EditorialA skull cap belonging to Java Man, the first known specimen of Homo erectus, on display at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, Nov. 3, 2022. (Ilvy Njiokiktjien/The New York Times)
EditorialA cricket specimen at the home laboratory of Dr. Seth Donoughe, a biologist and data scientist, in Chicago, on July 29, 2022. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times)
EditorialA cricket specimen at the home laboratory of Dr. Seth Donoughe, a biologist and data scientist, in Chicago, on July 29, 2022. (Mustafa Hussain/The New York Times)
EditorialKristin Brzeski, left, and Bridgett vonHoldt prepare a canid roadkill specimen, kept frozen at the Galveston Island Humane Society, to send to Princeton for DNA analysis, in Galveston, Texas, Aug. 17, 2021. (Tristan Spinski/The New York Times)
EditorialJon Lindbergh, son of the famed pilot Charles Lindbergh, holding a specimen taken from the bottom of the ocean, Oct. 5, 1952. (Eddie Hausner/The New York Times)
EditorialJon Lindbergh, son of the famed pilot Charles Lindbergh, holding a specimen taken from the bottom of the ocean, Oct. 5, 1952. (Eddie Hausner/The New York Times)
EditorialA photo provided by the Government of Yukon, shows a 56,000-year-old wolf pup specimen, recovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory. (Government of Yukon via The New York Times)
EditorialA photo provided by the Government of Yukon, shows a 56,000-year-old wolf pup specimen, recovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory. (Government of Yukon via The New York Times)