Most of us know about blue whales, sperm whales, and dolphins (a type of specialized whale). But what about beaked whales, an elusive group that includes nearly a quarter of all living whale species? 

Astronomers have conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant solar system with a new telescope imaging system that sifts through the blinding light of stars. Using a suite of high-tech instrumentation and software called Project 1640, the scientists collected the first chemical fingerprints, or spectra, of this system’s four red exoplanets, which orbit a star 128 light years away from Earth.

What did extinct dinosaurs eat—and how do we know it? Find out more from Michael J. Novacek, the Museum's provost of science, and Mark A. Norell, chair of the Division of Paleontology, in a video. 

Like hippos, their closest living relatives, whales are descended from an ancestor that had four legs and walked on land, a transition explored in the upcoming exhibition Whales: Giants of the Deep, opening March 23.

This spring, as the Museum celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, visitors can be transported to remote South Pacific coral reefs, the Cocos Island off Costa Rica, and other fascinating destinations as part of this season’s Milstein Science Series.