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Science

The Space Launch System Rocket on the pad on August 17

The Revolution in Moon Exploration

Artemis 1 Launch Postponed Again and What Else You Need to Know About the Mission

NASA’s historic return to the moon will begin when the rocket takes off from Florida

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (1970). Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA. Mud, precipitated salt crystals, rocks, water. 1,500 ft. (457.2 m) long and 15 ft. (4.6 m) wide. Collection Dia Art Foundation. Photograph: William T. Carson, 2020

How Utah’s ‘Spiral Jetty’ Is Drawing Attention to the Climate Crisis

Years of drought have exposed Robert Smithson’s massive earthwork in the Great Salt Lake

A vendor displays chili peppers at a local market in India. 

Why Do Some Humans Love Chili Peppers?

An anthropologist traces the origins and paths of one of his favorite kinds of plants

A registered nurse measures out a monkeypox vaccine in Miami, Florida.

Six Big Questions About the Monkeypox Virus, Answered

The United States recently declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. Here’s what you need to know about the disease

An artist’s rendering of astronauts working near NASA’s Artemis base camp, complete with a rover and RV.

The Revolution in Moon Exploration

Four Things We’ve Learned About NASA’s Planned Base Camp on the Moon

Eventually the station will allow astronauts to spend up to two months on the lunar surface

An illustration of a suited astronaut looking out of a Moon lander hatch across the lunar surface.

The Revolution in Moon Exploration

The Revolution in Moon Exploration

In a series of in-depth features, Smithsonian magazine reports on humanity’s renewed push to understand the moon.

A male bison atop an arid hillside on Santa Catalina Island in California.

The Uneasy Future of Catalina Island’s Wild Bison

One of Hollywood’s weirdest legacies, the herd of beasts lives under the watchful eye of local conservationists

Sahelanthropus likely walked on the ground and used all its limbs to move around in trees.

Seven Million Years Ago, the Oldest Known Early Human Was Already Walking

Analysis of a femur fossil indicates that a key species could already move somewhat like us

One reader wonders: Why do we see the Moon during the day and not the Sun at night?

Why Can We See the Moon During the Day? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts.

Birds that wander out of their home ranges can be an unexpected source of revenue. Stella, a Steller’s sea eagle, recently turned up in Maine and Massachusetts, drawing tourists who spent nearly US $500,000.

Birds Wandering Far From Home Can Be a Boon for Local Tourism

When an internet-famous Steller’s sea eagle turned up roughly 11,000 kilometers off course in late 2021, birders flocked to catch a glimpse

Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth babies need round-theclock care. Once they’re adults, they’ll be microchipped and released back into the rainforest.

Baby Sloths Are About as Cute As You Would Expect

A Costa Rica rescue center offers blankets and bottle-feeding at a nursery for these young animals

Research indicates that those of us in the West should eat less meat to live more sustainably.

How Much Meat Should We Eat?

To be sustainable, scientists say we should consume fewer animals products

At American Fossil Quarry, on privately owned land near Kemmerer, Wyoming, hammer- and chisel-wielding visitors pay $69 to $89 to spend up to four hours hunting for fossils. Finders, keepers.

The 50-Million-Year-Old Treasures of Fossil Lake

In a forbidding Wyoming desert, scientists and fortune hunters search for the surprisingly intact remains of horses and other creatures that lived long ago

Scientists scanned a fossil of the Jurassic cephalopod Vampyronassa, pictured here, and found clues that it was an active hunter.

What New Tech Is Revealing About Squishy, Prehistoric Cephalopods

Researchers have adopted innovative means, from cutting-edge scans to swimming robots, to reveal more about how the creatures lived

Archaeologists excavate the remains of friars buried at the former Augustinian friary in central Cambridge.

Why Were Medieval Monks So Susceptible to Intestinal Worms?

Friars in Cambridge, England, suffered from these parasites at nearly double the rate found among average unwashed citizens

Long Covid is a morass to figure out, but the answers are important for the multitudes still suffering from an infection that happened to them months or even years ago.

How Long Will It Take to Understand Long Covid?

Covid long-haulers experience a litany of symptoms, and researchers have proposed a variety of theories to explain them

Donkeys often trample plants in the deserts of the southwestern United States, including in Death Valley National Park in California.

Cougars Are Killing Feral Donkeys, and That’s Good for Wetlands

Mountain lions play an important role in the Death Valley ecosystem by preying on the introduced species

The Titanic sank around 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Incredible Story of the Iceberg That Sank the Titanic

The three-year-old chunk of ice had just weeks to live when it hit the cruise ship

In the Mediterranean Sea, ship strikes are the leading cause of death for sperm whales.

A New Detection System Could Save Sperm Whales From Ship Strikes

Scientists have developed a computational technique that can track whales in real time—and potentially prevent collisions

 Online inflation calculators are only as good as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). “They’re as accurate as we can make them,” says economist Joe Mahon.

What Online Inflation Calculators Can—and Can’t—Tell Us About the Past

Most of these tools are based on the Consumer Price Index, a measure of changing prices in the U.S. over time

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