View a collection of historical documents about molecular biology's history

View an interactive collection of historical documents from the Viking project

This collection includes original mission bulletins, engineering and planning documents, and interview segments from more than 80 Viking team members who made the historic exploration of Mars’ surface by a lander possible.

See a timeline of landmark discoveries in the field of genetics

From the first genetic map of fruit fly genes in 1911 through the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, scientists have built upon each other's discoveries to further our knowledge of the human body and the genetic instructions that inform our traits and disease risks.

All publicly available DNA sequences are available at GenBank

The National Institutes of Health's database stores comprehensive, annotated DNA sequences as part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration. It encourages unrestricted data access within the scientific community while allowing submitters to retain intellectual property rights over their data.

Bacteria helped scientists realize that DNA was the hereditary molecule, not proteins

Until the mid-1900s, most scientists believed genes were made of proteins, which were known to act as enzymes, hormones, and other chemicals that mediated an organism's traits. The Avery-MacLeod-McCarty and that benign bacteria could be made lethal, where the inherited factor that caused bacterial transformation contained DNA.

Explore over 46,000 pages of Charles Darwin's manuscripts

The American Museum of Natural History hosts almost 35,000 digitized folios related to evolution within the fields of botany and zoology from Darwin's Beagle voyage. High-resolution color images, geological findings, and annotated books from Darwin's personal library are also viewable.

The secret lives of cells

Cutting-edge microscopy has revealed previously unseen interactions of biological molecules within their cellular environment, enabling scientists to observe and analyze the molecules in a holistic view. This podcast explains the minute advancements made over the last few decades in observing cells, revealing how scientists have come and what the future holds for the field.

The oldest DNA recovered so far is 2 million years old

The oldest DNA recovered so far is about 2 million years old and has given scientists an unadulterated peek into ancient history. This nine-minute video explores the findings and implications of the DNA, which was pulled from frozen soil in...

Nature simultaneously published three papers on DNA—only the first made history

Papers by Watson and Crick, Wilkins, and Franklin were fast-tracked without peer review, and their order was arranged between lab heads and editors. Franklin's appeared last, making her paper read as though supporting Watson and Crick—because they'd already incorporated her data before it was published.

RNA may have allowed life to exist before DNA

The emergence of living organisms from non-living matter—abiogenesis—requires both a molecule that encodes genetic information and proteins that perform biochemical processes. However, because DNA and protein depend on one another, some biologists theorize that RNA, which can both store information and perform functions, preceded both and originated life.

Safely explore historic viruses and other malicious software in the Malware Museum

Curated by the Internet Archive, this collection of more than 80 MS-DOS-era pieces of software can be experienced within an emulated environment to see what it would look like to trigger a virus on computers in the 1980s and 90s. Every piece of malware has a version available for download whose malicious capabilities have been removed.

Visualization of printing synthetic DNA

Ever wonder how synthetic DNA is made? Discover how GenScript uses innovative technology to synthesize precise, high-quality DNA at a larger scale than ever before.

How the 1918 pandemic spurred developments in virology and vaccines

This article provides an in-depth historical account of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, including its impact on the global population and how its occurrence spurred significant advancements in the study of viruses—laying the groundwork for the...

View an historical mural depicting the NSF's impact across seven decades

From 1950 to 2020, the National Science Foundation supported discovery-based, exploratory research that led to numerous breakthroughs, including the development of supercomputing centers, 3D printing technologies, biometric identification systems, an understanding of vector-borne illnesses, a DNA amplification technique, mobile meteorology units, and scientific education and literacy programming.

Exploring the link between history, art, and anatomy

Throughout centuries, art has played a vital role in sharing—and furthering—scientific understanding. This largely began in 1543 when physician Andreas Vesalius worked with an artist and engraver to transform learnings from his dissections into...

Read the academic article explaining how ancient smells can be dissected and recreated

This paper explores how biomolecular data on past scents can be teased out and then transformed into olfactory museum experiences, adding another component to our understanding of archaeology.

A gallery of medical illustrations from NIH

The National Institutes of Health provides educational materials for broad use. The institute hosts a Flickr account with many different image galleries, including this one (with over 70 images to date) that illustrate and annotate curious phenomena, from the life cycles of a malaria parasite to the comparison of male and female bladders. Explore the gallery here.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Explore a 3D model of the experimental setup Rosalind Franklin used to take Photo 51

To capture the X-ray diffraction image of DNA from the thymus of a calf, Franklin built a humidity-controlling camera to isolate the B form of DNA. The exposure lasted 60 hours and produced a cross pattern, indicating a helical structure.

The origin of the term 'molecular gastronomy' and its first international workshop

The 1992 event was born from a conversation between American cooking instructor Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas and Italian physicist Ugo Valdrè, who agreed on the merits of the science of cooking. The International Workshop on Molecular and Physical Gastronomy was named, in part, after the field of molecular biology to lend it prestige and greater seriousness.

The National Archives history resources for teachers

This free (with registration) resource provides a range of historical and primary source documents and tools for history teachers, compiled by the National Archives.

The history of the Met

From a single sarcophagus to a collection of more than a million artifacts that span nearly the entirety of human civilization, the Met and its importance have grown significantly over the last 150 years. This history of the museum hits all the highlights, including important acquisitions, new wings and galleries, and the importance of the buildings that hold and display all of the incredible artwork.

Explore a series of interdisciplinary explainers on climate science

From animations on the quantum mechanics of greenhouse gases to a photo essay on how scientists acquire climate data, this collection provides detailed explorations of how different branches of science have contributed to our understanding of climatology.

Meet the the scientists of the Manhattan Project

This resource profiles the scientists behind the Manhattan Project—from Nobel laureates like Fermi and Bethe to controversial figures like Teller and Fuchs—showing how their ideas, rivalries, and choices shaped the development of the atomic age.

See the documents that shaped the Declaration before it was written

This Library of Congress collection comprises early arguments for Colonial rights, protests against British authority, draft constitutions, and multiple working drafts of the Declaration of Independence. It traces the ideas and language that preceded the final document adopted in 1776.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Women's wartime suit features silk dyed with CRISPR-modified bacteria

Anna Dumitriu's bioart piece was created to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first use of penicillin in a human patient and intends to raise awareness about the rapid development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens by using bacteria that have essentially been transformed into their pre-antibiotic era state.

A digital archive of the Korean War

The Korean War largely shaped the evolution of the Cold War in Asia. Explore the Wilson Center’s digital collection of primary sources—including essays, profiles, popular documents, and a timeline—to learn about the Korean War. In 1945, the...

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.