Women in Science

High-Ranking Male Biology Professors Train Significantly Fewer Female Students

This might help explain why fewer women than men go on to hold biology professorships

For 100 Years, Female Students Have Gotten Better Grades in Every Subject

Yes, that includes math and science

A Scientist's Gender Biases Mouse Research

Mice are scared of male researchers, but not female researchers, which could affect a huge chunk of biological research

Female Computer Scientists Make the Same Salary as Their Male Counterparts

Only 20 percent of programmers are women, though

The original man cave.

Paris Is Adding Two More Women to the Pantheon (New Total: Three)

Since its construction, the mausoleum has been filled with 73 bodies. Only one of them is a woman.

Judit Polgar is currently the only woman in the top 100 chess players in the world. Here, she is playing about a dozen other kids at chess. At the same time. She beat them all.

This Does Really Happen: Stereotypes Undermine Performance

Stereotype threat can be hard to prove in real life situation, but here's a really good example of how it works

While Marie Curie dominates the conversation, there have been many other brilliant women who have pursued science over the years.

Ten Historic Female Scientists You Should Know

Before Marie Curie, these women dedicated their lives to science and made significant advances

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Is There A "Homer Simpson Effect" Among Scientists?

Despite decades of progress for women in science (and some arguments that no more is needed), the playing field still isn't level

South Florida has a problem with giant pythons as demonstrated here by a ranger holding a Burmese python in the Everglades.

Attack of the Giant Pythons

The Smithsonian's noted bird sleuth, Carla Dove, eyes smelly globs to identify victims in Florida

Jane McGonigal, 33, creates "alternative reality games," which take place in virtual environments yet encourage players to take real actions.

Jane McGonigal on How Computer Games Make You Smarter

The "alternate reality game" designer looks to develop ways in which people can combine play with problem-solving

The only great ape unique to Asia, orangutans are increasingly rare, with fewer than 50,000 in Borneo. Here, a male named Doyok moves through a reserve.

A Quest to Save the Orangutan

Birute Mary Galdikas has devoted her life to saving the great ape. But the orangutan faces its greatest threat yet

At Namibia's Etosha National Park, male elephants form long-term friendships.

How Male Elephants Bond

Bull elephants have a reputation as loners. But research shows that males are surprisingly sociable—until it's time to fight

Invest in the poorest of the poor, advises Rosamond Naylor.

Rosamond Naylor on Feeding the World

The economist discusses the stresses that climate change and a greater world population will have on our food supply

"Bacteria can talk to each other," says Bonnie Bassler. "Not only can they talk, but they are multilingual." And she knows how to speak their languages.

Listening to Bacteria

By studying microbial communications, Bonnie Bassler has come up with new ways to treat disease

Angela Belcher got her powerful idea from an abalone shell.

Invisible Engineering

Chemist Angela Belcher looks to manufacture high technology out of viruses

While geologist don't know how long the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull could go on for, the last eruption in 1821 went until 1823.

What We Know From the Icelandic Volcano

Geologist Elizabeth Cottrell discusses the effects of the Icelandic volcanic eruption and the work of the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine

The ocean's boundless energy (von Jouanne near Oregon's Otter Rock Beach) could furnish up to 6.5 percent of U.S. electricity.

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

Where do they go? How many are there? What's with the tusk? Narwhals (in the Arctic Ocean) have inspired myth and wonder but are still little known to science.

In Search of the Mysterious Narwhal

Ballerina turned biologist Kristin Laidre gives her all to study the elusive, deep-diving, ice-loving whale known as the "unicorn of the sea"

Born with a disease that has robbed her eyesight, Alisha Bacoccini (being examined by surgeon Albert Maguire) is undergoing experimental gene therapy at the University of Pennsylvania. If she weren't legally blind, says the 20-year-old massage therapist, she would want to be a forensic scientist.

Gene Therapy in a New Light

A husband-and-wife team's experimental genetic treatment for blindness is renewing hopes for a controversial field of medicine

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