Dr Gesine Steiner,
Press Officer
Email: gesine.steiner@mfn.berlin
Telephone: 030 889140-8917
Marc Jerusel
Manager of Strategic Digital Communications
Email: marc.jerusel@mfn.berlin
Telephone: 030 889140-8738
Stefanie Krzyzniewski
Head of Public Relations
Email: stefanie.krzyzniewski@mfn.berlin
Telephone: 030 889140-8918
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is an outstanding, integrated research museum within the Leibniz Association, with an international reputation and a globally networked research infrastructure. As an innovative communication hub, it aims to help shape the scientific and societal dialogue on the future of our planet and to foster the development of a democratic knowledge society.
Teams from various disciplines are researching the more than 30 million objects in the collection to understand the development of the Earth and life. The topics range from the development of the solar system and the mechanisms of evolution to the diversity of life on Earth. In addition, the scientific, historical, cultural and artistic significance of the objects is being explored.
With the support of the German Bundestag and the Berlin House of Representatives, the Future Plan – serving as a blueprint for the Museum’s Evolution over the coming years – offers, for the first time, the opportunity to renovate all parts of the museum building in a manner that respects its heritage, is sustainable and energy-efficient – thereby creating optimal conditions for the collections, research and the transfer of knowledge. The ambition is clearly stated: the Museum für Naturkunde aims to become a model for the natural history museum of the 21st century and to contribute to the preservation of nature and, thereby, to the future of humanity.
As part of day-to-day editorial reporting, photography and filming without a tripod are generally permitted in the outdoor and public exhibition areas. A press pass grants you free entry to the museum. Photography or filming without a press pass, or requiring additional equipment and set-ups (tripods, lighting, sound, etc.), always requires prior authorisation. Similarly, filming and photography in non-public areas or outside opening hours may only be authorised and carried out if logistically feasible, in consultation with all relevant departments and the press office, and subject to the conclusion of a usage agreement.
A fossil discovery from the approximately 294-million-year-old Bromacker fossil locality in Thuringia fills a major gap in the fossil record. It provides new insights into the evolution of early terrestrial vertebrates.
Visually hunting spiders convergently evolved forward-facing eye arrangements, and their eye positions and orientations evolve as semi-independent modules.
In collaboration with partners in Togo and Ghana, a new joint project is investigating the colonial contexts in which these collections were acquired and opening up new perspectives on historical collections.
Researchers from the BROMACKER project have shown that the smallest known Dimetrodon species from Germany and North America reached their small adult sizes in completely different ways.
Core samples reveal the development of the Tambach Basin
The City Nature Challenge is once again providing valuable data on biodiversity in Berlin
Futurium, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum of the History of Medicine and the Museum für Naturkunde are launching a joint initiative for Berlin’s Mitte district in collaboration with partners. Admission is free to the first neighbourhood festival on Saturday, 13 June 2026.
The Museum für Naturkunde congratulates Italian ecologist Prof. Danilo Russo on being awarded the prestigious Humboldt Research Award.
An insight into science, technology and career prospects: Around 60 girls and young women had the opportunity to explore a wide range of career fields and training pathways at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin during this year’s Girls’ Day.
A new study led by researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin reveals how the loss of large mammals can affecting amphibian larvae living in temporary ponds
Researchers at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin came across a spectacular plant fossil whilst cataloguing the collection. Further investigations are now underway to determine whether this is indeed by far the oldest known specimen of the Cannabis genus.
Findings by an international research team, including the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, which have now been published in Nature publication, provide a surprisingly positive answer: rainforests possess an enormous capacity for self-regeneration.
An international research team has discovered a previously unknown species of harvestman in amber dating back some 35 million years from Ukraine and the Baltic region, held in the collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.
A research team led by the Museum of Natural History has demonstrated for the first time that various bat species produce courtship calls within the immediate vicinity of wind turbine rotors, whilst flying around the nacelle.
As part of the BROMACKER project, a team of scientists has discovered that the famous fossil site between Tambach-Dietharz and Georgenthal in the Thuringian Forest is older than previously thought.
An international team of palaeontologists, including researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, has discovered a new species of early terrestrial vertebrate from Brazil: Tanyka amnicola.
A research team from the University of Naples Federico II, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and several international partner institutions tracked female Daubenton’s bats (Myotis daubentonii) using radio telemetry in newly colonised mountainous regions of the Italian Apennines.
An international research team led by Dr Lorenzo Marchetti of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin has described the oldest known reptile skin impressions to date, discovered in the Thuringian Forest.
Researchers at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin have teamed up with data scientists to develop a new method for extracting label information from digitised insect specimens in a largely automated process.
The 2026 Brecht Days, running from 6 to 13 February, will focus in particular on the industrialisation of agriculture and, by extension, the relationship between technology and nature.
A unique fossil discovery in Thuringia provides the first direct insights into the feeding habits of early land predators.
In 2025, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin welcomed 737,918 visitors to its premises and recorded more than 550,000 streams of its two successful podcasts, ‘Beats & Bones’ and ‘Süßes oder Saurier’.
To mark Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is taking part in a joint initiative involving more than 30 cultural, educational and memory institutions from Germany and Austria.
Dry soil, heavy rainfall or a ‘sponge city’: changes in water management affect the entire capital region. This new project aims to gather local community knowledge on water and feed it directly into the political debate.
Male greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis) have a lot to say – and every call sounds different. A new study shows that these animals not only possess a wide repertoire of vocalisations, but that these also carry individual characteristics.
The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is offering free admission to all visitors affected by the current power cut in Berlin.
Here you will find the latest editions of the Annual Report, the Science Report and the Journal of Nature. Previous editions and other documents can be found on the Publications and Downloads page.
Issue 12: Evolution Update
2025
Issue 11: Bromacker
Issue 10: The Ribbeck Meteorite
Issue 9: Wild City
Issue 8: Everything is new!
Issue 7: Time for discoveries!
2023–2024
2022
2021
2023/24
2021/22
