whale or surrounded by other beloved Museum exhibits. From flashlight tours of our iconic halls to hands-on activities, scavenger hunts, group games, and more, this unforgettable program is designed to spark wonder. Details: https://bit.ly/47HCgKI Photos: Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

The Allende meteorite, which fell to Earth in 1969, holds secrets from the very beginning of our solar system. It contains "leftovers" from the formation of the planets—tiny grains that recorded the composition, pressure, and temperature of the solar system in its infancy. Find out how we read this ancient history in our latest YouTube video! Join Museum Curator of Earth and Planetary Sciences Denton Ebel as he reveals the key: chemical thermodynamics. It’s the same science that explains why it takes longer to boil pasta on a mountaintop than at sea level. Watch: https://lnkd.in/eaf_uH6M #astronomy #museums #geology #meteorite #stem

🚨 Science news! New research shows that most modern dogs, from big Shiloh shepherds to tiny chihuahuas, carry small but noticeable traces of wolf ancestry from after they were first domesticated. These lingering wolf genes may have helped shape things like size, smelling ability, and even personality. Using more than 2,700 published genomes of wolves, breed dogs, village dogs, and other canids from the late Pleistocene to today, a team led by researchers at the Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History explored historical dog-wolf gene flow, finding that almost two-thirds of breed dogs have wolf ancestry from crossbreeding that occurred around 1,000 generations ago. “Prior to this study, the leading science seemed to suggest that in order for a dog to be a dog, there can’t be very much wolf DNA present, if any,” said the study’s lead author Audrey Lin, a Gerstner Postdoctoral Scholar in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the Museum. “But we found if you look very closely in modern dog genomes, wolf is there. This suggests that dog genomes can ‘tolerate’ wolf DNA up to an unknown level and still remain the dogs we know and love.” 🐾 To learn more, visit: https://bit.ly/3K9UgUE Photo: master1305, iStock #newresearch #STEM #dogs #evolution

🎄The Museum’s Origami Tree opens to visitors today! With a nod to the Museum’s newest exhibition Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs, the theme of this year’s tree is New Beginnings. It celebrates the spectacular variety of species that evolved after an asteroid impact ended the age of dinosaurs some 66 millions years ago. An annual New York City tradition, the 13-ft (4-m) tree is adorned with thousands of origami models. Among them are dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles—pterosaurs that ruled the skies, mosasaurs and plesiosaurs that roamed the seas, as well as Triceratops and T. rex, which walked the Earth during the Cretaceous Period. The tree also includes an array of mammals and insects that evolved after the asteroid impact. These new mammals include ancestors of the Museum’s iconic Blue Whale, as well as our primate ancestors. Look for birds, too—dinosaurs living among us today. Produced in partnership with OrigamiUSA, the Origami Tree is delightfully decorated with hand-folded paper models created by local, national, and international origami artists. 🦃 Explore the Origami Tree during your next trip to the Museum! The Museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day. But the Friday and Saturday after the holiday, we’ll have extended hours! On November 28, 29, and 30, the Museum will open early at 9 am. Plan your visit: https://bit.ly/4ia761I Photos: Alvaro Keding/ © AMNH #origami #thingstodoinnyc #museums #holidays

What does the 1925 Scopes Trial still teach us a century later? On Thursday, December 11, join us for a special panel marking the 100th anniversary of the landmark case that shaped contemporary understanding of scientific evidence and religion in public education. Moderated by Joseph Graves Jr, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, this panel conversation explores how these debates have changed since the 1920s and how they continue to shape American culture today. Get tickets: https://bit.ly/4ra6kpg

☄️Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs is now open! Here’s an in-depth look at the Hell Creek Formation Diorama with Museum Curator Roger Benson. This scene depicts life as it was 66 million years ago in what is now the western United States. For more details and to get tickets, visit: http://bit.ly/4mNb2Xj #naturalhistory #cretaceous #museums #nyc #paleontology