Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science / Our Planet

Newly discovered species filled gaps in dinosaur evolution and shed light on historic migrations, while other studies offered new ways to date remains and made key insights about diets.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2025, From Preserved Blood Vessels to the Return of a Short King

With studies of fossilized bones, gut contents, eggshells and more, paleontologists revealed new and captivating details about the enormous reptiles that once roamed the Earth

In 2025, researchers watched an interstellar comet, learned about human origins and traced the spread of measles.

The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2025, From Medical Breakthroughs to an Interstellar Visitor

All year long, these moments captivated the public, demonstrated dangerous trends, and pushed research and innovation forward

A rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) in Hluhluwe, South Africa, performs a threat display. These snakes tend to live on the edges of human communities.

The High-Stakes Quest to Make Snakebites Survivable Took Leaps Forward This Year, With Promising New Avenues to Safer Antivenoms

A wave of fresh science is challenging a century-old treatment and offering hope to the people snakebites harm most—often far from hospitals and help

A horse at the Minnesota State Fair receives attention and affection from visitors.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 20 Majestic Photos Show Just Why Humans Adore Horses

To commemorate the National Day of the Horse, see herds of equine images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

A Laysan albatross checks on its egg.

Stream the Beautiful Highs and Violent Lows of Albatross Life With This New 24-Hour Camera on Midway Atoll

You can see the large white seabirds dancing, preening, feeding and raising young—though the live feed might show a dark side of island living, too, with potential predation from invasive mice

Juvenile sunflower sea stars at the Sunflower Star Laboratory in Moss Landing, California. At this phase, each is less than an inch wide, but they can grow to be more than three feet across as adults.

A Deadly Pathogen Decimated Sunflower Sea Stars. Look Inside the Lab Working to Bring Them Back by Freezing and Thawing Their Larvae

For the first time, scientists have cryopreserved and revived the larvae of a sea star species. The breakthrough, made with the giant pink star, gives hope the technique could be repeated to save the imperiled predator

A dead tree stands with its bare, white trunk and branches in contrast to the greenery around it.

What’s Killing These Oak Trees in the Midwest? Conservationists Believe Drifting Herbicides Are to Blame

When Illinois landowners noticed tree deaths and diseases on their properties ramp up in 2017, they suspected industrial agriculture. A survey found herbicides in 90 percent of tree tissues

Earth’s magnetic field surrounds the planet, with illustrated field lines emerging from the north, in orange, and looping around to the south, in blue.

A Weak Spot in Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Growing, but Scientists Say Not to Worry. Here’s a Look at What Shields Us From Space Weather

Our planet’s magnetosphere has seen dramatic shifts across its history—even total reversals—but this recent wrinkle doesn’t pose a threat to life

A long-exposure view of the Milky Way, seen from Brandenburg, Germany, is cut through by the light trails of passing satellites.

Giant Mirrors in Space Could Bring Sunlight After Dark, One Startup Says—and Astronomers Are Concerned

Critics argue the satellites, billed as a way to harness solar energy at night, could hamper sky observations and may pose a threat to human and animal health

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best books about science in 2025 include Replaceable You, Dinner With King Tut and North to the Future.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Science Books of 2025

From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year

Nineteen-year-olds Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça are developing a robot capable of reaching and reforesting areas where humans have been unable to.

Two College Students Are Building a Robot to Replant Burned Forests

Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça invented Trovador, a four-legged, A.I.-powered robot that can plant trees in hard-to-reach, wildfire-damaged terrain

The Palos Verdes Kelp Forest Restoration Project near Los Angeles forms an ecosystem that is home to many creatures.

Underwater Forests Return to Life off the Coast of California, and That Might be Good News for the Entire Planet

Wondrous kelp beds harbor a complex ecosystem that’s teeming with life, cleaning the water and the atmosphere, and bringing new hope for the future

Hyper-realistic reconstructions of Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy foreground, Selam background) by Élisabeth Daynès in the National Museum’s “People and Their Ancestors” exhibition, Prague

Meeting Lucy: How a World-First European Exhibition Brought Visitors Face to Face With the Fossil That ‘Shrinks Time’

Two Australopithecus fossils named Lucy and Selam made a rare trip out of Ethiopia for a 60-day display at the National Museum in Prague

A bee buzzes by a hybrid magenta-and-yellow snapdragon.

Colorful Snapdragons in the Valleys of the Pyrenees Offer a Rare Window Into How Evolution Happens

Studying the ways that magenta and yellow flowers intermingle paints a vibrant picture of how the plants exchange genetic information—and what keeps each color variety unique

A population of black-and-white ruffed lemurs on Madagascar is experiencing changes in the cadence of its breeding, researchers say.

Lemurs Are Having a Mysterious ‘Baby Boom’ in Madagascar. Here’s Why That Might Not Be a Good Thing

Researchers are investigating a sudden spike in pregnancies in one black-and-white ruffed lemur population that might signal environmental stress to the mammals

A company called Roofscapes has installed an experimental green roof over a zinc one at the Academy of Climate in Paris. A wooden platform, dotted with planters, runs along the building’s side, creating a terrace.

The Skyline of Paris Is Filled With Zinc Rooftops. But Can They Survive Climate Change?

Innovations are overdue, as the signature blue-gray metal roofs heat up in high temperatures, making living conditions in the apartments beneath them unbearable

A camera trap image of El Jefe, a male jaguar who made international news as the only known jaguar in the United States.

How El Jefe, the Lone Arizona Jaguar Who Captivated a Nation in 2016, Became a ‘Rock Star’

Once called “America’s last jaguar,” the solitary male wandered across the southern border in 2011 and became the centerpiece of a campaign to protect habitat in the Santa Rita Mountains

Gloria Acevedo, a diver with the Sirenas de Oriente in Mexico, removes a fishing line from coral near Cozumel Island.

‘Ghost Gear,’ or Abandoned Fishing Equipment, Is Haunting the Oceans. Here’s How Conservationists Are Fighting Back

Discarded nets, lines and traps are a hazard to marine life and ecosystems around the world, but pioneering programs are tackling the problem creatively through education, prevention, ocean cleanups and recycling

The skin of the three-striped poison dart frog, Ameerega trivittata, contains a cocktail of lethal toxins that interfere with the function of key cell proteins. That’s a challenge for any prospective predator.

These Animals Eat Poisons and Don’t Die. Some Even Become Toxic in Turn

Critters consuming species that harbor deadly toxins have evolved a suite of clever strategies to keep out of harm’s way. Scientists are starting to unravel how these protections work on the molecular level

Ian and Stuart Paton pose with their world record pumpkin, nicknamed Muggle. The pumpkin weighs 2,819.3 pounds.

The Giant Pumpkin World Record Just Crept Closer to 3,000 Pounds. Here’s How Science, Sweat and ‘Soul Crush’ Keep Growers Reaching for the Heaviest Fruit Possible

Twin brothers in the United Kingdom grew the biggest pumpkin ever documented, tipping the scales at 2,819.3 pounds

Page 4 of 106