Who Discovered the North Pole?

A century ago, explorer Robert Peary earned fame for discovering the North Pole, but did Frederick Cook get there first?
April 2009 | By Bruce Henderson

UPDATED: Small Victory for Science -- Previously: Texas Science Education Stands at the Edge of the Abyss

UPDATE: According to a report from the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Board of Education rejected  restoring the "strengths and weaknesses" proposal by a 7-7 split vote. A final vote will come on Friday, but the vote is expected to remain deadlocked.My freshman year of high school, when the teacher...
March 26, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Creationists Visit the Natural History Museum

Everyone is welcome at the Smithsonian Institution, though we locals may grumble when our museums start to fill up with tourists in the spring. But I’m not sure which of these I would find more annoying on a trip through the National Museum of Natural History: 40 hyperactive first graders or the Ad...
March 12, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Emotional Expression in Apes Going Ape

One of the big themes of this year's AAAS meeting was—you guessed it— Charles Darwin. It seemed like every session's chairperson was obliged to mention Darwin's 200th birthday, and some scientists even sounded like they were channeling him at a seance.Scientists have been talking about Darwin's fin...
February 19, 2009 | By Laura Helmuth

Dispatch from AAAS--Big Fish and other Award-Winning Stories

This weekend, fellow blogger Sarah and I are writing from the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. If you ever get a chance to attend an AAAS meeting, by all means, go. It's basically a greatest hits of science conference. The scientists are under orders to make their talks comprehensible to a non-speci...
February 15, 2009 | By Laura Helmuth

Dispatch from AAAS--Naming the 1000th Steve

This weekend, blog overseer Laura and I are writing from the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. Steve Darwin, a botanist at the University of Tulane, was named the 1000th Steve--the kilosteve--last night. Project Steve, the brainchild of Eugenie Scott at the National Center for Science Education, bega...
February 14, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Darwin Rocks

Lectures, symposia, essays and articles are not my idea of a birthday party, but that’s how institutions around the world are celebrating Charles Darwin’s big 2-0-0. In my opinion, you can’t have a party without drink and dance, and luckily Darwin is a muse for scientists and entertainers alike. P...
February 13, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Pictures of the Week--Orchids

Can anyone identify the orchids in these photos? I visited the orchid show at the Natural History Museum last week (Orchids through Darwin’s Eyes, which runs until April 26) intending to learn more about Darwin and his orchid research, as well as take a few photos for the blog. But I got distracted...
February 13, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

The Year of Charles Darwin Ultimate Tour (Part 2)

Back in December, I wondered if you could plan an itinerary for the entire year in which everything you did was Darwin-related. I quickly discovered that planning itineraries is hard work (my friends over at Smithsonian Journeys do this every day—they are amazing) and stopped in early May, leaving ...
February 12, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Evolution in Black and White

The alternative color forms of some animals are providing new insights into how animals adapt and evolve
February 10, 2009 | By Sean B. Carroll

Go to the Galápagos, See What Charles Darwin Saw

A senior editor visited the Galapagos - here's what she saw
February 02, 2009 | By Laura Helmuth

What Darwin Didn't Know

Today's scientists marvel that the 19th-century naturalist's grand vision of evolution is still the key to life
February 2009 | By Thomas Hayden

Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 4 of 4)

On this blog, several of the staff of Smithsonian magazine have been debating who was more important, Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin. T.A. Frail and Mark Strauss argued for Lincoln and Laura Helmuth for Darwin. And now it’s my turn.I’m not going to take up Mark’s challenge and attempt to argue t...
January 27, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 3 of 4)

Last week we asked: Who was more important, Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin? T.A. Frail took up the fight for Lincoln, and Laura Helmuth argued for Darwin. Today, senior editor Mark Strauss, the grand organizer of all of our recent Lincoln coverage in the magazine, takes the helm.Please add your ...
January 26, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 2 of 4)

Recently, someone here at Smithsonian asked: Who was more important, Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin? Yesterday, senior editor T.A. Frail took up the fight for Lincoln. Today, our blog overseer, senior editor Laura Helmuth, argues for Darwin.Please add your own arguments to the comments. Make a c...
January 23, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 1 of 4)

Next month we celebrate an odd double anniversary—the 200th anniversaries of the births of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. Yes, they were born on the same day. And being that history and science are two of our favorite topics at Smithsonian, someone asked: Who was more important, Lincoln or Dar...
January 22, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

Out of Darwin’s Shadow

Alfred Russel Wallace arrived at the theory of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin and nearly outscooped Darwin’s The Origin of Species
January 22, 2009 | By Lyn Garrity

The Year of Charles Darwin Ultimate Tour (Part 1)

In 2009, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin (check out the magazine in February for Smithsonian’s take on the subject, including how his life relates to that of his birthday companion, Abraham Lincoln). With all of the events planned throughout the year to honor Darwi...
December 31, 2008 | By Sarah Zielinski

I Thought Darwin Studied Finches

While reading the Guardian (the UK newspaper) over the weekend, I came across a little article in which a British scientist was complaining about the absurdity of featuring a drawing of a hummingbird (below) on the 10-pound note that honors Charles Darwin (it’s the 200th anniversary of his birth ne...
November 20, 2008 | By Sarah Zielinski

On the Origin of a Theory

Charles Darwin's bid for enduring fame was sparked 150 years ago by word of a rival's research
June 2008 | By Richard Conniff

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