Water
The Most Dangerous Game: Chasing a Sea Snail?
Abalone divers die of exhaustion, heart attacks, or becoming entangled in kelp. The fear of being eaten by a great white shark is persistent and haunting
April 11, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
How Plants and Animals Can Prepare Us for the Next Big Disaster
Author Rafe Sagarin looks to the natural world for tips on how to plan for national emergencies
April 03, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
The Greatest Diving Sites in the World
The vertiginous void of the Great Blue Hole offers divers the feeling of facing off with the edge of the world
March 28, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Meet Food “Information Artist” Douglas Gayeton
The images convey invisible or purposely obfuscated ideas related to food, explained by the experts themselves
March 22, 2012 |
By Peter Smith
Why Do You Travel?
What is it we look for over mountains and across oceans? What do we find, or hope to find? Answer our survey and we'll publish responses in the May issue of Smithsonian
March 12, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Black Lobster and the Birth of Canning
The canning innovation left another lasting impression: Foods are safe only when sterilized
March 08, 2012 |
By Peter Smith
How a Ship Full of Fish Helped Recreate an Ancient Fish Sauce
A 2,000-year-old shipwreck held ceramic vessels full of fish sauce, as well as a giant tank for transporting live fish
March 01, 2012 |
By Peter Smith
Fish Sauce, Ketchup and the Rewilding of Our Food
Fermented fish sauce has been a culinary staple since at least the 7th century B.C. What makes this seemingly disgusting condiment so popular?
February 28, 2012 |
By Peter Smith
Saving the Whales (And Eating Them Too?)
What does whale meat taste like, and is it anything like jojoba oil, prosciutto or jellied crustaceans?
January 27, 2012 |
By Peter Smith
The Curious Case of a Gigantic Sham Clam
Geoducks are a staple of Chinese New Year. But did one grow to the size of a wheelbarrow?
January 23, 2012 |
By Peter Smith
What Does Home Smell Like?
Salmon's powerful, ingrained sense of smell allows them to return to the exact stream of their birth for spawning.
January 09, 2012 |
By Peter Smith
Into New Zealand’s Strange Waters and Prehistoric Forests
The absence of native mammals, aside from bats and pinnipeds, gives the impression that New Zealand is still in the age of dinosaurs
January 05, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Journey to the Bottom of the Earth – Almost
Anyone would be a fool to visit the South Island and not see the cliffs and marine scenery of Milford Sound, maybe the closest thing the real world knows to the fabled “Cliffs of Insanity" of The Princess Bride
January 04, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Faux Pas: Mortifying Missteps of the Innocent Abroad
It was only weeks later that I learned what a klutz I'd been. It's a miracle I wasn't thrown to the bears
December 20, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Preparing for a New River
Klallam tribal members make plans for holy ancestral sites to resurface after the unparalleled removal of nearby dams
December 2011 |
By Abigail Tucker
America's 19th Century Highway: The River
A new exhibition of American wonders underscores the debt our country owes to its waterways
November 2011 |
By Daniel Walker Howe
Disease Found in Wild Salmon
Are farmed salmon the source of a viral infection off the coast of British Columbia?
October 20, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Shark Fin Soup in Hot Water
California is on the road to becoming the fourth state in the union to ban shark fin soup on account of the ecological impact rising demand is having on shark populations
September 20, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Saving Coral…Through Sperm Banks?
Marine biologist Mary Hagedorn has learned to freeze and reanimate coral cells
September 15, 2011 |
By Megan Gambino
Otters: The Picky Eaters of the Pacific
Could the California sea otters' peculiar dietary habits be impeding their resurgence?
September 2011 |
By Jess Righthand
