2017

A new lunar meteorite has joined the Museum's collection. The sample, weighing 147 grammes, will help researchers' studies into the origin and early evolution of the Moon.

The iconic Diplodocus cast has begun its long journey back to Britain, after nine months in Canada.

A feature film is to be made about the fossil hunter from Dorset.

Museum scientist Dorothea Bate now has a blue plaque to honour her contributions to the field of palaeontology.

Single-use plastic bottles will be replaced by water fountains.

The marine biologist urged the public to learn about the Earth's life support system.

A three-year initiative will help London schoolchildren into scientific careers.

The public have the chance to vote in a major genetics project helping scientists to understand more about important British species.

Venomous creatures are everywhere - including in your dinner.

Scientists saved scientifically important slabs from an ammonite fossil bed after they were damaged by storms.

More than 20,000 plant specimens held at the Museum will be digitally copied.

Skins dating back 150 years are revealing the story behind the near extinction of a Chinese deer species.

Martian volcanoes are the largest in the solar system, but how fast they grow has long stumped planetary geologists.

Mining the deep ocean for minerals could cause wide-ranging, decades-long disturbances to the seafloor's ecosystems.

By improving our knowledge of what is living in the area, it will be easier to monitor the effects of future mining.

A chemist who collects insects as a pastime has spotted what generations of British entomologists have missed: a native British beetle, living in ancient Scottish pine forests.

The sponges live on the ocean floor on metal-rich nodules, which are targeted by deep-sea mining companies.

An invasive species of European beetle has been found preying on pear trees in Kent orchards.

Little is known about the lives of spectacled porpoises. A rare find is allowing Museum experts to find out more.

Scientists have for the first time a clear baseline figure for the number of plant species that grow in the vast lowland rainforests of the Amazon.

CT scans have revealed that the species of ray called giant guitarfish is cannibalistic. Until now, scientists never knew its true eating habits.

A new species of bryozoan – large, orange and coral-like – has appeared in the historic Eastern harbour of Alexandria, Egypt.

One of the earliest examples of a symbiotic relationship between invertebrates has been found in 520-million-year-old fossils from China.

Secrets of how the extinct dodo lived have finally been uncovered.

New dating of teeth from a cave in western Sumatra, Indonesia, suggests that modern humans were present in tropical southeast Asia earlier than previously thought.

A patterned prehistoric human bone from an archaeological site in Somerset has revealed that the practices of ancient cannibals were ritualistic, and not simply about survival.

Scientists have named a fearsome prehistoric crocodile after Motörhead frontman Lemmy.

Some of the highest areas of wildlife diversity in east African forest regions are not within protected areas, a study suggests.

A study of aquatic snails that carry the parasitic disease schistosomiasis has identified infection hotspots around part of Africa's Lake Victoria that could be targeted to reduce infection.

The Natural History Museum has unveiled a blue whale skeleton: the new star of its reimagined Hintze Hall, which begins the biggest transformation in its 136-year history.

Tiny metallic 'whiskers', first spotted by a 14-year-old girl and her father, have been named Mineral of the Year for 2016. They were determined to be an undiscovered mineral species by an international team of scientists.

The Museum has announced the specimens that will be displayed beneath the diving blue whale when the transformed Hintze Hall reopens.

Bacterial samples collected by Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition more than 100 years ago have been used to assess the current state of Antarctic biodiversity.

A study of millions years of competition between a group of marine organisms shows that the bigger species regularly outcompete their smaller rivals for living space.

Fossil teeth show that sharks shrank in size and changed their diet after a major extinction event 66 million years ago.

Prof Chris Stringer comments on new research that has identified the earliest known fossils of our species, Homo sapiens.

A new approach to estimating the developmental stage of maggots turning into flies promises to help forensic entomologists with their criminal investigations.

The unusual beak of the pufferfish is produced by small tweaks to the normal programme of tooth development, research reveals this week.

Museum scientists have helped decode the genome for a snail that transmits the world's second-most deadly parasitic disease. The information could inspire new methods of disease control.

The Museum's spectacular new central space will reopen on 14 July - and visitors can win an exclusive tour and be the first to experience it.

Museum human origins expert Chris Stringer comments on the implications for palaeoanthropology of new research suggesting Homo naledi lived relatively recently.

A new Museum crowdsourcing project is asking the public to help digitise scientific data about some of the world's smallest fossils, which hold clues to how ocean conditions have changed over millions of years.

Museum human origins expert Chris Stringer comments on research that suggest humans arrived in the Americas much earlier than previously thought.

The Museum will feature in an interactive virtual reality (VR) series commissioned by Sky and hosted by Sir David.

An extensive, well-documented historical collection of over 22,000 birds' eggs has been donated to the Museum.

Scientists have identified a new species of ancient reptile that fills a critical gap in the fossil record of dinosaur relatives.

A Museum-led consortium is helping to predict where to find valuable metal ore deposits.

A collaborative research project to investigate the educational benefits of participation in citizen science has received a prestigious grant.

African toads that give birth to live young evolved the strategy to cope with mountainous regions lacking suitable areas of water for tadpoles to develop in.

Scientists have proposed a significant reorganisation of the dinosaur family tree, with major implications for our understanding of dinosaur origins and evolution.

Citizen scientists around the world have helped researchers uncover new insights into the evolution of bird beaks using Museum specimens.

An X-ray film of a fly pupa undergoing metamorphosis has, for the first time, captured minute-by-minute details of the most dramatic part of the reorganisation process.

A study reveals citizen science programmes support conservation in multiple ways.

BBC Two's Horizon programme will go behind the scenes at the Museum to film the move of a blue whale skeleton into Hintze Hall.

Convergent evolution and a broad carnivorous diet are what led the warrah, or Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis), to resemble a jackal, Museum scientists have found.

This year will be a milestone in the Museum's transformation into a Natural History Museum for the future. At the centre of this is Hintze Hall, which will be unveiled in summer 2017.