Scholars
Leading intellectuals in the fields of history, philosophy and science
Lost Soviet Reflector Found on the Moon
In "Dark Energy: The Biggest Mystery in the Universe" from the April issue of Smithsonian, writer Richard Panek describes an experiment that measures the distance between the Earth and the Moon:Twenty times a second, a laser high in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico aims a pulse of light at t...
April 28, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Tyrannosaurus rex, the "Prize Fighter of Antiquity"
It has now been 105 years since the famous dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex was described by the paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, and just about every major dinosaur museum has at least one skeleton of the terrifying predator in their paleontology exhibits. Thanks to the discovery of numerous indiv...
April 27, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
UPDATED: The World's Worst Oil Spills
I've been thinking a lot lately about oil spills. At the beginning of the month, a Chinese freighter ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia, grinding a couple miles coral into dust and leaking oil along the way. A couple of weeks ago came news of a new study showing that o...
April 27, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
How Dryptosaurus Got Its Name
In 1866, back when the scientific study of dinosaurs was only just beginning in North America, the naturalist E.D. Cope received word that workers at the West Jersey Marl Company in Gloucester County, New Jersey, had discovered the gigantic bones of an unknown fossil animal. As Cope did much of his...
April 19, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Little Ice Age Art
One of the most iconic images people conjure up when they think of the Netherlands of the past has to be ice skaters on canals. This painting, Ice Skating near a Village, appears in an exhibition (which closes July 5) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C of work by Dutch artist Hendric...
April 16, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Dinosaur Casualties of World War I
On December 6, 1916, two years into "the war to end all wars," a German naval crew destroyed a set of 75-million-year-old dinosaur skeletons
April 13, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
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
Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar
An avowed paganist in a time of religious strife, Hypatia was also one of the first women to study math, astronomy and philosophy
March 15, 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
The Truth About Lions
The world's foremost lion expert reveals the brutal, secret world of the king of beasts
January 2010 |
By Abigail Tucker
