Science & Nature

Catching a Wave, Powering an Electrical Grid?

Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea
By Elizabeth Rusch

High Hopes for a New Kind of Gene

Scientists believe that microRNA may lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer
By Sylvia Pagán Westphal

Wild Things:
Life as We Know It

Whale of a comeback, dancing cockatoos, sticky bees, and waltzing pond scum
By Amanda Bensen, Joseph Caputo, T.A. Frail, Laura Helmuth and Abigail Tucker

Where is the Dinosaur Capital of the World?

Construction at two Illinois museums brings a new town to the debate of who holds this prestigious title
By Smithsonian.com

The Magellanic Penguins of Punta Tombo

On a tiny peninsula in southern Argentina, nearly 400,000 penguins gather to breed and usher in a new generation of their species

Richard Conniff’s Wildlife Writing

International journalist Richard Conniff has reported on animals that fly, swim, crawl and leap in his 40 years of writing
By T.A. Frail

John Allman and Atiya Hakeem examing elephant brain specimens

Wild Things:
Life as We Know It

Flight of the hummingbird, termite cloning and the rise of the octopus
By Joseph Caputo, T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Abigail Tucker and Sarah Zielinski

The Hubble Space Telescope’s Finest Photos

Now that the telescope has received its final upgrades, we look back on Hubble's most memorable images from space
By Joseph Caputo

Going Buggy at the New Audubon Museum

Crickets, spiders, ants and many other insects thrive in historic New Orleans, where kids and adults learn about creepy crawlers
By David Zax

Sylvia Pagán Westphal on “High Hopes for a New Kind of Gene”

By Megan Gambino

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Ecocenter

EcoCenter: Energy

What are governments, companies and households doing to conserve energy and pursue a "greener" future?

Photo Essay

The Magellanic Penguins of Punta Tombo

Explore photos from Eric Wagner's experience with the Magellanic penguins of Punta Tombo

Smithsonian Videos

	Counting Down for the Liftoff to the Moon Photographer David Burnett focused his camera on the many tourists who flocked to Florida in 1969 to watch the launch of Apollo 11
	A Navy Plebe Re-Meets His Match Photojournalist Lucian Perkins reunites Naval Academy graduates Sandee Irwin and Don Holcomb, 30 years after his photo captured the new gender dynamics at the school
	Deploying the Wave Energy Buoy See a prototype of a wave energy buoy bob up and down on the water’s surface as researchers from Oregon State University study its efficacy
	Nikita Khrushchev's Great American Tour As part of a diplomatic mission, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev traveled across the United States, meeting Americans from New York to Iowa to California
	Uncovering the Terra Cotta Soldiers A curator from the Houston Museum of Natural Science explains how the terra cotta warriors were discovered and what they reveal about China’s Qin dynasty

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Can scientists build a machine that learns as it goes and plays well with others? A new robot design draws on ways human babies learn about the world By Abigail Tucker

Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea By Elizabeth Rusch

Scientists believe that microRNA may lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer By Sylvia Pagán Westphal

A new photo exhibit featuring the work of biologist Mark Moffett reminds us that we still live in an age of discovery By Amanda Bensen

Whale of a comeback, dancing cockatoos, sticky bees, and waltzing pond scum By Amanda Bensen, Joseph Caputo, T.A. Frail, Laura Helmuth and Abigail Tucker

Always cited as the hallmark of man’s innovation, here is the real story behind the wheel – from its origins to its reinvention By Megan Gambino

For thousands of years, the Pacific Ocean’s strong currents have swept shipwrecked Japanese sailors onto American shores By Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano

Construction at two Illinois museums brings a new town to the debate of who holds this prestigious title By Smithsonian.com

On a tiny peninsula in southern Argentina, nearly 400,000 penguins gather to breed and usher in a new generation of their species

International journalist Richard Conniff has reported on animals that fly, swim, crawl and leap in his 40 years of writing By T.A. Frail

Does an obscure nerve cell help explain what gorillas, elephants, whales—and people—have in common? By Ingfei Chen

Flight of the hummingbird, termite cloning and the rise of the octopus By Joseph Caputo, T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Abigail Tucker and Sarah Zielinski

Voracious, venomous lionfish are the first exotic species to invade coral reefs. Now divers, fishermen—and cooks—are fighting back By Anika Gupta

Now that the telescope has received its final upgrades, we look back on Hubble's most memorable images from space By Joseph Caputo

Crickets, spiders, ants and many other insects thrive in historic New Orleans, where kids and adults learn about creepy crawlers By David Zax

By Megan Gambino

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Can scientists build a machine that learns as it goes and plays well with others? A new robot design draws on ways human babies learn about the world
By Abigail Tucker

Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea
By Elizabeth Rusch

Scientists believe that microRNA may lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer
By Sylvia Pagán Westphal

A new photo exhibit featuring the work of biologist Mark Moffett reminds us that we still live in an age of discovery
By Amanda Bensen

Whale of a comeback, dancing cockatoos, sticky bees, and waltzing pond scum
By Amanda Bensen, Joseph Caputo, T.A. Frail, Laura Helmuth and Abigail Tucker

Always cited as the hallmark of man’s innovation, here is the real story behind the wheel – from its origins to its reinvention
By Megan Gambino

For thousands of years, the Pacific Ocean’s strong currents have swept shipwrecked Japanese sailors onto American shores
By Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano

Construction at two Illinois museums brings a new town to the debate of who holds this prestigious title
By Smithsonian.com

International journalist Richard Conniff has reported on animals that fly, swim, crawl and leap in his 40 years of writing
By T.A. Frail

Does an obscure nerve cell help explain what gorillas, elephants, whales—and people—have in common?
By Ingfei Chen

Flight of the hummingbird, termite cloning and the rise of the octopus
By Joseph Caputo, T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Abigail Tucker and Sarah Zielinski

Voracious, venomous lionfish are the first exotic species to invade coral reefs. Now divers, fishermen—and cooks—are fighting back
By Anika Gupta

Now that the telescope has received its final upgrades, we look back on Hubble's most memorable images from space
By Joseph Caputo

Crickets, spiders, ants and many other insects thrive in historic New Orleans, where kids and adults learn about creepy crawlers
By David Zax