Science:
Subtopics
Tasmanian tiger: lessons from the last of its kind
Museum specimens are enabling new discoveries about extinct species, long after they are gone.
The puzzle of Melbourne’s small and ancient seals
‘Landmark’ study rewrites the history of seals in southern Australia thanks to fragmentary fossils washed up on a Melbourne beach.
Wild goodbyes
We've been blown away by the number of people who have reached out to us about Wild—here are some answers to your most often asked questions.
Who are the moth hunters?
Meet the citizen scientists who are, literally, discovering new species in their backyards.
Under fire: The animals threatened by Australia’s bushfire crisis
If there’s one place in the world that knows about extinction, it’s a natural history museum.
Eleven incredible meteorites
The Murchison is just one of many strange and storied space rocks held by Museums Victoria. Here are 10 others—as well as one which disappeared.
Who wielded the Otway Claw?
Meet Victoria’s top Cretaceous predator—a dinosaur that would have eaten Velociraptor for breakfast.
Why the 2010s were the decade of the peacock spider
How disruptors and digital technology led to a frenzy of scientific discovery.
The trials and triumphs of a trailblazing scientist
Hope Macpherson was a woman who broke barriers.
The 700
More than 700 individuals whose combined efforts, starting in 1984, have brought to light fossils in what has been dubbed by one of them “The Dinosaur Dreaming Project”.
Sampling the Abyss
The Sampling the Abyss voyage, 15 May–16 June 2017
When is a creature extinct?
And does this dragon still exist?
Wedderburn meteorite
A meteorite from the core of another planet contains one of the rarest minerals on earth.
What is the most venomous animal in the world?
And how its deadly venom could save lives.
Backyard ballistics: Australia's first DIY satellite
A DIY guide to reaching outer space.
Skynotes
Our monthly newsletter on where to find the brightest planets in Melbourne.
What good are spiders?
Apart from their intrinsic right to be here, spiders do humans a power of good as well.
Eight myths about snakes
Some common misconceptions, and what you can do to keep snakes out of your yard.
The first taipan to be milked for venom
Listening for Nature
Researchers are using advanced digital tools to listen in on animal sounds and map who is where from croaks and calls.
The colour of birds' eggs
The aesthetic qualities of a bird egg can tell you a lot about the species that laid it.
A.J. Campbell on Google Arts & Culture
Passionate ornithologist, naturalist and photographer.
The first donation to the Museum
Mounted specimen of the Little Pied Cormorant
Discover Documentary: Taxidermy
Museums Victoria owns some of the world's most iconic taxidermy specimens from the famous Phar Lap to the infamous Sad Otter. There are over 16 million items in our collection and over 6 thousand of these are taxidermy. But why do scientists still use physical specimens?
Discover Documentary: Bees
In this episode of Discover, Dr. Ken Walker takes us into Museums Victoria's Entomology Collection. As an expert in native bees, he explains how these tiny creatures have a major global impact.
Discover Documentary: Rats
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is home to a unique mix of Australian and Asian animals found nowhere else on Earth, including a number of rat species that are one of a kind. Find out how research being conducted by Dr Kevin Rowe and his colleagues into these rats is helping us to understand the evolution of life on our planet.
Discover Documentary: Deep Sea
Scientists are only just starting to uncover what lives in the deepest parts of the world's ocean. Find out about some of the weirdest and most wonderful with Dr Martin Gomon, Curator of Ichthyology and Melanie MacKenzie, Collection Manager of Marine Invertebrates.
Discover Documentary: Prehistoric marine mammals
What creatures swam in Australia's oceans millions of years ago? In this episode of Discover, palaeontologists Dr Erich Fitzgerald and Tim Ziegler explain how they find and prepare the fossils which are revealing the secrets of Victoria's prehistoric marine mammals.
Discover Documentary: Biobank
Discover the Ian Potter Australian Wildlife Biobank: a state-of-the-art liquid nitrogen storage facility containing tissue, venom, and even live cells.
Discover Documentary: The Murray Explored Bioscan
Following in the footsteps of William Blandowski, the Museum's first curator.
Discover Documentary: Conservation
From wedding dresses to meteorites, our Conservation team protect and preserve over 17 million objects in Museums Victoria's collection. This episode of Discover takes a look at how they do it!
Forest Secrets
At the heart of the museum is a piece of Victoria's mountain landscape with tall eucalypts, ferns, rare plants and wildlife. Delve in to the secrets of our Forest Galley.
Dinosaur Walk
The Dinosaur Walk exhibition brings dinosaurs, pterosaurs and megafauna to life. Learn about the 17 skeletons of prehistoric animals on display!
Dynamic Earth
Uncover the story of our planet. Dynamic Earth is a stunning exhibition that uses thousands of minerals to tell the story of our ever-changing planet.
The Art of Science
Museum Victoria's archive of artworks, working drawings and rare books traces the development of scientific art and provides a glimpse into a world of uncommon beauty.
600 Million Years: Victoria Evolves
How did life on Earth come to be the way it is and what happened in our part of the world?
Eulogy for a seastar, Australia’s first recorded marine extinction
Today, I am writing a eulogy to the Derwent River Seastar (or starfish), that formerly inhabited the shores near the Tasman Bridge in Hobart, Tasmania.
Northern exposure: fossils of a southern whale found for the first time in the north
A totally unexpected discovery.
Ancient whales had more bite than today’s gentle giants
The cutting edge of whale evolution
Melbourne's annual congregation of Giant Spider Crabs
Every year, thousands of Giant Spider Crabs congregate in Port Phillip Bay ahead of their annual winter moult.
Blue-ringed Octopus
Small but deadly, this animal runs rings around the competition.
Australia's megafauna
Australia’s megafauna were unique, and included giant marsupials, huge flightless birds and giant reptiles.
Secrets from beyond extinction: the Tasmanian tiger
The entire thylacine genome has now been sequenced, revealing the apex marsupial predator was in poor genetic health and may have struggled to fight disease had it survived.
The Murchison meteorite
The story behind one of the most studied meteorites, which fell to earth near Victoria in 1969.
Creature of the deep
Its evocative appearance is not the only thing that makes this deep sea creature fascinating and important.
The science of poo
Poo is truly fascinating stuff.
Do centipedes really have 100 legs?
Counting the feet on these ancient invertebrates.
Moon rock on display
Museums make it possible to see specimens from faraway places that you won't get the chance to visit yourself.
How do diamonds get their colours?
And what's so special about the pink ones?
Extinct Tasmanian Tiger now back in 3D
Using 3D scanning, researchers are peeking under the preserved skin of Tasmanian tiger specimens to reconstruct its growth and development.
Bountiful Mallee
Close encounters with Mallee insects.
A good possum is hard to find
The story of Leadbeater's Possum is a remarkable one.
Small(er) is beautiful
Megafaunal giants…in miniature
Our first Director's vision for a University Botanical Garden
How Melbourne University's System Garden came to be.
On the wing
Professor Deirdre Coleman, Nik McGrath and Simon Hinkley join Richelle Hunt in the ABC Radio Melbourne Studio.
George Lyell's letters
In addition to the development of his moth and butterfly collection, George Lyell’s letters reveal much about his personal relationships.
Kindred spirits
Between 1891 and 1947, George Lyell and Gustavus Athol Waterhouse's regular correspondence shared a passion for moths and butterflies.
Light sheets
Peter Marriott talks moth bioscans in the Otways for National Science Week at Melbourne Museum.
Pressed Orchids
Unlike their Asian counterparts, Australian orchids like the rosy spider orchid, pictured below, are beautifully understated. Delicate and beautiful, they are not flashy like the orchids available at your local nursery.
Butterflies of the night
The aim of the "George Lyell Collection: Australian entomology past and present" project is to examine the George Lyell collection scientifically and culturally, and to share discoveries with the wider community.
Moths are beautiful too
At October's Nocturnal event, a multidisciplinary team of Museum workers and a guest speaker from University of Melbourne got together to present items from the George Lyell Collection to visitors.
The sting of the final letter
Transcribing George Lyell's final documents.
Planet or dwarf planet?
A group of astronomers are trying to reclassify Pluto as full 'planet'.
The Larsen-C Benthos expedition
What lurks beneath the Antarctic ice? Museums Victoria's Mel Mackenzie is one of the lucky scientists on a voyage south to find out.
Victoria's nudibranchs
The butterflies of the sea.
What are these swarming beetles in my garden?
Each January, the Museum receives many enquiries about swarms of beetles in suburban gardens in and around Melbourne
Dream Deep
The story behind Joe Meldrum's improvised dance piece in the infinity room of Scienceworks' LightTime exhibition.
A treasure trove of freshwater fish biodiversity
The Kimberley region in Australia’s northwest is one our last great pristine unspoilt places, and a hotspot for species discovery.
Putting names to faceless fishes from the abyss
Understanding which fish species occur where, and discovering new fish species, is the starting point to managing marine biodiversity.
Predator vs predator
Wasps give huntsman spiders a taste of their own medicine.
Whale vs shark
Evidence of shark bite 24 million years ago.
Augmented Humans
Melbourne is home to exciting new innovations combining medicine, design and technology. Many of these have the power to augment human abilities.
Cephalopod Catalogue
Third and final volume by MV scientists now available
Sea anemone feast
Ever bitten off more than you can chew?
Outreach koala
Preparing a specimen for education programs.
Buzz off!
How do you study a bee so small it can barely be seen?
Rare fossil tooth find sheds a light on Australia’s distant past
Who’s digging in my lawn?
Learn about land crayfish and their burrows.
Is my spider a boy or a girl?
At some times in a spider’s life it is easy to tell, but at other times it can be impossible.
Scorpion facts and fallacies
Are all scorpions dangerous? Answers to this and other common scorpion questions.
Birds and birdwatching
Birds are highly visible and vocal, spectacularly diverse and fascinating to watch and study.
Your eight-legged housemates
At Museums Victoria we are often asked: “What kind of spider is this? It was in my house! Is it dangerous?”
Nowhere to hide?
Searching for the elusive Tooarrana in the wake of the fires.
Colour Variations: It doesn't look like that in the book
Astronomy and the art of scientific storytelling
Capturing the awesome story of the universe.
Museums, Specimens and Taxidermy
Bringing the dead to life - sort of!
Catching Lightning
A fulgurite that took microseconds to form, a moment to break and over 50 years to reassemble.
Anne Bermingham, a scientific pioneer of radiocarbon dating
Meet the woman who started Australia’s first radiocarbon dating lab.
Sylvia Whincup, a prolific collector and groundbreaking mineralogist
Sylvia amassed a collection of thousands of specimens and 167 new species.
The Cape Paterson Claw Theropoda
This claw - the first dinosaur bone found in Victoria - is commonly known as "the Cape Paterson Claw".
Melbourne Observatory collection
Over 400 objects and images relating to the operation of Melbourne Observatory from 1863 to 1944.
Venoms & antivenoms at Museum Victoria
Through necessity, Australia is a world leader in venom and antivenom research.
Help us document biodiversity – record your own sightings
Wolf spiders
Some Wolf Spiders shelter in permanent burrows, others wander during the day.
Australia's oldest insect specimen
A Common Evening Brown collected in China in 1742.
Sudell's Frog
A burrowing species that usually come to the surface only after summer rains to breed.
Spiny Spider
Also known as the Christmas spider or jewel spider.
Eastern Banjo Frog
Burrows in the soil and are sometimes found when people dig in their backyard.
Redback Spider
Leaf Green River Tree Frog
These frogs frequent fast-flowing rivers and are excellent swimmers and jumpers.
Diprotodon tooth
A tooth fossil showing markings which appear to be man-made.
Spotted Grass Frog
A medium-sized frog with distinctive large regular-shaped brown or olive green blotches along its back.
Great Melbourne Telescope
Great Melbourne Telescope project website. The goal is to restore the telescope to working order so that it may be used for educational and public viewing.
Minerals and Gemstones of Victoria
See some of Museums Victoria's collection on Google Arts & Culture.
CSIRAC - the world's oldest intact first-generation electronic computer
When it was built CSIRAC was at the cutting edge of the new field of computing.