Helen Thompson

Helen Thompson

 

Helen Thompson writes about science and culture for Smithsonian. She's previously written for NPR, National Geographic News, Nature and others.

Workmen constructing the Statue of Liberty in Bartholdi's Parisian warehouse workshop in the winter of 1882.

The Statue of Liberty Arrived in New York in 350 Pieces

Luckily, she also came with an instruction manual

In Some Ways, Human Hands Are More Primitive Than Chimp Hands

Study suggests our common ancestor had humanlike hands

What Makes Day Old Water Taste Funny?

It might be full of microbes and carbon dioxide, but a leftover glass of water is still (probably) safe to drink

New Horizons snapped this image of Pluto on July 12, 2015.

How Pluto Got Its Name

New Horizons carries an instrument named for Venetia Burney, the 11-year-old girl who named Pluto

Variegated squirrels, like the one pictured above in Costa Rica, may carry a virus that causes encephalitis in humans.

A Squirrel Virus May Have Killed Three Squirrel Breeders in Germany

A mysterious set of deaths seem to be linked to the rodents

The number of users injecting heroin has skyrocketed across the United States in the last few years, CDC report says.

Heroin Use in the United States Increased 150 Percent Between 2007 and 2013

Cheap sources and painkiller addiction are contributing factors

Dorothy Arzner (left) poses with Clara Bow in a publicity shot for The Wild Party.

Why Was One of Hollywood's First Female Film Directors, Dorothy Arzner, Forgotten?

Arzner directed 20 feature films

Some scientists think that humans have aided the spread of ticks that carry Lyme bacteria in a few different ways.

Lyme Disease is Spreading, and It's People's Fault

Thanks to climate change and human population growth, cases have been on the rise for decades

Does she look like she would enjoy being jabbed with a needle? Conservationists have used assassin bugs to test the blood female Iberian lynx, like the mother picture above with her cubs, for pregnancy.

How Do You Give an Iberian Lynx a Pregnancy Test? Use an Assassin Bug

Researchers used the insects to keep tabs on population growth in the threatened species

Tissue samples in test tubes, like the one D.C. high school student Asia Hill is holding above, are wrapped tin foil and dropped into the team's portable liquid nitrogen tank.

These Scientists Hope to Have Half the World's Plant Families on Ice By the End of Summer

Teaming up with botanical gardens, researchers at the Natural History Museum are digging deep into garden plant genomics

Visitors at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., can take a trip to the seaside inside.

Washington D.C. Just Got a 10,000 Square Foot Ball Pit

A giant ball pit exhibit allows National Building Museum visitors to experience an indoor ocean

Researchers found pieces of dinosaur egg shells at a possible nesting site in Kamitaki, Japan.

Researchers Just Found a Surprising Stash of Dinosaur Eggshells in Japan

The eggs belonged to a slew of different species and represent the first nesting site discovered in Japan

Swiss researchers want to build a spacecraft to eat their tiny satellites after they stop working.

This Pac-Man Spacecraft Will Devour a Satellite

Swiss researchers are designing a tiny satellite to eat their defunct cube satellite and clean up space junk

Researchers have long debated whether shark repellants actually work.

Do Shark Repellents Really Work?

Mostly not, not even the one made by Julia Child

Some ants, like the unidentified species above, take lazy breaks while others work.

Despite Their Industrious Reputation, Some Ants Are Super Lazy

Research suggests that some worker ants excel at inactivity

Eric Muenter bombed the U.S. Capitol building in July 1915.

In 1915 a Former Harvard Professor Tried to Blow Up the U.S. Capitol

Driven by anti-war sentiment, he went on to carry out several terrorist attacks in NYC to protest U.S. involvement in WWI

Adidas designed a shoe with bits of ocean garbage and illegal fishing nets. Would you wear it?

Adidas Just Made a Running Shoe Out of Ocean Trash

The apparel company recently released a prototype that incorporates recycled ocean plastic

Through genetic engineering, researchers are trying to give high-producing black Angus cows cooler white coats to face the changing climate.

Researchers Are Trying to Genetically Engineer Cows to Stay Cool

As the planet warms, researchers are trying to engineer a cow that can beat the heat

In a new video released by the WWF, viewers can glide through the Great Barrier Reef on the back of a sea turtle.

Researchers Strapped a Go-Pro to a Sea Turtle, and Here’s What They Got

See the Great Barrier Reef from a turtle's view

As part of a bioweapon experiment, Serratia marcescens (pictured on an agar plate above) was released in San Francisco back in 1950.

In 1950, the U.S. Released a Bioweapon in San Francisco

This was one of hundreds of bioweapon simulations carried out in the 1950s and 1960s

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