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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural HistoryVisit their website you will be leaving Polar Discovery
Visit their Arctic website you will be leaving Polar Discovery
Visit their Arctic Studies Center website you will be leaving Polar Discovery

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is part of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's preeminent museum and research complex. The Museum is dedicated to inspiring curiosity, discovery, and learning about the natural world through its unparalleled research, collections, exhibitions, and education outreach programs. In 1988, the Museum established an Arctic Studies Center to lead all Arctic cultural research and education. The Arctic Studies Center specifically studies northern peoples, exploring history, archaeology, social change and human lifeways across the circumpolar world.

A Friend Acting Strangely

The Museum's Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely web site and exhibit put a human face on Arctic climate change by exploring changes in the Arctic that have been observed and documented by scientists and polar residents alike. The Arctic site is a nexus for Arctic information and includes compelling Arctic photography, scientific research information, polar resident and community stories, two interactive activities, and an Eyewitness documentary video. The Eyewitness to Change section features the stories of Arctic researchers, residents and communities that will be updated regularly. includes a set of science standards-based activities developed by the National Museum of Natural History for teachers, informal educators and families.

The web site incorporates rich content from the Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely exhibition that was developed by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and was on display through November 2006. The exhibition is available in a print-on-demand format and may tour museums and science centers beginning in 2008. Interested venues can contact Siobhan Starrs (email: starrss@si.edu) at the National Museum of Natural History for more information.