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Accepting the Idea of Extinction
Some scientists say that we are living in a new epoch of geological time—one they call the Anthropocene—that is marked by what may be the sixth mass extinction in the history of our planet. A scary number of creatures have gone extinct in recent human memory, some of them even in my lifetime. No on...
March 31, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Who Was Ada Lovelace?
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, when people around the web will write about their favorite women in science and technology. But who was Ada Lovelace?Ada was born Augusta Ada Byron on December 10, 1815, the daughter of Anne Milbanke and the poet Lord Byron. Theirs was a tempestuous relationship and Anne ...
March 24, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Level Playing Field for Science
I suppose, in a way, I should thank the woman who tried to compliment me when I was in high school by saying that I was too pretty for science. What she was really saying was that girls don't belong in science, and that got me so riled up I'm still ticked off nearly two decades later. But at least ...
March 23, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Chilean Earthquake Moved City Ten Feet
The February 27 magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile moved the city of Concepción, located 65 miles south of the epicenter, at least 10 feet to the west, according to a new analysis.Just think about it: There was enough power in that earthquake to move an entire city—people, buildings and all the land...
March 09, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Can Buzz Aldrin Dance?
He walked on the Moon and now he'll strut across the dance floor.ABC has announced that astronaut Buzz Aldrin will join the cast of the next season of "Dancing with the Stars." At age 80, he'll be the second-oldest contestant ever to compete for the mirror-ball trophy, which he could then display w...
March 03, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Darwin Versus Lincoln: Who Won?
A little more than a year ago we asked: Who Was More Important? Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin? It seems like an odd question, but since they were both born on the same day—February 12, 1809—we thought we'd give the thought experiment a try. Two Smithsonian editors argued for Lincoln and two oth...
February 15, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
"Fair" Use of our Cells
I've been telling everyone I know that they should read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (If you haven't read my interview with the book's author, journalist Rebecca Skloot, please do.) This fascinating book details Skloot's search for the source of a laboratory cell line called "HeLa." The c...
February 02, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
When the Soviet Union Chose the Wrong Side on Genetics and Evolution
Science cannot long remain unfettered in a social system which seeks to exercise control over the whole spiritual and intellectual life of a nation. The correctness of a scientific theory can never by adjudged by its readiness to give the answers desired by political leadership.--Charles A. Leone, ...
February 01, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
An Eclipse in Your Pocket
When you think about it, American money is kind of boring. It's fairly drab in color, and rarely have people other than U.S. presidents been found on our dollars or coins. Other countries put more interesting people, like scientists, on their money, often using a rainbow of colors. Even more daring...
January 29, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Elementary School Teachers Pass on Math Fear to Girls
We know that girls can do math, and be very good at it. But a new study published this week in PNAS shows that some girls in elementary school aren't learning just how to add one plus one—they are learning that girls should be scared of those numbers. Just like their teachers.University of Chicago ...
January 26, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Picture of the Week—An Ostrich
One of the oldest books about animals is the Historia animalium, by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner (1516-1565). It's really a collection of five books, published from 1551 to 1558, that include animals both real and imaginary (e.g., unicorns and sea monsters). The image above is a page from vol...
January 15, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Creation, a Missed Opportunity
When the movie Creation, about Charles Darwin, opened in British theaters last September, it looked as if Americans might never see the film on the big screen. It had difficulty picking up a distributor here in the United States, and there was speculation that the country might be too religious for...
January 07, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Nine Science Stories You Should Have Read This Year
It's also been a good year for science stories in Smithsonian magazine, including our special issue, Exploring the Frontiers of Science. Here are nine you should read if you haven't already:Gene Therapy in a New Light: A husband-and-wife team's experimental genetic treatment for blindness is renewi...
December 30, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Science Books for Kids
For weeks, Smithsonian editor Kathleen Burke has been sifting through piles of kids' books to put together her annual list of notable books for children, now online. I dove in behind her to pull out some of the wonderful science books that I would have loved to have read when I was young:Almost Ast...
December 21, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Big Dipper's Newest Star
If you can only spot one constellation, it's probably the Big Dipper. Other than being easily recognizable, the Big Dipper is special because it contains one of the first known binary star systems. The star in the crook of the handle was found to actually be two stars around 1617 by Benedetto Caste...
December 14, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Decade's Worst Moments in Science
If yesterday had the decade's best moments, then today we have to bring you the worst (again, in ascending order):10. A cult claims they've cloned a human: Clonaid, a company with ties to the Raëlian UFO cult, announced in late December 2002 that they had successfully cloned a human woman, naming t...
December 02, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Decade of Great Moments in Science
Has it really been 10 years since we were all panicking about the Y2K bug? Yes, it's the end of another decade, and as with any good publication, we're going to overload you with lists as we pause to reflect. What's first? The 10 greatest moments in science, in ascending order:10. Hurricane Katrina...
December 01, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Royal Society Puts 60 Historic Papers Online
The Royal Society, one of the world's oldest scientific societies, turns 350 next year, but the British institution is starting its birthday celebrations a little early. Today, the Society launches an interactive timeline, Trailblazing, which highlights its publishing history by making the original...
November 30, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Nine Species Saved From Extinction
Last week, the U.S. government took the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) off the endangered species list. The birds' numbers had been depleted first by feather hunters and then by the pesticide DDT. But the pelicans made a comeback, starting with the 1972 ban on DDT, and now there are more th...
November 17, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Falklands Wolf: A Darwin Mystery Solved
When Charles Darwin's reached the Falkland Islands on his famed voyage, he discovered there a "large wolf-like fox" found nowhere else in the world. "As far as I am aware," he would later write in The Voyage of the Beagle, "there is no other instance, in any part of the world, of so small a mass of...
November 04, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
