This Week at Natural History

Image credit: Believe via Getty Images

Why the Blue-Ringed Octopus Is One of the Ocean’s Deadliest Creatures

Shimmering with iridescent blue rings, this tiny octopus looks more like a living geode than a threat. But beneath its beauty lies a venom 1,200 times more toxic than cyanide.  Click the link below to learn why these charming cephalopods need such potent venom from NMNH invertebrate zoologist Mike Vecchione.

Image credit: Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post

Meet the Woman Reading Every Plaque in Every Smithsonian Museum

If you are exploring a Smithsonian museum this summer, you might notice one visitor stopping to read every plaque, watch every video, and view every display. Click the link below to learn about Kathryn Jones’ ambitious journey to experience every Smithsonian museum to the fullest, and learn how NMNH exhibit writer Laura Donnelly-Smith and exhibit developer Siobhan Starrs carefully craft each exhibit to maximize visitor experience.

Image credit: Living Classrooms

Here is our latest programming guide. Click here for a full schedule of upcoming public programs and a link to previously scheduled video webinars.

For Families

The World & Me: Life ON and IN the Ocean!
Explore life ON and IN the ocean with our friends from Living Classrooms. Come learn from educators about sailors, working on a boat, how boats communicate with one another, and where you can visit the Mildred Belle, a Chesapeake Bay buyboat. Look up close at oysters and specimens from our museum's collections while being inspired to design your own postage stamp in celebration of buyboats like the Mildred Belle.
Saturday, August 2, 2025, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center, Ground Floor

For Adults

Q?rius After Hours - August
Enjoy an evening of free play that will connect you to the natural world in Q?rius, the Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center. Come in and explore at your own pace. Feed your curiosity opening specimen drawers in the Q?rius Collection, sit down and do a puzzle with old or new friends, try a board game, talk with experts, or lose track of time making art inspired by the natural world. Check out these featured topics and experts for August:

• Dune-esque Ancient Worms with NMNH Deep Time Peter Buck postdoctoral fellow Kat Turk
• Mass Extinctions in Ancient Oceans with NMNH paleobiology postdoctoral fellow Sarah Leventhal
• Putting Plant-damaging Insects of the Past to Work: The History of Insect Herbivory with NMNH paleoecologist Conrad Labanderia
• The Art of Preserving Plants featuring hands-on botany specimen preparation with NMNH museum specialist Erika Gardner
• Fossil hunting and sorting

This program is designed for adults. Registration is free and highly encouraged. Space is filled at a first come first served basis.

Wednesday, August 13, 2025, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. ET
Location: Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center, Ground Floor

For Everyone

Experts Are In!
Stop by the Sant Ocean Hall and the Behring Family Hall of Mammals on Wednesday, July 23, to talk with experts about their work:

• Oyster EMTs: Environmental Monitoring Technicians of the Sea
  Ocean Hall, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET
• Tiny Critters, Big Jobs
  Ocean Hall, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET
• Busy Beavers: Restoring Riverscapes
  Hall of Mammals, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. ET

Thank you for your interest in NMNH! Your generosity enables the museum to address the big questions that society faces and our fundamental understanding of how people and nature interact. Click the links below to help us spark curiosity, discovery, and learning about the natural world and our place in it.