Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

Jack Tamisiea

Jack Tamisiea is a Science Communications Specialist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. In addition to covering all things natural history for the museum's blog, Smithsonian Voices, he tracks media coverage and coordinates filming activities for the museum's Office of Communications and Public Affairs. Jack recently completed his masters in science writing at Johns Hopkins University and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Scientific American, National Geographic and other science-focused publications. In his free time, he loves exploring the outdoors with a sketchbook and camera. You can read more of Jack's work at https://jacktamisiea.com.

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Check Out These Wondrous Objects on Display Before They Return to the Museum’s Collection

From whale earwax to a shimmering ammonite shell, the “Objects of Wonder” exhibition spotlights some of the museum’s most intriguing specimens

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Through the Fossil Grapevine: Museum Scientist Helps Untangle How the Fruit Thrived in the Aftermath of Extinction

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Tiny Tornado Chasers: Why Rare Songbirds Rely on Destructive Winds

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The ‘Ultimate Honor’: Why a Colorful Mineral Honors the Smithsonian‘s Namesake

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Shrew Are You? Scientist Discovers Two New Species of Shrews in Museum’s Collection

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Just Our Type: Museum's Dinosaur Skeleton Becomes the Scientific Standard for Its Species

Brown mussel shells sit in a white box with orange paper underneath.

Interested in Using Museum Collections to Better Understand Freshwater Mussels? There’s Now an App for That

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Celebrate Valentine’s Day With the Ocean’s Oddest Couples and More Natural History Programs This February

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NMNH in Review: Top Discoveries by Museum Scientists in 2023

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1.1 Billion Objects and Counting: Inside the Effort to Tally Natural History Specimens Around the Globe

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Meet the Archaeologist Leading the Museum’s Repatriation Efforts

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What a Drawerful of Dung Reveals About the Lives of Ground Sloths

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How Smithsonian Fossil Preparators Are Re-Excavating a Tyrannosaur From Its Past on Display

A large, brown tooth sits on top of a colorful map of the California coast

Summer Summary: A Mysterious Fossil Tooth, Metallic Planet and Marine Hitchhikers

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For the Love of Lizards: Meet One of the Smithsonian’s Lizard Experts

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Smithsonian Expedition Yields a New Species of Deep-Sea Coral

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Starstruck: A Suite of Strange Sea Stars Discovered in the Smithsonian’s Collection

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New Museum Display Showcases the Mineral Building Blocks of Cellphones

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“Endlessly Fascinating Devices”: Why the National Museum of Natural History is Exploring the Cultural Nature of Cellphones

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Museum Collections Provide Some Muscle for Mussel Conservation

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Discover How Domesticating Dogs Influenced Human Evolution and Other Natural History Programs This May

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How Lugging a Liquid Nitrogen Tank into the Amazon Helped Spark Ornithology’s Genetic Revolution

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Dino-Sore: Smithsonian Paleontologist Diagnoses Ancient Ailments in the Museum’s Dinosaurs

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The Story Behind the Smithsonian’s Newest Gem: the Exquisite Lion of Merelani

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Smithsonian Scientists Discover One of the Earliest Mammal Ancestors That Ate Its Veggies

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Peer Through the Glare to Glimpse the Night Sky in New Smithsonian Exhibition

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A Bounty of Butterflies Arrives at the Smithsonian

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Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Venturing to Volcanoes to Understand the Origins of Earth’s Surface

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In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt Won a Presidential Election…And a Pair of Ostriches

A large research vessel with a cell tower on top sails across a dark blue stretch of ocean that expands towards a paler blue sky along the horizon.

Smithsonian Scientists Unearth Signs of an Ancient Climate Calamity Buried Beneath the Seafloor

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2022 in Review: The Year’s Top Discoveries by Museum Researchers

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2022 in Review: Smithsonian Staff Sifts Through an Ocean of Fossils

Multiple pages of paper adorned with brown and yellow pressed plant specimens sit, one after the other, on a dark gray table-like surface. In the background are two people with purple gloves on.

2022 in Review: The National Herbarium Goes Digital

A man wearing a white hard hat, neon vest, dark gray pants and yellow gloves sits in a pit of dark rock. Just below his knees is a boulder with a piece of lighter gray fossil sticking out of the top.

Meet the Smithsonian Director Bringing a Deep Time Perspective to the International Climate Discussion

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How Leafcutter Ants and Other Culinary Creatures Prepare a Feast

A tan-colored skull and spine sticks out of a sandy surface. The jaws of the elongated skull are studded with sharp teeth that are angled at the viewer.

This November, Be Thankful for Specialty Spirits and Ancient Sea Monsters

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To Understand How Animals See in the Abyss, Scientists Peer Through the Eyes of an Alien Amphipod

A tan woolly mammoth skeleton facing left bends its front legs and tilts its tusks towards the bottom of the frame.

Celebrate Fabulous Fossils and More Natural History Programs This October

A big-eared, large-nosed, frown-mouthed furry grey and white medium-sized animal sits in the "v" of a small tree, holding one of the branches. In front of the animal is a woman with black hair wearing business clothes and smiling as she snaps a selfie.

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Unlocking Crucial Conservation Clues in the Genetic Code of Koalas

Elephant-like mammoth and mastodons trudge across a pond while a group of giant camels stop for a drink. In the background are snow-capped mountains. Crouching in the grassy foreground are a pair of sabertooth cats.

What the Demise of Mammoths Can Teach Us About Future Extinctions

A fruit bat with large, dark eyes, big ears and light brown fur wraps its gray wings around a tree branch.

To Uncover the Origins of Diseases, Smithsonian Researchers Dust Bat Specimens for Viral Fingerprints

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A Final Meal for the Ages

An orange and tan Megalodon hangs over the museum's food court with its supersized mouth agape.

Diving with Sharks Through Deep Time

Under the waves swirls a bed of sea grass. Above the water is a coastal home attached to a dock.

New Study Puts Smithsonian Conservation Efforts to the Test

A flower with bright pink petals and a yellow interior blooms on the surface of a water near several green and brown lily pads.

New Smithsonian Exhibition Explores the Intersection of People and Nature

Several grey, white and orange king penguins perch on top of their eggs, which are snuggly sheltered under a flap of their flabby skin between their feet.

Get To Know the Natural World’s Most Devoted Dads

A variety of dark gray to black magnetofossils shaped like ovals, cubes and needles cluster around each other.

Meet the Scientist Who Uses Magnetic Fossils to Navigate Changing Oceans

A grey, orange, and brown expanse of layered rock formations under a gray sky.

Ancient Pollen Offers Clues to How Plants Adapted to Climate Change in the Past — and Potentially the Future

A green ridged cactus towers vertically over the camera with a deep blue sky in the background

How a Smithsonian Botanist Cracked the Cactus Code a Century Ago

A gray and white bird perches among leafy branches

Celebrate Black Birders Week and More Natural History Programs This May

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What Mummified Shrews and Giant Hornets Reveal About Biodiversity

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Get to Know the Scientist Studying How Parasitic Flies Stomach Bat Blood

A chimpanzee sits among leaves

Explore How Chimpanzees Perceive Gender and More Natural History Programs This April

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The Hybridized Nature of Washington's Iconic Cherry Trees

Five orange, 3D-printed statues of female scientists in a garden in front of the Smithsonian Castle on a sunny day.

120 3-D-Printed Statues of Women Redefine What Scientists Look Like

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Check Out These Wondrous Objects on Display Before They Return to the Museum’s Collection

Meet the Scientist Venturing to Remote Canada in Search of the Earth’s Oldest Rocks

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