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IRLA membership places Institute on prestigious list of some of the nation’s oldest and most distinguished historical societies.
Learn how the daring heist of an anatomical wonder forever sullied the reputation of a great scientist.
An entomologist from Texas supposedly came up with ‘the single most original idea’ to eradicate screwworms.
Find out what a strange little sparrow can teach us about love, sex, and human biology.
Nuclear waste remains dangerous for millennia, so how do we keep people in the distant future away from it?
The Gordon Cain Conference is a gathering of scholars in the history of science and related fields.
Learn what two famous neurological traumas—one involving a U.S. president, the other a Supreme Court justice—can teach us about how our own brains perceive reality.
Explore our world-class collections of historical objects, artworks, photographs, books, oral histories, and archives.
The third episode in a three-part series on legendary physicists and their dumbest mistakes.
Learn about the physicist’s biggest-blunder-turned-greatest success.
Discover why the iconic physicist made an unbelievable error while hunting down criminals, and how you can avoid the same dumb mistake.
Use this form to request access to items within the museum collections.
How cataracts nearly ruined the impressionist painter’s career—and then revived it by giving him an insect-like superpower.
In showing that cholera spreads through tainted water, an English doctor helped lay epidemiology’s foundations.
Learn how an obsession with crustaceans guided the naturalist toward his most consequential insights.
An interview with Sam Kean about his book ‘The Violinist’s Thumb.’
Space toilets and the lessons of living in closed environments.
Licensing organization’s #CCSharesCulture competition celebrates better sharing of global cultural heritage.
How a simple operation—castrating little boys—produced the greatest singers the world has ever known.
With their creeping, bloodsucking ways, bedbugs continue to mock human superiority.
How a bloody gun duel between two doctors in Transylvania sparked a frenzy of outrage—and helped create the American Medical Association.
How a feisty, suicidal Nobel laureate infuriated both Hitler and Stalin, and stalled cancer research for 50 years along the way.
In a building full of dead bodies, how can you tell a murder victim from an unlucky stiff?
Reserve a guided gallery tour or virtual visit for your group or class.
The world’s first plastic made Hollywood possible—and killed thousands of people along the way.
How a steam-powered automobile in 1869 snuffed out the life of the brilliant naturalist and astronomer Mary Ward.
What a bizarre psychological disorder can teach us about memory, human nature, and our sense of who we are.
Scientists know how other animals’ bodies will change in warmer climates, but how will human beings respond?