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Tennis courts where the author played at Outbound Sedona in the Arizona heat

Tennis Matches Are Heating Up, Literally. Here’s How the Court Became a Living Laboratory for Managing Extreme Temperatures

The sport’s hard-court surfaces can reach some 30 degrees hotter than the surrounding air. With elite players suffering heat illness on the world stage, athletes are following personalized cooling plans

Anna Fiorentino

A pair of African wild dogs at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the largest privately owned nature reserve in South Africa, near the Botswana border.

Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

A view of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows the planet’s signature heart-shaped feature.

Once the Solar System’s Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here’s Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small, Icy Body

According to a niche perspective called “cosmological evolution,” universes may reproduce by spawning black holes in which new universes may form. The concept is far from proven, but researchers note its potential.

Earth’s Organisms Developed Via Evolution. Some Theorists Wonder: What if the Entire Cosmos Did, Too?

A harbor porpoise surfaces near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Marine Biologists Solved a Wildlife Mystery From the Walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge: How the Harbor Porpoise Mates

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A giant Atlantic cockle lies open on the beach in Fort Myers, Florida, while a beachcomber searches for shells in the background.

These Enchanting and Colorful Photos of Seashells and the Mollusks That Create Them Will Have You Marveling at the Natural World

Before they become sandy souvenirs, the baubles in the bubbles of the shoreline serve as a veritable fortress for creatures like clams, mussels and conchs

Tennis courts where the author played at Outbound Sedona in the Arizona heat

Tennis Matches Are Heating Up, Literally. Here’s How the Court Became a Living Laboratory for Managing Extreme Temperatures

The sport’s hard-court surfaces can reach some 30 degrees hotter than the surrounding air. With elite players suffering heat illness on the world stage, athletes are following personalized cooling plans

A pair of African wild dogs at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the largest privately owned nature reserve in South Africa, near the Botswana border.

Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

Meet the team that closely monitors the playful canines, which need help to form diverse packs and stop their numbers from dwindling

A view of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows the planet’s signature heart-shaped feature.

Once the Solar System’s Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here’s Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small, Icy Body

Pluto is now the most well known of the outer worlds beyond Neptune—and the darling of the solar system

According to a niche perspective called “cosmological evolution,” universes may reproduce by spawning black holes in which new universes may form. The concept is far from proven, but researchers note its potential.

Earth’s Organisms Developed Via Evolution. Some Theorists Wonder: What if the Entire Cosmos Did, Too?

The idea that universes evolve like organisms sat on the fringes of theoretical physics for decades. Then, a Substack post and a 2022 find by the James Webb Space Telescope boosted the concept

Social media delivers a mix of harms and benefits to youth that researchers are only just beginning to understand.

Australia’s Social Media Ban for Teens May Not Be the Best Solution, But It’s Certainly Getting People Talking

The Aussie experiment comes amid a lack of clear evidence that the apps harm most adolescents. It may take a dramatic research pivot to finally reveal what’s going on and how to fix it.

A harbor porpoise surfaces near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Marine Biologists Solved a Wildlife Mystery From the Walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge: How the Harbor Porpoise Mates

The dolphin-like marine mammals returned to San Francisco Bay in 2008 after a decades-long absence from the area. Scientists took the rare opportunity to closely observe their behavior, and what they uncovered might help at-risk porpoise populations

A blue whale has been gathering food deep within the water column and reaches the surface with its throat pleats still distended, forming an enormous pouch. Within a few moments the whale will right itself up, expell the water, swallow the food, take several breaths and dive again.

The Global Web of Subsea Cables That Connects the World Can Now Detect Whales—Even When They’re Silent

A diving whale revealed how existing technology makes it possible to monitor cetaceans swimming quietly across the seabed

Each day, elephants roam the dry riverbed in Amboseli National Park in search of water and food. 

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 20 Playful and Powerful Photos of Elephants Will Leave You Astounded By the Majestic Mammals

On this World Elephant Day, you’ll never forget your favorite pachyderm among the selected memorable images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

The mushroom Psilocybe pelliculosa is one of several species that produce psilocybin, a natural compound with hallucinogenic properties.

Could Psilocybin Help Treat Anorexia? A Small Clinical Trial Suggests the Psychedelic May Make Patients More Open to Recovery

The drug, paired with intensive psychological support, may loosen the rigid patterns of thought associated with the eating disorder, scientists say—but they caution that it is not a magic cure

The crew of the Artemis 2 mission captured this image of a total solar eclipse just after rounding the far side of the moon on April 6.

‘Like a Hole in the Universe’: Artemis 2 Astronaut Victor Glover Reflects on Seeing a Total Solar Eclipse While Flying by the Moon

The four astronauts who rounded Earth’s natural satellite in April got an extremely rare view of the dark lunar disk blocking out the sun. Researchers say the observations provide unique scientific value for understanding our star’s mysteries

A koala, Phascolarctos cinereus, with her babies at Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, 2011

This Amazing Archive of Animal Photography Reveals 18,000 Species and Counting. Here’s How Joel Sartore Built His ‘Photo Ark’

For 20 years, the National Geographic photographer has showcased Earth’s animals in a series of striking images that make even the tiniest creatures look immense

A surfer rides a wave during a competition in the Ngor district of Dakar, Senegal, the most westerly point of mainland Africa.

Big Waves Meet Biodiversity: Why Surfing Paradises Could Offer a Key Opportunity for Marine Conservation

A recent mapping study examines places in northwestern Africa where coastal ecosystems overlap with surf breaks, highlighting areas that could support recreation, the environment and local economies, if protected

With Eco Purge, Arya Satheesh won the European category of the 2026 Earth Prize, the largest environmental competition in the world for young students. She was awarded $12,500 to continue to develop her prototype.

This High Schooler Invented a Plant-Based Plastic That Removes Microplastics From the Environment as It Biodegrades

Eighteen-year-old Arya Satheesh created her award-winning Eco Purge to help address the global problem of plastic pollution

A digital illustration of typical prokaryotes—cells that do not contain a nucleus. Bacteria and archaea are the two kinds of prokaryotes on Earth, and their ancestors were the first organisms to evolve.

A New Study Points to Two Origins of Life on Earth by Tracing Early Chemical Reactions in Single-Celled Organisms

The work challenges the assumption that all life descended from one free-living cell. Instead, it suggests that two microbial lineages, the bacteria and archaea, evolved independently from a primordial, nonliving ancestor

The dominant female wolf of Yellowstone's Canyon pack on February 26, 2015

Rooted in the American West: Food, History and Culture

Yellowstone Is Among the World’s Best Places to See Wild Wolves. Here’s the Story of the Animal Called Both ‘Public Enemy’ and Cultural Icon

A century ago, resident wolves were eliminated from the park. In 1995, biologists brought them back, marking a historic reintroduction of a top carnivore

Of the estimated 899 species of ticks worldwide, about 90 are found in the continental U.S.; however, only four species are responsible for most of the infections found in the U.S. today.

The First At-Home Test for Infected Ticks Could Improve Lyme Disease Diagnosis

LymeAlert will hit the market in August. The latest tool against the tick-borne illness could become a medicine cabinet staple

A blacktip shark, above, looks and behaves like a spinner shark. Scientists are tracking spinner sharks to get a clearer idea of the species' whereabouts.

These Shark Look-Alikes Have Long Confounded Fishers and Scientists on the East Coast. Tracking Where They Migrate Could Help Clear the Confusion

Researchers are tagging and tracking spinner sharks to map out their geographic distribution, because they’ve seen that the range of the very similar blacktip shark has shifted

Among medical fields, radiology has pioneered the adoption of A.I. tools. Yet combining the complementary strengths of human and machine intelligence is not straightforward.

How A.I. Will Reshape Radiology—Without Replacing Radiologists

Human experience and flexibility are still necessary even as digital diagnostic tools improve

A copy of the first daguerreotype photograph of a total solar eclipse

A Little-Known Photographer Captured the First Clear Image of a Total Solar Eclipse 175 Years Ago. Today, These Celestial Events Still Reveal the Mysteries of the Sun

Ever since that first daguerreotype on a light-sensitive metal plate, eclipse observations have continued to unveil the star’s corona and bring people together to experience the solar system’s majesty

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