A gallery of history’s most mysterious poisonings, from Cleopatra’s legendary snakebite to Napoleon’s alleged death by arsenic, leads visitors into the Detecting Poison theater. Here presenters use props, animations, and audience volunteers, to explore a real-world poisoning case that highlights the dramatic advances in toxicology and forensics since the 19th century. Next, visitors encounter large-scale tableaux of other puzzling cases and can solve the mysteries using an iPad game. For instance, visitors may discover what poisoned Captain James Cook and two naturalists aboard Cook’s ship in 1774.
This exhibition explores poison's paradoxical roles in nature, human health and history, literature, and myth. Whether as a defense against predators, a source of magical strength, or a lethal weapon used as lifesaving medical treatment, the story of poison is fascinating at every turn.
Discover toxic species that live in a remote Colombian forest, where poisons are just one of many tools in organisms' struggles to survive. Learn about a variety of evolutionary strategies that serve animals and plants and see live animals, including a gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), Flame Butterfly Caterpillars (Dryas iulia), and others up close.
Find out which familiar tales of illness, enchantment, or death by poison — a feature of countless fairytales, myths, and legends from around the world — contain kernels of truth. Explore some of history’s most intriguing poisoning cases, many of which remain puzzling today. Take part in a live presentation about a real-world poisoning case and key advances in toxicology, or the science of detecting poison. And finally, learn how studying poison's effects on human cells helps scientists figure out how to protect, repair, and heal them.
The Power of Poison is on view at the American Museum of Natural History from through August 10, 2014. The exhibition is curated by Mark Siddall, curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, whose research focuses on the evolution of leeches and their blood-feeding behavior. 
Image of a Ponyfish; Associate Curator in the Museum’s Division of Vertebrate Zoology John Sparks, an ichthyologist, highlights details of cichlids and other small fish using biological dyes. See below.
Dr. Siddall is also the curator of the Museum's Picturing Science exhibition, currently on view in the Akeley Gallery. Whether Museum scientists are studying parasites, people, or planets in other solarsystems, cutting-edge imaging technologies such as infrared photography, scanning electron microscopes, and CT scanners now make it possible to examine details that were previously unobservable. This exhibition features more than 20 sets of large-format images that showcase the wide range of research being conducted at the Museum as well as how various optical tools are used in scientific studies.
Finally, don't overlook marvelous shops we've spent lingering periods of time in, bringing home from it unusual and beautiful gifts.
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