Behold a T-Rex holotype, paleontology's "gold standard" episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 6, 2026 · 11 MIN

Behold a T-Rex holotype, paleontology's "gold standard"

from Short Wave

What happens behind the scenes of a dinosaur exhibit? Short Wave host Regina Barber got to find out … by taking a trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. In the museum’s basement, she talked to a paleobiologist, checked out a farmland fossil find and even touched a 67 million-year-old bone. Because, as it turns out, there’s a lot of science that can be found in a museum basement.Learn more about the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s exhibit “The Stories We Keep”.Interested in more archaeology and dino-related science? Email us your question at [email protected] to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

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Behold a T-Rex holotype, paleontology's "gold standard"

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