The Field Museum

Groundbreaking! (Without Breaking Ground) Archaeological Geophysics at Angel Mounds State Historic Site

Monthly Member Lectures

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Three people on a Zoom call.

Member Lecture Series

Akiko Shinya holds a pick hammer and stands in a grassy area with badlands in the background.

Working in Paleontology: Inspiration and Advice

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Akiko Shinya on a prospecting trip in the Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. She and the team found several dinosaurs, including an ankylosaur. (This was during the August 2017 solar eclipse event, hence why Akiko’s holding eclipse glasses!)

A composite image of four people who work in paleontology at the Field Museum: Az Klymiuk, Pia Viglietti, Adrienne Stroup, and Akiko Shinya.

Working in Paleontology: Projects, Studies, and Interests

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A bright red frog with blue legs perches on a wide green leaf that has spikes along its edges.

3 Questions with a Scientist: Poison Frogs

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3 Questions with a Scientist: Hopping Rats

Dozens of orange and black monarch butterflies perch on tree branches, practically perching on top of one another. Some are blurred as they flap their wings.

Following the Monarch Butterflies to Mexico

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What It's Like to Live in the Jungle for a Month

Working inside a maloca, or central gathering space for the local community.

The underside of two frogs seen through glass, on a black background. They appear to glow shades of bright blue and purple.

The Adorable Polka-Dot Frog Has a Party Side

The frogs' fluorescence is instantly visible to human eyes thanks to a black light.

Five images of fossils are combined into a grid. Each fossil has text identifying it. A rounded seashell protruding from rock is labeled as an Orthospirifer brachiopod; a flat, leaf-like seashell is labeled as Strophomenid brachiopod; a circular ring in rock is a crinoid; a lacy fossil on a rock surface is a bryozoan; and a wavy depression in rock is a cephalopod.

Guide to Fossils from Tropical Milwaukee

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Black-and-white nighttime photo of a jaguar walking in the forest. Its eyes are illuminated by the camera flash.

The Jaguar and Its Grandchildren

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A jaguar captured by a camera trap during the April 2018 rapid inventory. We captured a total of 10,373 camera trap photos during the inventory, of which 3,646 show mammals.

Looking down on a man holding a pipette and applying a liquid to a fossil dicynodont skull that is still partially buried in the ground.

Fossils in Zambia Are a Window into Extinction

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A colored photograph with black border, showing three tents in a row. The foreground is sandy, and the background has a few sparse trees and mountains.

Snapshot of 1896 Expedition Life

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A hand-colored glass lantern slide of camp in Somaliland, with Daniel G. Elliot (with a white beard) seated in his tent. Photo Archives CSZ5941c

The Animal Sound Library

SUE the T. rex dinosaur skeleton on display in a museum gallery. Screens behind the dinosaur show a forest scene.

SUE the T. rex

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A bright green field with a large leafy tree and sheep grazing

Closing the Clam Case and Wrapping Up a Norwegian Expedition

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A brown lemur sitting in a tree, staring ahead with wide eyes.

Lemurs Are Weird Because Madagascar’s Fruit Is Weird

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Photo: Luca Santini

Lemurs Are Weird Because Madagascar's Fruit Is Weird

Left: a brown, cracked skull; right: a group of people sitting on the short of a river, with two people standing and addressing the group

6,000-Year-Old Skull Could Be from the World’s Earliest Known Tsunami Victim

The Aitape skull, the 6,000-year-old cranium that scientists believe belongs to the world’s earliest known tsunami victim. 

6,000-Year-Old Skull Could Be from the World's Earliest Known Tsunami Victim

Collecting in Vietnam: The Search for Millipedes

White buildings on a wooden dock overlooking the water

Chisels, Hammers, and Science: Woodworking for Clams

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Lifelike illustration of a a large brown rat on a tree branch, surrounded by green foliage.

Tree-Dwelling Giant Rat Discovered in Solomon Islands

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Illustration of the new giant rat by Velizar Simeonovski.

Preserving the Migration of Giants: Guyana's Arapaima

Meet the Museum's only Field Biologist

A pinkish purple octopus with a large black eye sitting on the ocean floor, with arms curled

How To Tell Deep-Sea Octopuses Apart? Check Their Warts.

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Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Collage of photos showing people out in in different environments: a woman using a net in a stream, two people inspecting trees in a forest, a man climbing out of a plane, and people holding lanterns

Protecting Our Planet: A Letter to Our Community

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Two photos side-by-side: A women sitting in front of a large drill, and a bowl with a gold bracket attached to it, for display

What's in a Name? That Which We Call a Dinosaur

An undersea view of bright red and white coral-like structure

“Spiderman” Worm-Snails Discovered on Florida Shipwreck

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Worm-snail habitat. Photo: Rüdiger Bieler.

A woman holding an electric hand tool and a painter's brush, leaning over a large mass of dirt with bones protruding from it

Women in Science: Akiko Shinya, Fossil Preparator

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A woman smiling at the camera, standing in a green field with mountains in the background

Women in Science: Corrie Moreau, Evolutionary Biologist and Entomologist

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Collecting ants in the Chiricahua desert in Arizona as part of a field course Corrie helps teach each summer.

Left: Two green turtles on a log in a lake with green algae. Right: A large brown turtle with a tall shell sitting among rocks and grass.

What Do We Mean by “Theory” in Science?

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A woman, standing waist deep in water, tags an arapaima, a large freshwater fish. A man helps to hold the fish while several people in the background watch.

Women in Science: Lesley de Souza, Conservation Biologist

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Lesley de Souza, a conservation biologist in the Andes-Amazon Program, tags an arapaima fish with a radio transmitter in Guyana on South America’s North Atlantic coast.

A large T. rex skeleton on display in a museum, with people looking at it and columns in the background

Tyrannosaur Relatives of SUE

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Woman wearing a baseball cap and blue shirt in a rainforest-like setting, holding a large rock

Women in Science: Corine Vriesendorp, Conservation Ecologist

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What Do We Mean By Facts?

Colorful illustration of a landscape with palm trees, a stream, and rhino-like animals in front of a sunset

Picturing the Past Through Scientific Illustration

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2 Extinctions, 1 New Species, and… chess?| Natural News | Ep. 5

Fossil Hunting 101

The 300-Year Quest to Find Every Tree Species in the Amazon

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Amazonian forest in the Putumayo basin of Loreto, Peru, surveyed during a February 2016 rapid inventory by The Field Museum. Photo 

A Lifetime of Curiosity

A coastline with cliffs, green hills, and blue water with a small sailboat

Window to the Past: Alepotrypa Cave

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Photo

Crystal and her Water Beetles

Periods and Fieldwork

Carl Akeley's Striped Hyenas

Born from the Ashes

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Tea Parties, Bird Barf, and Rat Skulls

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How to Protect the Rainforest

How to Cut a Trail in Amazonia

An Electric Eel and a Caiman

Birds get malaria, too

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Fishes in Guatemala - Last Update from the field

Jungle Atop A Desert

Bird Calls of Amazonia

Two Bats and a Spider

The Fer-de-Lance

Investigating the Trees of Amazonia

In Search of Night Life

Into the Bat Caves of Kenya: Pt. 2

Into the Bat Caves of Kenya: Part I

Into Perú

Fossil Fish, Pt. II: A History

In Search of Fossil Fish

Dominant Dinosaur That Lived Before T. rex Discovered

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How many trees are there in the Amazon?

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Insect Adventure, Part One

Media

One of the most interesting things learned about birds in 2012

Discovering New Plant Species in the Amazon

Will we maintain our connections to other natural history institutions around the world?

New Giant Sea Predator Discovered

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Fieldwork on "The Bats of Kenya"

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Maijuna

Piecing Together Early Societies

Fieldwork Photos from Fishes

Getting to Know the Deep Sea

Brazil 2012 Fieldwork Diary

Brazil 2012 Fieldwork Diary Entry 14: The Benefits of Local Knowledge

Brazil 2012 Fieldwork Diary Entry 11: Farewell to Nova Iorque

Brazil 2012 Fieldwork Diary Entry 8: Finding Fossils from Space

Brazil 2012 Fieldwork Diary Entry 9: Watch Where You Walk

Brazil 2012 Fieldwork Diary Entry 5: Ex Libro Lapidum, Historia Mundi

Brazil 2012 Fieldwork Diary Entry 7: Nova Iorque, Nova Iorque

Discovering Mount Gorongosa

Vocalizations of Willard's Sooty Boubou

St. Joseph County Parks for BioBlitz on June 9th

Investigating little ornithological questions can lead to bigger things

What is a big discovery in ornithology?

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Cloud Rat

Science at FMNH : Ep. 46 - Paleontology of Zambia

Answers and mysteries from DNA sequences

Science at FMNH : Ep. 45 - Equipment for a Paleontological Dig

Science at FMNH : Ep. 43 - Ancient Trade and Exchange in East Africa

Science at FMNH : Ep. 42 – The Production of Maya Blue

Frozen Fruit Bats

Science at FMNH : Ep. 41 – Ancient Trade and Political Relationships in South America

Field Work

Explore this topic through the content here and the halls of the Museum.

Articles and videos

Working in Paleontology: Inspiration and Advice

Working in Paleontology: Projects, Studies, and Interests

3 Questions with a Scientist: Poison Frogs

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Fishes Dried Skeleton Collection

Fishes Collection

Bird Egg Collection

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John Bates

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17-pound meteorite discovered in Antarctica

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Pritzker DNA Lab

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Portable X-ray Fluorescence (PXRF)

Focus: Polar Studies - Research

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Groundbreaking! (Without Breaking Ground) Archaeological Geophysics at Angel Mounds State Historic Site

Member Lecture Series