Alaska Museum of Science and Nature

05/14/2026

New Summer Hours!!! Starting June 1, 2026 - August 31st, 2026 we will be open on Sundays.

04/24/2026

The museum will be opened at 11am today 4/24.

02/11/2026

Did you know the Alaska Museum of Science & Nature is home to award-winning student-led robotics teams?

Through The Lynx Initiative, youth learn engineering, collaboration, and leadership while designing and building robots, and they mentor one another as they go, making robotics accessible to students across the community. 

This Season’s Robotics Achievements

South-Central League Tournament
• Mechalodons — Connect Award
• Δ Lynx — Reach Award
• Ψ Lynx — Robot Game & Inspire Award

Alaska State Championship
• Ψ Lynx — Robot Game & Inspire Award Runner-up
• Hackfish — 2nd Place in Robot Game and 2nd Place Connect Award

We’re especially proud to celebrate Avery S. of Ψ Lynx, selected to represent the State of Alaska on the Dean’s List at Worlds.

What’s Next
• Ψ Lynx will represent Alaska as Alaska’s first seed at the World Championship.
• Hackfish will represent Alaska at an upcoming Premier Event later this season.

Congratulations to all of our robotics students, mentors, families, and supporters, what an outstanding year for innovation, teamwork, and STEM excellence!

01/31/2026

Happy ! A group of scientists recently announced that a fossilized neckbone found in Montana once belonged too the Jurassic-era long-neck dinosaur 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴. Before, 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴 was known from areas further south, like Utah and Wyoming. This now makes Montana the further north that 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴 is known to have lived. Did 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴 ever make it up to Alaska? Probably not, but we can wonder! 🦕

We’re excited to announce the publication of new research documenting the first occurrence of Barosaurus in Montana, representing the northernmost known record of the genus.

The paper is based on the description of a single vertebra recovered from one of our field sites and increases our knowledge of sauropod distribution from the Late Jurassic. This research was authored by a collaborative team from Elevation Science (Jason Schein, Katie Hunt, and Skye Walker) and Dr. Cary Woodruff of the Frost Science Museum.

We would also like to thank the Bureau of Land Management for permitting this work, and the Cincinnati Museum Center, our federal repository and partner, for their continued support in preserving and stewarding these specimens.

Read the paper here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/400050346_THE_FIRST_SPECIMEN_OF_BAROSAURUS_SAUROPODA_DIPLODOCIDAE_FROM_MONTANA_THE_NORTHERNMOST_OCCURRENCE_OF_THE_GENUS

01/16/2026

Happy ! Have you ever dreamed about being a paleontologist? The job is more than just digging up dinosaur bones. Paleontologists also need to spend a lot of time carefully studying and preserving fossils inside a museum or lab.

Here paleontologist Elmer Riggs (right) and his assistant are preparing fossilized bones from the giant, long-neck dinosaur 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴 at the Field Columbian Museum wayyyyy back in the early 1900s. The big bone standing up on the left is a femur (upper leg bone) from 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴. 🦕

📸: The Field Museum in Chicago, Public Domain

01/16/2026

We are open!!!
Need something to do today stop by and see some dinosaurs.

01/07/2026

Happy ! Old Rock Day is an unofficial holiday celebrating Earth's geologic history. Did you know the oldest rocks in Alaska are over two BILLION years old? 🪨🦖

"The Iditarod rocks are more than 2 billion years old. This is remarkable because most rocks in Alaska formed 500 million years ago or even more recently. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Two billion years ago is about when multicellular organisms first started oozing around on the planet."

IDITAROD, ALASKA — While gliding along a trail that had just felt the imprint of 2,000 dog feet, Bob Gillis skied over to a rock that jutted from the snow.

01/03/2026

Happy ! Do you recognize this dinosaur? This is 𝘊𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴, a meat-eating dinosaur that lived in the US Southwest during the late Triassic Period, over 200 million years ago.

Unfortunately, 𝘊𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 probably never set foot in Alaska. However, 𝘊𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 is a member of the theropod group of dinosaurs that would later include other fearsome Alaskan carnivores like 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘯 and 𝘕𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘲𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴. 🦖

🎨: Total Dino

01/01/2026

The museum is closed today for the holiday. Happy New Year!

06/26/2025

Museum Closure Notice – July 4th Weekend

The Alaska Museum of Science & Nature will be closed Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (July 4th weekend) as we take advantage of the holiday break to clear out our upstairs space in preparation for upcoming roof repairs.

We appreciate your understanding as we work to preserve and protect this community space. Thank you for your continued support, and we’ll see you soon!