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

Working in Paleontology: Inspiration and Advice

web-crop-akiko-shinya-fieldwork-field-museum.jpg

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

working-in-paleontology_header.jpg

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

strawberry-poison-frog-3-c-michelle-thompson-field-museum.jpg

The Field Museum

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

monarch-header-adl-dsc_0750.jpg

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

fossil_guide_milwaukee.jpg

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

fig5-panthera_onca_djl_102recnx_img_0149.jpg

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

zambia_header.jpg

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

csz5941c.jpg

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

02_lhewett_suesuite_333.jpg

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

Closing the Clam Case and Wrapping Up a Norwegian Expedition

sheep_header.jpg

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

Lemurs Are Weird Because Madagascar’s Fruit Is Weird

lemur_header.jpg

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

woodendock_1_header.jpg

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

Tree-Dwelling Giant Rat Discovered in Solomon Islands

u._vika_illustration_copyright_velizar_simeonovski_the_field_museum.jpg

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.

deep-sea_octopus_heaader.jpg

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

climate_blog_header.png

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

untitled_design_5.png

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

akiko_header.jpg

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

cmoreau_arizonadesert_header.jpg

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?

turtles_side_by_side.png

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

rapidinventory_ldesouzaara-johnston_dropbox_webexport.jpg

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

sue_header.jpg

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

Women in Science: Corine Vriesendorp, Conservation Ecologist

corine_header.jpg

What Do We Mean By Facts?

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

amazon_trees_header.jpg

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

diros-bay.jpg

Photo

Crystal and her Water Beetles

Periods and Fieldwork

Carl Akeley's Striped Hyenas

Born from the Ashes

iliamna-remota-kankakee-mallow-500.png

Image for Born from the Ashes

Tea Parties, Bird Barf, and Rat Skulls

results_o_tropicalis_586_a.jpg

Image for Tea Parties, Bird Barf, and Rat Skulls

How to Protect the Rainforest

How to Cut a Trail in Amazonia

An Electric Eel and a Caiman

Birds get malaria, too

weavers_and_bishops_img_7674.jpg

Image for Birds get malaria, too

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

dino-crop.jpg

Image for Dominant Dinosaur That Lived Before T. rex Discovered

How many trees are there in the Amazon?

FP-Aereas-186-7799_0.jpg

Image for How many trees are there in the Amazon?

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

screen_shot_2014-08-09_at_10.26.04_pm.png

Image for New Giant Sea Predator Discovered

Fieldwork on "The Bats of Kenya"

3154_10151094904779211_2019780431_n.jpg

Image for Fieldwork on The Bats of Kenya

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?

Bernieridae2.jpg

Image for What is a big discovery in ornithology?

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

Content