Our Planet

In the past ten years, we’ve found fossils that widen both the geographic and time range of several early human species.

Smithsonian Voices

These Are the Decade’s Biggest Discoveries in Human Evolution

Celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Smithsonian's "David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins" with some of the biggest discoveries in human evolution

Catch Bill Weir's new show, The Road to Change: America's Climate Crisis, Saturday April 25, 2020 on CNN at 10PM ET.

Smithsonian Voices

CNN's Bill Weir Offers Solutions for How to Talk Climate Change in a Contentious World

Smithsonian's Earth Optimism Summit features CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir

"Our planet faces the challenge of a lifetime," says Bunch. "Let’s work together to imbue our future with all the hope and healing we have to offer.

Planet Positive

In a World Facing Grim Challenges, Hope Still Reigns Supreme

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III says: ‘It’s time to put our heads down, and work’

Mangroves line a channel connecting the Belize River to the coastal lagoon system. These trees are hundreds of years old and provide important habitat to both terrestrial and marine species.

Smithsonian Voices

Here's How Local Communities Can Help Save Mangroves

The Global Mangrove Alliance has a goal of increasing the world’s mangrove cover by 20 percent over the next decade

Kilauea fissure 8 lava fountains reached as high as about 50 m (164 ft) on June 20, 2018

Could Rainfall Have Triggered the 2018 Eruption of Hawaiian Volcano Kīlauea?

A new study posits that groundwater pressure might have been a tipping point for the magma system near the eruption

Nick Pyenson and his colleagues next to fossil whales from Cerro Ballena, a site in the Atacama of Chile.

Smithsonian Voices

Digging Into the Past to Find Optimism for the Future

The story of what will happen in the coming decades and centuries is written in the geologic past

The list covers findings in biology, justice and human rights, the environment, and more.

Planet Positive

Fifty Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since the First Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, Americans pledged environmental action for the planet. Here’s what scientists and we, the global community, have done since

In the Catalina Mountains in southern Arizona, forests struggle to keep up with recent increases in drought and wildfire activity, which are expected to continue due to human-caused climate change.

The American West May Be Entering a ‘Megadrought’ Worse Than Any in Historical Record

A new study of ancient climate has a dire warning about today's dry conditions

Karen Osborn, invertebrate zoologist and curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, uses photography to help people better understand the hard-to-see marine animals she studies, like this deep-sea jellyfish Voragonema pedunculata.

Smithsonian Voices

Why Science Needs Art

From teaching curious museumgoers to adding creativity to the scientific process, art thrives at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

"I'm looking at connections between human, animal and environmental health to understand how human impact on ecosystems can affect us," says Sabrina Sholts.

Smithsonian Voices

Here's Why This Smithsonian Scientist Studies Ancient Pathogens

As a biological anthropologist focused on health, diseases are part of Sabrina Sholts' specialty

Good news is out there, if you look for it. For instance, just this month scientists announced that we are on our way to recovering oceans by 2050.

Smithsonian Voices

Here’s How to Find Optimism in This Moment of Fear and Uncertainty

The Smithsonian's Earth Optimism Summit will now stream online starting this Earth Day; tune in and be inspired

Stromatolites at Lake Thetis, Western Australia

Why It’s So Difficult to Find Earth’s Earliest Life

Debate over Earth’s oldest fossils fuels the search for our deepest origins

USS Vincennes in Disappointment Bay, Antarctica, during the Wilkes expedition.

The Forgotten American Explorer Who Discovered Huge Parts of Antarctica

It’s been more than 180 years since Charles Wilkes voyaged to the Antarctic continent and his journey has never been more relevant

The homemade flag carried by Lanphier High School students during their march to the Illinois State Capitol on the first Earth Day.

Planet Positive

This Homemade Flag From the '70s Signals the Beginning of the Environmental Movement

The green-and-white banner from an Illinois high school recalls the first Earth Day 50 years ago

Elizabeth Thomas's team moving between remote field camps via helicopter in Greenland in July 2018

Covid-19

How Scientists Are Keeping Irreplaceable Research Going During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak, and the travel bans and fears that come with it, have endangered long-running research projects

Jason Hayman, managing director of Sustainable Marine Energy, checks out Plat-I, the company’s primary project.

Planet Positive

The Push for Tidal Power Faces Its Biggest Challenge Yet

The renewable energy source has never quite lived up to its potential, but a new experiment in Nova Scotia could flip the script

Planet Positive

Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash the Wild on Your Backyard

Fed up with invasive species and sterile landscapes, Douglas Tallamy urges Americans to go native and go natural

Planet Positive

Six Crazy Attempts to Geoengineer the Weather

These scientists and inventors set out to change the planet with these out-of-the-box ideas

When Michigan Students Put the Car on Trial

In a famous 1970 teach-in demonstration, prosecutors hammered away at the nation’s most powerful defendant

In Uganda’s Mgahinga National Park, a 14-month-old male named Imbanzabigwi is poised to transition from mother’s milk to foraging.

Planet Positive

How Africa's Mountain Gorillas Staged a Comeback

Long victimized by poaching and deforestation, the primate species is in the midst of a surprising rebound that is sparking new hopes of recovery

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