Prehistoric mammals bulked up, rather than develop bigger brains, to boost their survival chances once dinosaurs had become extinct, research suggests.

For the first 10 million years after dinosaurs died out, mammals prioritised boosting their body size to adapt to radical shifts in the make-up of Earth's animal kingdom, researchers say. Read more

The Subcommission on Carboniferous Stratigraphy held a meeting, “The Kasimovian Workshop,” on May 24-27, 2021. The meeting was organized by William DiMichele, Spencer Lucas, Xiangdong Wang, and Stanislav Opluštil. The pandemic restrictions made impossible the original plan for an in-person meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Consequently, the meeting was run on a Zoom platform sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.  Read more.

CNM students and faculty—in collaboration with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science and the New Mexico State Parks Department—are helping to document, map, and model one of the largest dinosaur tracksites in the United States. Click here to explore the site.

Those who follow the museum's programs know that Larry Crumpler was part of the Mars Opportunity rover mission and previewed discoveries from the Red Planet for visitors to our museum and website for almost 15 years. We have exciting news: Dr. Crumpler has just been selected as a scientist for the Mars Perseverance mission! After the new rover lands in February, 2021, you can expect to continue enjoying exclusive access to new discoveries! Read more by clicking here.

On September 25, the museum hosted a virtual summit on the future of natural history institutions as part of the museum's strategic planning process. Administrators from prominent institutions around the country made comments about their facility’s response to the pandemic and how that will influence programming from now on. Read some significant quotes in the information release linked here and watch the entire presentation.