Inside Museums and Field Labs: DNA, Dinosaurs, and Biodiversity from Field Museum to Smithsonian

Snapshot of museum science

This video explores how top museums preserve life and unlock Earth’s history. From Field Museum’s wet collections to the La Brea Tar Pits and the Smithsonian, researchers collect specimens, extract DNA, preserve tissues, and build massive digital archives. The journey covers DNA sequencing, environmental DNA (eDNA), fossil preparation, and modern techniques like Raman spectroscopy that reveal metabolism in dinosaurs. It also highlights conservation research, invasive species monitoring, and the evolving relationship between science and funding. Across laboratories and field sites, the story emphasizes how collections safeguard biodiversity and drive scientific discovery for the future.

Introduction: Museums as living laboratories

Museums are portrayed not merely as display spaces but as living laboratories that curate vast, curated libraries of life. The Field Museum in Chicago, the La Brea Tar Pits near Los Angeles, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC are presented as keystones in a national ecosystem of scientific knowledge. This documentary-style exploration shows how institutions preserve life from its earliest stages to its most recent traces, bridging paleontology, biology, geology, and data science. The overarching message is that collecting and conserving specimens is foundational to understanding life on Earth, its history, and its future.

Wet collections at field and urban museums

The Field Museum’s wet collection comprises millions of specimens stored in jars of formalin or alcohol, ranging from fish to lizards to preserved tissue. Specimen acquisition occurs through donations and field expeditions, including controlled euthanization of animals for scientific study. The video emphasizes the careful chain of custody, labeling, and documentation that enable decades of research. A focal example is a common water snake, where researchers extract tissue from inside the body to preserve exterior appearance and post-preservation record attributes such as sex. The tissue is then stored in temperatures in freezers for long-term biodiversity studies and future analyses.

DNA extraction and tissue preservation

DNA is a central theme, especially the transition from traditional tissue sampling to modern molecular methods. The host researcher notes that DNA extraction from fresh tissues yields better results than from preserved specimens, but old specimens can yield usable DNA with careful techniques. The sample SR 1291 is highlighted as a verification step, demonstrating the practice of sanitizing tools to avoid contamination, and the subsequent storage of DNA in nitrogen-rich freezers. The workflow continues with the use of formalin as a fixative to preserve tissue “in time,” analogous to embalming a person for posterity. The narrative then explains how researchers balance current data needs with potential future research needs by preserving the sex, tissue type, and other metadata.

From preservation to skeletal study: The clearing process

In some cases, researchers clear the specimen to reveal bones and cartilage. A Labrador of technique is used to stain cartilage blue and bone red, a process that helps researchers visualize anatomical differences at the skeletal level without dissection. The clearing step employs enzymes that dissolve soft tissue but leave collagen intact, turning specimens almost see-through. This method is especially useful for tiny fish with small bones, enabling researchers to observe skeletal architecture and compare it across species. The ultimate aim is to retain the internal matrix for structural stability while enabling microscopic study of the bones and cartilage.

From bones to species discovery: The art of taxonomy in jars

Cataloging is described as an almost archival art, with jars organized by family, genus, species, and provenance. The collection contains about 3.5 million specimens across thousands of jars. Some specimens are exceptionally valuable because they complement other data as part of a broader timeline. The video notes that new species continue to emerge from careful anatomical comparison and, in some cases, re-examination of old specimens with new genetic data. The historical breadth of the La Brea Tar Pits is presented as the epitome of a “time transgressive” fossil record, a 40 000 year window that yields insights into extinction dynamics and past climate change.

La Brea Tar Pits: Excavation, preservation, and the microverse in asphalt

The La Brea Tar Pits are presented as a geological archive in asphalt, not a mere reservoir of goo. Researchers label and box thousands of fossils from multiple deposits, maintain a grid to track fossil position, and carefully excavate bones using dental picks and small brushes. Asphalt’s combination of density and humidity protects organic material, but it also makes bones fragile, requiring careful degreasing. The team uses specialized solvents to remove the asphalt matrix, then stabilizes bones with adhesive and Kozo paper to preserve fragile fragments without irreversible damage. Each fossil receives its own catalog number, integrating with millions of other specimens within a collection that helps answer big questions about extinction and ecosystem dynamics.

Expanding knowledge through digitization: The Smithsonian and Earth Biogenome Project

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History hosts more than 148 million specimens, with vast portions stored offsite. The museum is depicted as racing to build a digital Noah’s Ark, a comprehensive digital record of life that includes high-resolution photography and 3D scans. The Earth Biogenome Project is introduced as a global initiative to sequence the genomes of every known species within the next decade. The shift from weeks-long processes to days-long workflows is attributed to automation and AI, which speed up sample preparation and sequencing, dramatically expanding the dataset scientists can analyze. The program's long-term ambition is to illuminate human biology, agriculture, medicine, and the potential for bio-inspired innovation.

Environmental DNA and the democratization of biodiversity data

Environmental DNA sampling becomes a cornerstone of modern biodiversity monitoring. Researchers describe how they deploy autonomous reef monitoring structures that host biodiversity, collect soil and water samples, and generate DNA-based snapshots of entire ecosystems. The data are then processed via machine learning to classify organisms into functional groups, enabling rapid assessments of ecosystem health and detection of invasive species. The ARMS workflow ends with a rough mass of slurry, whose DNA yields a fingerprint of the community. The eDNA approach is highlighted as a powerful tool for tracking winners and losers in changing ecosystems and for protecting biodiversity before species disappear.

Forensics and DNA phenotyping: The promise and the limits

The Smithsonian’s collaboration with forensic science demonstrates the practical uses of DNA phenotyping, where genetic data are translated into predicted facial features. A high-profile example features Parabon’s DNA phenotyping work, which combined skull-based reconstruction with genetic data to produce a probabilistic face. The process involves hair analysis and cross sections of hair to infer pigmentation and other traits; the team emphasizes the probabilistic nature of predictions and the need for representative sampling. The experts stress limitations, including not being able to determine gender from snips alone and the influence of environmental factors, makeup, and aging on appearance. The takeaway is that while DNA phenotyping can assist investigations, it should be used with caution and within a robust evidentiary framework.

Forensic hair analysis as a cautionary tale

Forensic hair analysis is discussed in depth, revealing how cross-sectional imaging reveals the medulla, shaft shape, and pigmentation that can hint at ancestry, yet remains a contested area due to potential bias in traditional racial categorizations. The protocol described combines physical and genetic data to produce a more nuanced picture while acknowledging the limits of interpretation. The broader message is that forensic methods must be grounded in rigorous science and an understanding of variability within populations.

The Arkansas quartz saga: Crystals, collectors, and public science

The narrative shifts to mineralogy and the economics of rare crystals. A 8000 pound Arkansas quartz crystal becomes a symbol of private collecting and public trust. The Burns, as private donors, negotiate with the Smithsonian to donate or transfer ownership of a specimen of extraordinary size. The crystal’s journey from a mining site to a Tucson gem show and finally to display in the Smithsonian underscores the contemporary tension between private wealth and public access to science. The piece discusses the market dynamics: the increasing value of large crystals, the role of private collectors in a competitive market, and the importance of preserving such specimens for education and research.

Field lab realities: Lava flows and dynamic field research

In a separate segment, the program shows how geoscientists study lava flows in the field and in the lab. Syracuse University’s lava lab uses high-temperature furnaces and a tilt furnace to simulate lava flows, testing viscosity and flow morphology. The scientists wear specialized suits and gold-coated visors to withstand extreme heat while sampling lava, measuring temperature, and using drones for thermal mapping. The segment underscores the challenge of translating field observations into controlled lab experiments while acknowledging the unpredictable nature of natural lava flows. The discussion highlights a broader theme: field observations are indispensable but must be complemented by lab experiments to understand underlying physics.

Sue the T. rex and the warm-blooded dinosaur hypothesis

The Field Museum's Sue the T. rex becomes a focal point for a dramatic scientific discovery. Paleontologists like Akiko Shia demonstrate destructive analysis techniques used on rare fossils to study histology and microstructure. The team uses grinding and slicing to prepare slides, then employs scanning electron microscopy to examine melanosomes in feathers. The presence of diverse melanosome shapes in Ao Confuciusornis indicates a higher metabolic rate than expected, hinting that dinosaurs may have harbored warm-blooded metabolisms. The researchers describe how soft tissue preservation allows direct study of tissues, including vascular canals.

Yasmina, a molecular paleobiologist, demonstrates a groundbreaking method to extract organics from bone using hydrochloric acid to dissolve mineral content while preserving organics. Under a microscope, they observe blood vessel structures that reveal the ancient physiology of Sue. Raman spectroscopy, using a 532 nanometer green laser, is applied to characterize organic bonds and identify metabolic stress markers associated with higher metabolic rates. The data from Sue, combined with early soft tissue discoveries by Mary Schweitzer, challenges the older view that dinosaurs were cold-blooded and suggests that many lineages might have been endothermic or exhibited high metabolic activity. The implications ripple through evolutionary biology, prompting a rethinking of how birds relate to their dinosaur ancestors.

Digital futures and the ethics of data in natural history

The narrative emphasizes that even when physical specimens are conserved, data drives much of modern science. The Earth Biogenome Project aims to map genomes of all Earth life within a decade, treating DNA as a dynamical library that can be queried and cross-linked with other data types. The film discusses the ethical and practical considerations of digitization, the need for responsible AI, and the importance of ensuring that digital archives remain accessible to researchers around the world. The closing sections remind viewers that the fate of biodiversity depends on funding and political support for science, and that the preservation of natural history collections is a public good that benefits agriculture, medicine, and ecology.

Conclusion: The urgency of science funding and public access

The film ends with a sober reminder that without sustained federal support, key collections and laboratories risk erosion. Private interests cannot replace public archives; synthetic biology cannot capture the complexity of real ecosystems. The message is clear: continued investment in science and preservation of tangible and digital collections is essential to understanding and predicting the future of life on Earth. The narrative closes with a nod to the public role of museums as guardians of Earth’s biodiversity and as engines of discovery for generations to come.