Grainger Science Hub

Discover specimens that are usually under lock and key. Get up close and personal with the Field Museum’s collection.

With nearly 40 million items in our collections, less than one percent is on display. So we pick some of our favorites and move them to the Grainger Science Hub…for a limited time only.

Take a closer look: get close to select specimens, get a feel for the tools we use in our research, and explore new discoveries with educators. There’s something new to check out every time you visit. If you can't make it to the museum, you can still get hands-on with science with Hub at Home activities below.

Science Hub is open daily from 10am-3pm.

Now in the Hub

A Fossil Bonebed Mystery

Millions of years before the dawn of the dinosaurs, the planet was ruled by animals with barrel shaped bodies, turtle-like beaks and two powerful tusks. These animals were called Dicynodonts (die-SIGH-no-donts). They could be as small as a rat or as big as an elephant. Although they went extinct long ago, their close relatives persisted through several mass extinctions and diversified into the mammals we know today… including us humans!

Come see the work Field Museum scientists are doing to search for clues as to what happened to a group of Dicynodonts in Tanzania over 240 million years ago. How did these animals live? How did they grow? How did they die? Using high powered microscopy and 3D scanning of fossils, scientists are able to get a better picture of what life was like before the dinosaurs.

The Art of Fossil Preparation: Archaeopteryx

The Chicago Archaeopteryx, the 13th specimen of this species known to science, is the most important addition to the Field Museum’s Genius Hall of Dinosaurs since SUE the T. rex. But did you know that it arrived at the Field Museum almost entirely concealed in a hard limestone matrix?

Without expert fossil preparation, key information within a fossil can be overlooked, obscured, or even destroyed. Field Museum Chief Fossil Preparator Akiko Shinya and Fossil Vertebrate Preparator Connie Van Beek spent 1,300 hours preparing the Chicago Archaeopteryx, ensuring that the scientific integrity of the fossil came first.

Guests to the exhibit can learn more about fossil preparation while exploring the Chicago Archaeopteryx fossil counter slabs (which contain small pieces of Archaeopteryx bone), as well as fossil preparation tools and other historical fossils that provide a then-and-now juxtaposition of preparation techniques.