Science Division Videos and Podcasts

Dr. David Krause highlights some of the DMNS discoveries from Madagascar but also focuses on DEAI issues related to working with the people of Madagascar by helping children in our field areas with education and healthcare, developing in-country scientific infrastructure, and engaging the public about the island's rich natural heritage. Science with a social conscience, or neocolonialism?

September 5, 2023

Join Dr. Steve Nash and Dr. Chris Patrello as they present “The Vigango Affair”, which focuses on the Museum’s long-term and on-going work to return vigango, or ancestral funerary posts, to the Mijikenda tribes of coastal Kenya, from whom they were stolen decades ago.

August 17, 2023

This talk will introduce you to the WS Ranch Collection, its story, and how collections staff and volunteers have been caring for and learning from the collection so far.

August 3, 2023

Please join the Department of Anthropology for an overview of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) and a status report on where DMNS stands with respect to that important legislation. 

July 6, 2023

This Science Division Pop-up Lecture features James Hagadorn and his tale about a mass extinction that hit close to home (geographically that is).

June 27, 2023

Join us for another Science Division Pop-Up lecture. Curator of Ornithology, Garth Spellman, will be giving a lecture on his research, “Rise and Fall of Colorado’s Rosy Finch”!

May 31, 2023

Join our conservation team for an update on the Avenir Conservation Center projects, changes, and aspirations.

May 25, 2023

Join Collection Assistants, Amy Gillaspie and Natalie Patton, as they discuss how they care for 41,000 year old bison bones.

April 3, 2023

Curator of Paleobotany, Gussie Mccracken, tells us about the fossils beneath our feet at Denver International Airport.

February 9, 2023

Curator of Anthropology, Michele Koons, talks about her research uncovering Moche Murals in Pañamarca, Peru.

January 19, 2023

Have you ever looked at a fossil fragment or a bed of bones encased in rock and thought, “how do paleontologists know what they’re looking at?” In the Digital Research Lab imaging tools create colorful, movable animations that let researchers look inside chunks of rock or examine minute details, revealing features and finds that could have gone undiscovered. 

December 9, 2022

Did you know that every time you enjoy a meal of chicken, duck, or turkey, you are actually enjoying some delicious dinosaur? But how did this change occur? What clues do scientists look for? Find out on this virtual behind-the-scenes trip with Museum paleontologists and ornithologists as they explore evolution with fossils, natural history collections, and more. 

November 18, 2022

Humans have taken spiders into space more than once to study the importance of gravity to their web building and prey capture behaviors. Here, Dr. Paula E. Cushing, Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Museum, discusses this research and why we need spiders in space.

July 12, 2022

Join Zoology Preparator Andie Carrillo on an exciting behind the scenes tour of the creepy crawlies found inside the DMNS dermestarium.

August 19, 2021

Join PhD student Ryan Jones to see how spiders help us understand evolution, maintain ecosystem health, develop novel medicines and create biomimetic materials.

August 12, 2021

2000 year old shoes: Functional. Fashionable. Fabulous – and we’re experimenting on them! The museum’s Teen Science Anthropology Scholars are spending their summer with millennia-old shoes.

July 15, 2021

How exactly do paleontologists know the age of an individual dinosaur (or any other fossil vertebrate)? Join Dr. Holger Peterman to learn how to be able to quickly tell whether the bones in front of you are from an adult or a juvenile.

May 27, 2021

Join Conservator Megan Salas to take a close look at a few items that are currently in the conservation lab as part of the IMLS grant focused on the Northwest Coast Collection.

May 20, 2021

Join chief preparator Natalie Toth and earth sciences preparator Salvador Bastien for a behind-the-scenes look at the tools and techniques used to get a fossil ready for research and exhibition! 

April 8, 2021

Earth is the only place in the entire universe with a biosphere that is uniquely suited to keeping us alive. Explore the universe with Dr. KaChun Yu.

March 18, 2021

 Earth Sciences collections managers Kristen MacKenzie and Nicole Neu-Yagle share their inspirations and achievements as women in STEAM.

March 13, 2021

Learn from research manager Tiffany Nuessle why smell is potentially the most underrated sense we have.

January 21, 2021

Join Dr. John Demboski, curator of mammals, as he talks about the fascinating story of Colorado’s last grizzly bear, killed after attacking a hunting guide in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in 1979. That grizzly ended up in the museum’s collections and to this day is a source of interest and intrigue.

May 8, 2020

"Attenborough’s Beauty" was on display in the Prehistoric Journey exhibition for decades waiting to be identified. Dr. Frank Krell and Francesco Vitali from the National Museum of Natural History of Luxembourg worked together to identify this new species.

October 20, 2021

In this episode, we talk with Dr. KaChun Yu about his work with the museum’s space science program, about creating visuals for planetariums, and how humans learn outside of a traditional classroom setting.

April, 2021

Join Dr. Tyler Lyson and Dr. Antoine Bercovici to hear about the exciting new discovery in Colorado Springs: Rise of the Mammals.

January 10, 2020

Join Dr. David Krause to learn more about the discovery of a new, bizarre 66-million-old mammal in Madagascar.

April 29, 2020

Dr. Rich Barclay, paleobotanist at the Smithsonian, talks about finding the oldest legume fossil on the planet found at Corral Bluffs. 

January 9, 2020

Meet our Senior Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, Dr. David Krause, and listen to him talk about the incredible Colorado Springs discovery.

January 10, 2020