Museum News
New fossil research shows multiple, viable pathways for the evolution of division of labor
A new fossil study from paleobiologists at the CU Museum offers insight on how some colony-forming animals, divided labor millions of years ago.
Postdoctoral researcher Ruiqi Li featured in CU Boulder Today.
Paleontology Curator Jaelyn Eberle featured in CU Boulder Today.
Curator of Vertebrates Christy McCain honored with Distinguished Research Lectureship
McCain studies how montane organisms are distributed on mountains around the world, and how those populations and species are influenced by human land use and climate change.
William Taylor featured in The Conversation.
Invertebrate Paleontology Curator Carl Simpson wins $1 million in funding
Simpson and his colleague Lizzy Trower receive W.M. Keck Foundation grant to try to solve an evolutionary puzzle and to extend Earth’s temperature record by 2 billion years!
Robert Colwell (museum curator adjoint of entomology and zoology) and co-researchers collect and evaluate a large amount of data on hummingbirds’ physical features for a research paper published in The American Naturalist.
Horsepower: Professor unveils a new history of horses
William Taylor examines how horses shaped human history in his new book. For more information and to pre-order a copy, visit: (University of California Press, Summer 2024).
This award was granted to Will and a team of over 80 people, who worked collaboratively on the history of horses through Indigenous societies in North America. This award was based on Will and his team’s cover story in Science during March 2023, titled “.”
Climate change is making it tough on bees, butterflies, and other pollinators; now the state may try to protect them.
Triceratops returns to campus, bigger and better than ever!
CU Museum unveils full-scale cast and exhibit in the lobby of the Sustainable, Energy and Environment Community (SEEC) building on East Campus.
Oh, poop! What looks like a rock is filled with clues
Dinosaur dung scientist and Bromery Award winner Karen Chin authors new children’s book.
Paleontology Curator Karen Chin awarded GSA Bromery Award for making significant contributions to geological sciences, specifically multidisciplinary paleobiology, as well as opening the geosciences to underrepresented communities through her extensive outreach.
Led by CU Museum's Talia Karim and Carl Simpson, this newly-funded project will improve discovery and use of millions of fossil specimen records for paleontology research at CU and other universities.
Amy Dunbar-Wallis, plant ecologist at CU and curator behind the Boulder Apple Tree Project exhibit at the CU Museum, is finding variants of fruit that reflect the cultural and ecological history of their place in the world. Read more in Nature.
Dr. Jaelyn Eberle and research team discover tiny fossil mammal in northern Alaska
The tiny ‘ice mouse’ thrived in what may have been among the coldest conditions on Earth about 73 million years ago. Read more at CU Boulder Today.
Some hummingbirds are flower robbers. Here’s how to spot them.
CU Museum’s Robert K. Colwell (with 5 coauthors) featured in the News from Science: Weekly Headlines.
Permanent director named to lead the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
Following a nationwide search, the Research & Innovation Office has announced the appointment of Dr. Nancy J. Stevens as Director of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, effective Sept. 1, 2023.
Museum class inspires students to preserve and celebrate LGBTQ+ activism in new collection and library exhibition
The history of CU Boulder student activism for LGBTQ+ rights is now available at the University Libraries thanks to Emily Howard, a Libraries and Museum intern who processed and organized the when they were an undergraduate history student.
CO Dept of Natural Resources DNR, Launch study on Native Pollinating Insects
CU Museum of Natural History is collaborating to protect Colorado’s pollinators!
Chili peppers more deeply rooted in Colorado than previously thought
How forgotten Colorado fossils may rewrite part of plant evolutionary history.
Dr. William T. Taylor featured in The Conversation.
Dr. William T. Taylor along with CU Graduate students Chance Ward, Carlton Grover and others have a new study, published in the journal Science.
Explore how the domestication of horses influenced the fate of entire civilizations and dramatically altered human history with this Ted-Ed video featuring the research of William T. Taylor.
This PBS documentary features CU students Carlton Gover (Anthropology PhD student) and Chance Ward (MFS) profiling CU Museum’s NSF research on the introduction of horses into the Great Plains, and the ways that archaeology and Indigenous perspectives are coming together to reshape that story.
Science programming coordinator Gianna Sullivan featured in Times Call.
Trash the Runway recycled couture, on exhibit in the BioLounge, featured in the CU Independent.
Dr. J. Patrick Kociolek reflects on his career and tenure as Director of the CU Museum of Natural History in CU Boulder Today.
CU Museum researchers Bridget Chalifour, Leanne Elder, and Jingchun Li, use modern DNA-screening tools to identify the microbes that once lived in the guts of animals that have been dead for a century. Featured in CU Boulder Today.
Dr. Jaelyn Eberle to Serve as Interim Director of CU Museum of Natural History
CU Boulder has named Dr. Jaelyn Eberle interim director to succeed Dr. J. Patrick Kociolek who has directed the museum for 14 years.
Graduate collection assistant Cameron Pittman explains benefits of online collections on Denver 7 News.
CU museum program encourages student workers to be purposeful changemakers
CU Museum CHANGE Collective featured in CU Boulder Today.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology Will Taylor featured in The New York Times.
Dr. William Taylor reports about artifacts found in melting Mongolian ice and what clues they provide about how past people lived in The Convsersation.
Ancient humans turned elephant remains into a surprising array of bone tools
Archaeology curator Paola Villa' recent research featured in CU Boulder Today.
Paleontologists discover 3 new species of primitive ungulates
Fossil Vertebrates curator Jaelyn Eberle featured in CU Boulder Today.
Museum Curator Jennifer Shannon garners fellowship to ‘deploy the humanities for the public good’
Anthropology curator Dr. Jen Shannon receives Whiting Public Engagement Program fellowship.
Icy waters of 'Snowball Earth' may have spurred early organisms to grow bigger
Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology Dr. Carl Simpson featured in CU Boulder Today.
Archaeology curator Dr. Will Taylor’s latest research in Nature.com.
Dr. Karen Chin shares the legacy of her father, a Tuskegee Airman
Curator of Paleontology Dr. Karen Chin featured in CU Boulder Today.
Archaeology curator Dr. Samantha Fladd examines the social implications of depositional practices in Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
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New study spanning nearly 13 years, Dr. Christy McCain, Curator of Vertebrates and colleagues discovered how climate change is affecting small mammals throughout Colorado Mountains.
Horse remains reveal new insights into how Native peoples raised horses
CU’s Museum’s curator of archaeology Dr. Will Taylor and PhD student Carlton Shield Chief Gover, tribal citizen of the Pawnee Nation, explore the history hidden inside a horse skeleton through an indigenous lens.
Bees Under Water by Andy Carstens (page 39).
NSF grant allows Museum’s Herp collection to be seen in a new light—literally!
Vertebrate section awarded grant to collect CT scans of specimens.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology Will Taylor featured in The New York Times.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology Will Taylor featured in The Guardian.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology Will Taylor featured in The Diplomat.
Entomology Curator Deane Bowers featured on KUNC's Fresh Air.
Emeritus Professor Martin Lockley featured in BBC News.
3D Triceratops scan featured on 9News.
Remembering Dr. William A. Weber, founder of the CU Herbarium.
3D scan sheds new light on Boulder’s own Triceratops
New Archaeozoology Lab featured in CU Boulder Today.
Beach-combing Neanderthals dived for shells
Adjoint Curator Paola Villa featured in CU Boulder Today.
Adjoint Curator Paola Villa featured in The New York Times.
Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology Will Taylor featured in the Daily Camera.
Hawaii’s mysterious mints, discovered then ignored, get a fresh look
MFS Student Justin Williams featured in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.
Article by Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology Will Taylor published on Smithsonian.com.
Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology Will Taylor featured on CNN.
Evolutionary biologist nabs fellowship to study collaborative ocean organisms
Assistant Professor of EBIO and Curator of Invertebrates Jinghun Li featured in CU Boulder Today.
Assistant Professor of EBIO and Curator of Invertebrates awarded prestigious Packard fellowship.
Neanderthals used resin 'glue' to craft their stone tools
Adjoint Curator Paola Villa featured in CU Boulder Today.
Mantis shrimp vs. disco clams: Colorful sea creatures do more than dazzle
Invertebrate research featured in CU Boulder Today.
CU herbarium plants the seed for climate change research
CU Museum Herbarium featured in CU Boulder Today.
Food may have been scarce in Chaco Canyon
Adjoint Curator Larry Benson discusses his research in CU Boulder Today.
CU Museum receives reaccreditation from AAM
The highest national recognition for museums.
A modern look at Chaco Canyon's ancient past
Anthropology Curator Steve Lekson discusses his work at Chaco Canyon in CU Boulder Today.
Students in Focus: 'The Yuccans' bring nature education to Mesa Verde
CU Students teach park visitors about local ecology.
Faculty in Focus: At 99, botanist's love of lichens still going strong
CU professor emeritus William Weber featured in CU Boulder Today.
Vertebrate palaeontologist Jaelyn Eberle featured in Nature.
When it comes to genes, lichens embrace sharing economy
Botany Curator Erin Tripp discusses obligate symbiosis in lichens in CU Boulder Today.
Anthropology Professor and Adjunct Curator Cathy Cameron featured in Scientific American.
CU postdoc Lindsey Dougherty featured in Scientific American.
Paleontology Curator Karen Chin featured on NPR.
Biolounge exhibit featured in the Washington Post.
Entomology Collection Manager Virginia Scott featured in the Daily Camera and Denver Post.
CU biologist Erin Tripp discusses the hidden charm of lichens on Colorado Public Radio.
CU botanists Dina Clark and Tim Hogan in CU Boulder Today.
Dr. Jaelyn Eberle and research team discover tiny fossil mammal in northern Alaska
Paleontologists working in northern Alaska have discovered a tiny fossil mammal that thrived in what may have been among the coldest conditions on Earth about 73 million years ago. Learn more about the 'ice mouse' in CU Boulder Today
Early dispersal of domestic horses into the Great Plains and northern Rockies
Archaeology and genomics together with Indigenous knowledge revise the human-horse story in the American West! Dr. William T. Taylor along with CU Graduate students Chance Ward, Carlton Grover and others have a new study, published in the journal Science. And, you’ll even see a photograph by Samantha Eads!
CU Museum’s Christina Cain receives chancellor’s Employee of the Year award
Native American grad student wins critical acclaim, support
Chance Ward, a graduate student in the University of Colorado Boulder’s Museum and Field Studies Program, has received an award from the Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists (CCPA) to support his studies.
Ward, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and a member of the Mnicoujou and Hunkpapa bands of the Lakota Nation, won a scholarship to fund book purchases, travel and materials for his master's studies that include museum curation, collections management, artifact analysis, cultural preservation laws and tribal preservation programs.
Dr. Jen Shannon receives Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship
Curator and Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology Dr. Jen Shannon, receives the prestigious and highly competitive (a national grant program that supports public humanities projects that tackle pressing challenges in communities around the country). Dr. Shannon is collaborating to create a illustrating the history and culture of the Kumeyaay people in Southern California, co-created with Kumeyaay community members and complete with accompanying lesson plans that underscore tribal perspectives.