SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 17, 2026--
The Natural History Museum of Utah’s (NHMU) free, award‑winning online educator resource, Research Quest, is celebrating two major milestones: its 10‑year anniversary and its 1 millionth learning session delivered worldwide.
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Research Quest began as a collaboration between NHMU and the Joseph and Evelyn Rosenblatt Charitable Fund, which in 2013 sought new ways to build critical thinking skills among middle school students. With myriad scientific objects in collections not accessible to the public, the museum saw an opportunity to bring real scientific work into classrooms across Utah and beyond.
With support from the Rosenblatt Fund, the I.J. and Jeanne Wagner Foundation, and other partners, NHMU worked with University of Utah researchers, educators, curriculum developers and digital learning specialists to create an effective online model. After extensive prototyping, Research Quest launched in February 2016 with three investigations based on NHMU science.
Now, a decade later, Research Quest offers 15 investigations spanning ecology, paleontology, and archaeology. Using digital museum collections, 3D models and real research data, students investigate questions such as dinosaur evolution, ancient material use, and biodiversity dynamics.
“We didn’t want to recreate a physical museum experience but rather create cognitive experiences in which students meet scientists and examine museum collections,” said Madlyn Larson, NHMU’s associate director of education initiatives.
Research Quest is now used in classrooms on six continents. To date, the platform has recorded 735,000 user logins. Based on NHMU’s study of average classroom use — 1.5 students per login — it has delivered 1,093,500 learning sessions worldwide.
“Research Quest takes students away from boredom and apathy and puts them in the driver’s seat as an archeologist or fossil expert,” said Mike Sumner, a science teacher at Tooele Junior High School.
Today, Research Quest is celebrated as a free, high‑quality educator resource offering teachers ready‑to‑use investigations that strengthen critical thinking and bring authentic science into classrooms.
Learn more or sign up for a free teacher account at ResearchQuest.org.
About Research Quest
Launched in 2016 by the Natural History Museum of Utah, Research Quest is an award-winning digital learning platform that brings scientific investigation into classrooms nationwide. Designed in collaboration with museum scientists and educators, Research Quest invites students to think and work like researchers. It has been used by more than 1 million students and teachers.
A teacher introduces her students to a Research Quest investigation. Photo by Alex Goodlett/NHMU
ROME (AP) — The Colosseum has a bright new look following a restoration using the same travertine marble of ancient Rome to recreate parts of columns from 2,000 years ago.
Thousands of Romans once flocked to this arena to watch gladiators battle each other and wild animals. The structure still captures the public's imagination; it is Italy’s most popular tourist destination, with 9 million visitors in 2025 alone.
The project focused on a semicircular piazza outside the arena, where Roman spectators crowded under two arcades comprised of marble columns stretching up to 50 meters (164 feet) high. People stood in these arcades as they waited to pass through the entrances and take their seats.
Those arches are long gone, collapsing over the centuries from earthquakes and unstable ground. But now, tourists will be able to sit on large travertine marble slabs where the columns once stood and read reproductions of the Roman numerals that indicated seat sections.
“These blocks of travertine marble are placed, located exactly where the pillars, the original pillars were based,” said Italian architect Stefano Boeri, who designed the piazza. “The idea we had was to give back to the public the perception of the proportion of the arcades and the proportion of the vaults of the arches that were used to enter in the center of the Colosseum.”
Over time, the outside area became filled with detritus, including pieces of ruins, and overgrown with weeds.
Restorers began by digging a meter (yard) to where the travertine paving stones once covered the entrance area. They discovered coins, statues, animal bones and a gold ring. Deeper down is the secret underground passageway where Emperor Commodus used to enter the Colosseum while avoiding the hoi-polloi, and which was opened to the public last year.
Restorers sourced the new slabs of travertine from the same quarries where the ancient Romans retrieved theirs — and that today are used build a new generation of religious buildings, banks, museums, government buildings and private homes.
“From the beginning we understood only one thing and that was that we wanted to be involved,” Fabrizio Mariotti, head of the Mariotti Carlo stonecutting firm that has been carving travertine to order for four generations in Tivoli, said Tuesday while sitting on a slab of the stone.
“For a family like ours that has been working with travertine for four generations, working at the Colosseum, which is the symbol not only of Rome but also of this material, is so important.”
Earlier this year, the city of Rome opened two new subway stations, one deep beneath the Colosseum completing a multi-billion euro metro project. The restoration of the Colosseum’s perimeter was done using compensatory funds from the metro, project officials said.
People walk in the new outdoor space created with travertine marble around the Colosseum during it's inauguration in Rome, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A couple take a selfie photo in front of the new outdoor space created with travertine marble around the Colosseum, during it's inauguration in Rome, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People walk in the new outdoor space created with travertine marble around the Colosseum during it's inauguration in Rome, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People walk in the new outdoor space created with travertine marble around the Colosseum during it's inauguration in Rome, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People walk in the new outdoor space created with travertine marble around the Colosseum during it's inauguration in Rome, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
