During an expedition to Antarctica that concluded Jan. 16, 2023, researchers found five meteorites, including one of the largest specimens recovered from the continent. (Credit: Maria Valdes)

The exceptional find is heading to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, where it will be studied. And Maria Valdes, a research scientist at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History and the University of Chicago who was part of the expedition team, has kept some of the material for her own analysis.

(Jacub Gomez / Pexels)

Looks like we’re going to have to come up with replacements for terms like “starstruck” and “starry-eyed.” Scientists say the visibility of stars is rapidly fading as light pollution increases.

(Alex Ruppenthal / WTTW News)

Researchers at the Field Museum are embarking on a project to discover what was the point — if any — of T. rex’s tiny arms.

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The Field Museum renovated its Native North America Hall and drastically shifted its focus. The new approach emphasizes story-telling and contemporary art – as well as historical items from the collection. The exhibition space is called “Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories.”

Marc Schlossman, pictured with bird specimens at the Field Museum, Oct. 25, 2022. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Marc Schlossman spent a decade photographing specimens of extinct and endangered species housed at the Field Museum. The result is a new book, “Extinction,” which Schlossman calls an exercise in hope. 

One of the fossilized meteorites just unpacked at the Field Museum, July 11, 2022. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Monday was like Christmas in July at the Field Museum, where staff unpacked crates of newly arrived fossilized meteorites, holding 460-million-year-old secrets.

(WTTW News)

Highlighting African innovation is the goal of the Field Museum’s new assistant curator of African anthropology, Foreman Bandama. 

An outcrop of 400-million-year-old dolostone at Chicago’s Palmisano Park. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Dolostone beat out sandstone and limestone for the honor of state rock. Never heard of it? Join us for a deep dive.

Eggs in the Field Museum’s collection. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Decorated eggs are a centuries-old Easter tradition, but nature’s been at it eons longer — no dyes required. Take a look inside the Field Museum’s egg collection. 

The Field Museum’s historic egg collection is shedding new light on climate change. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

A new study led by the Field Museum shows that a number of bird species are laying their eggs nearly a month earlier than 100 years ago, likely due to climate change.

Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep will be on view at the Field Museum until Sept. 5, 2022. (Field Museum / Michelle Kuo)

The Field Museum is diving deep to introduce visitors to underwater wildlife that lived 200 million years ago. We have a preview of the exhibition “Jurassic Oceans – Monsters of the Deep.”

(WTTW News)
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Delivering on a promise she made when the owners of the Chicago Bears announced their purchase of the Arlington International Racecourse property, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the members of a working group tasked with reimagining the city’s lakefront museum campus.

A prehistoric stone tool discovered during a recent archeological dig at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. (Courtesy of Bill Parkinson)

With new tools at their disposal, archeologists are revisiting a prehistoric site discovered 40 years ago at what’s now Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. “What we have here is a real unique opportunity to talk about how humans used this landscape over the last 10,000 years,” one researcher said. 

The tiny yellow-breasted Kirtland's warbler was only recently de-listed as an endangered species. (Joel Trick / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Chicago scientist Heather Skeen studied the gut bacteria of the migratory Kirtland’s warbler and made a surprising discovery with potentially far-reaching implications.

Modern sunbirds also have long tail feathers. (Jason Weckstein / The Field Museum)

Scientists have uncovered the fossil of a bird that lived 120 million years ago, and it definitely had flair, including unusually long tail feathers. These flashy feathers probably didn’t help the bird achieve aerodynamic flight, but they might have helped him find a mate, according to new research.

Spotted skunk specimens in the Field Museum's collection. DNA analysis revealed new species. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

People who don’t study mammals for a living may be surprised to learn there’s more than one kind of skunk — and scientists affiliated with the Field Museum have uncovered members that had been hiding in plain sight.