Instructional Video3:16
American Museum of Natural History

Skylight: Saturn Shows Off Its Rings

6th - 11th
Saturn’s rings are captivating from any vantage point, but more so when tilted fully towards or away from Earth, as they are this October. Our understanding of Saturn, its rings, and its moons has been enriched over the past 13 years...
Instructional Video3:31
American Museum of Natural History

Sir David Attenborough on Museum Collections - 360

6th - 11th
You may know the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibits, but only a tiny portion of our world-class collection is on view. Go behind the scenes in 360 with Sir David Attenborough as he explains how museum collections help us learn...
Instructional Video3:55
American Museum of Natural History

Preserving the Dry Coral Collection

6th - 11th
More than 4,000 dry coral specimens are housed in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History, including specimens that date back to the 1870s! This collection is not only beautiful but essential for scientists studying our...
Instructional Video1:23
American Museum of Natural History

Tropical Butterflies Alive in New York

6th - 11th
See over 500 free-flying tropical butterflies from all corners of the globe at The American Museum of Natural History's Butterfly Conservatory. Learn more about the life-cycle and ecological importance of these beautiful fliers from...
Instructional Video4:55
American Museum of Natural History

From the Archives - Central Asiatic Expeditions: Fossils and Artifacts (silent)

6th - 11th
Archival Museum footage shows the discovery of the "perfect dozen" nest of dinosaur eggs found during Roy Chapman Andrews's expeditions to the Gobi Desert in the 1920s. Excerpts from the Central Asiatic Expeditions, filmed during the...
Instructional Video0:34
American Museum of Natural History

2017 Margaret Mead Film Festival Trailer

6th - 11th
Activate connection at the 2017 Margaret Mead Film Festival. More than 30 ground-breaking, international, nonfiction films and media present fresh cross-cultural perspectives. Honoring legendary anthropologist Margaret Mead, the festival...
Instructional Video3:38
American Museum of Natural History

From the Archives - The Peruvian Eclipse Expedition (silent)

6th - 11th
Archival Museum film includes some of the earliest color footage of a total solar eclipse, filmed during a 1937 expedition to Peru. Excerpts from the Hayden Planetarium-Grace Peruvian Eclipse Expedition of 1937. George Clyde Fisher,...
Instructional Video53:06
American Museum of Natural History

Solar Eclipse 101

6th - 11th
On August 21, 2017, the long-anticipated total solar eclipse will darken the skies from Oregon to South Carolina as the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun. The last time the contiguous United States saw a total solar eclipse was in...
Instructional Video2:39
American Museum of Natural History

Skylight: Tracking the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

6th - 11th
A total solar eclipse is a singularly magnificent phenomenon. The Great American Eclipse on August 21, 2017, will be visible as either a partial or a total eclipse throughout North America. See how it appears from various vantage points...
Instructional Video2:40
American Museum of Natural History

Spider Expert Cheryl Y. Hayashi On Silk, Webs, and More

6th - 11th
How do spiders make their webs? Turns out it’s in their DNA. Spider expert and Museum curator Cheryl Y. Hayashi discusses her research into spider silk, why it’s an exciting time to be a biologist, and why natural history museums are so...
Instructional Video7:48
American Museum of Natural History

The Science of Speciation – Molecular Adaptation in Vampire Bats

6th - 11th
Over 20% of all living mammal species are bats, and each is adapted to a particular diet: nectar, fruit, meat, insects—even blood! Follow scientists into the jungles of Brazil, and to a genomic sequencing lab at Temple University, as...
Instructional Video3:56
American Museum of Natural History

Analyzing Anemones: Students Discover New Species

6th - 11th
During a year in the Museum’s Science Research Mentoring Program, two high school students discover more than just new lab skills: they discover a new species of anemone. See how Elena and Sebastian’s project analyzing some of the...
Instructional Video2:34
American Museum of Natural History

Skylight: The Big Dipper Through Time

6th - 11th
Stars aren’t still--they move through space. Our Sun and the seven stars that form the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major all orbit the center of the Milky Way at different speeds. So why do today’s constellations closely...
Instructional Video4:40
American Museum of Natural History

Nabokov's Butterflies - Shelf Life 360

6th - 11th
Vladimir Nabokov is best known for his literary masterpiece Lolita, but next to writing, his great passion was the study of moths and butterflies. Curatorial Assistant Suzanne Rab Green tells the story of the author’s first road trip...
Instructional Video2:31
American Museum of Natural History

Skylight: How TRAPPIST-1’s Earth-sized Planets Compare to our Solar System

6th - 11th
TRAPPIST-1’s planets are much closer together than the planets of our solar system. See how the scale of this recently discovered system of seven planets, located about 40 light-years from Earth, compares to our own, and to Jupiter’s...
Instructional Video5:59
American Museum of Natural History

Tales From the Cryptic Species - Shelf Life #16

6th - 11th
What do crocodiles and leopards have in common? Century-old specimens of both are helping to decode the biodiversity of ecosystems that are under threat today. Researcher Evon Hekkala and Curator Joel Cracraft help unravel the mystery of...
Instructional Video4:40
American Museum of Natural History

Meet the Ologist: David Hurst Thomas

6th - 11th
Ancient trash or ancient treasure? This archaeologist tells us which he prefers. David Hurst Thomas is an archaeologist, a scientist who studies past cultures through materials left behind. Find out more about David in this video...
Instructional Video17:31
American Museum of Natural History

New Dinosaur Classification With Paleontologist Danny Barta

6th - 11th
What does a new study in the pages of Nature mean for the dinosaur family tree? Danny Barta, a paleontology Ph.D. student at the Museum's Richard Gilder Graduate School, breaks down the news for us. Original Facebook Live recorded March...
Instructional Video9:50
American Museum of Natural History

Ask a Scientist about Mummies

6th - 11th
David Hurst Thomas answers kids' questions about mummies in this video interview. He's an archaeologist at the American Museum of Natural History. #scientists #mummies #archaeology #Egypt #Peru This video and all media incorporated...
Instructional Video24:11
American Museum of Natural History

Let's Play: Human Microbiome Minecraft Map

6th - 11th
Your body is home to TRILLIONS of microbes that form communities in different places in and on your body. Together these communities make up your MICROBIOME. These games take place in some of the areas of your body where microbes live....
Instructional Video4:14
American Museum of Natural History

Shamans of Siberia - Shelf Life 360

6th - 11th
Meet the shamans of snowy Siberia with the Jesup North Pacific Expedition—one of the largest anthropology expeditions of all time. Curator Laurel Kendall tells the story of how the Museum’s pre-Soviet collections remain vital to the...
Instructional Video6:41
American Museum of Natural History

The Guts and Glory of Object Conservation - Shelf Life #15

6th - 11th
In the Museum’s Objects Conservation Laboratory, walrus intestines, birch bark, and reindeer hide are all in a day’s work for conservators trying to preserve Siberian anthropology collections for the future. Check out our 360 video about...
Instructional Video1:50:16
American Museum of Natural History

2017 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: De-Extinction

6th - 11th
Neil deGrasse Tyson and panelists discuss de-extinction in the 2017 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History. Biologists today have the knowledge, the tools, and the ability to influence the evolution of...
Instructional Video1:11
American Museum of Natural History

#WhyIScience

6th - 11th
Happy Earth Day 2017! Scientists and staff at the Museum are celebrating by welcoming participants in the March for Science NYC to our front steps for an Earth Day kickoff to celebrate the vital role that that science plays in society...