Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Stories from Alex Fox

An aerial photo of Nishinoshima erupting on June 29.

Volcanic Island’s Explosive Growth Creates New Land

The Japanese island of Nishinoshima has added 500 feet to its coastline in less than a month

An artist's rendering of Kongonaphon kely, a newly described 4-inch-tall reptile that lived in southwestern Madagascar some 237 million years ago. Researchers think the Triassic creature may be closely related to the common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.

Giant Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs May Have Evolved From This Four-Inch-Tall Reptile

In Madagascar some 237 million years ago, the tiny Kongonaphon kely was chasing down insects on two legs

Volunteers repair and re-chalk the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, England. The 180-foot figure has been on the grassy hillside as long as anyone alive can remember, but many wondered if it might be thousands of years old. Now, new evidence suggests the drawing dates not to the prehistoric period, but to medieval times.

Snail Shells Date England’s Cerne Abbas Giant to Medieval, Not Prehistoric, Era

Researchers are conducting additional testing aimed at confirming the chalk figure’s age and origins

“For the elite, the nobility, everything did change radically—the administration of the country, legal frameworks, the organization of the landscape,” says study co-author Richard Madgwick. “But at a lower level, people adapted to the new normal rapidly.”

How Did the Norman Conquest Change English Cuisine?

After the invasion of 1066, pork and possibly chicken spiked in popularity

New research suggests this legless amphibian called a caecilian may be the first known amphibian to possess a venomous bite.

This Worm-Like Amphibian May Pack a Venomous Bite

A new study suggests that legless burrowers called caecilians may be the first known amphibian to have venom glands in their mouths

The pair immediately knew their find was something special, as wood rarely survives in saltwater unless it is buried by sediment.

Divers Find 16th-Century Shipwreck Off Coast of Northern Italy

The vessel may be the “Santo Spirito & Santa Maria di Loreto,” which sank in the vicinity in 1579

Steller sea lions sitting on rocks on the shore of Campbell River in British Columbia, Canada.

Headless Sea Lions Are Washing Up in British Columbia

Biologists and local beachgoers who have encountered the decapitated marine mammals suggest humans may be to blame

The Maya city of Tikal thrived for hundreds of years but was abandoned in the ninth century A.D.

Why Did the Maya Abandon the Ancient City of Tikal?

New research suggests mercury and toxic algae poisoned the settlement’s reservoirs

Ducks might be responsible for ferrying fish eggs to new bodies of water, according to new research.

Fish Eggs Can Survive a Journey Through Both Ends of a Duck

A new study finds some eggs remain viable even after being eaten and pooped out by waterfowl

Researchers used these five replica clay pipes to "smoke" tobacco and other native plants.

Early Residents of the Pacific Northwest Smoked Smooth Sumac

Researchers used a new technique to detect the chemical fingerprints of specific plant species in a 1,400-year-old pipe’s residue

Facial reconstruction of a Scandinavian hunter-gatherer who was buried with a wooden stake at the base of his skull

See the Face of a Man Whose Skull Was Mounted on a Stake 8,000 Years Ago

A forensic artist used 3-D scans of the hunter-gatherer’s cranium to envision what he may have looked like in life

A newly discovered species of velvet spider with bold red and white coloration was named after actor Joaquin Phoenix who portrayed the comic book villain the Joker in the 2019 film of the same name. Researchers thought the spider's pattern resembled the Jokers face paint.

‘Joker’ Spider Named After Joaquin Phoenix

Loureedia phoenixi’s bold red and white abdomen inspired the researchers’ homage

A painting that imagines what a living Mukupirna nambensis and its surrounding environment would have looked like some 25 million years ago near Lake Pinpa, Australia.

300-Pound, Wombat-Like Creature Once Roamed Australia

Paleontologists describe a new species of extinct Australian marsupial that is most closely related to modern wombats but was the size of a black bear

An archival photo of the main street in the Frog's Hollow neighborhood of Brisbane, Australia

Archaeologists Unearth Trove of Artifacts From 19th-Century Australian Chinatown

Chinese immigrants created a community in the Frog’s Hollow neighborhood of Brisbane

A Roman lead ingot recently unearthed in Wales

Local Man Finds 2,000-Year-Old Roman Lead Ingot in Welsh Field

Rob Jones’ discovery adds a tangible piece of evidence to the history of mining in Roman Britain

An artist’s rendering of the mysterious object, which has a mass about 2.6 times that of the sun and was consumed by a black hole some 23 times the mass of the sun. Astronomers say it's less massive than any known black hole and more massive than any known collapsed star, called a neutron star.

Distant Black Hole Collides With a Mysterious Object

Scientists detect what is either the heaviest known neutron star or the least massive black hole ever recorded

"Maisy" a rare hybrid hawskbill-green sea turtle being released into the Atlantic in the Florida Keys. The turtle's satellite tracking tag will allow it to participate in a "race" put on by a sea turtle conservation group.

Rare Hybrid Hawksbill-Green Sea Turtle Released in Florida

The turtle will participate in an annual ‘race’ put on by a Florida-based sea turtle conservation group

Replica of a Norse Viking longhouse in Scotland's Shetland Islands. Archaeologists in Iceland have uncovered the remains of two ancient Viking longhouses that may have been among the island's very first settlements.

Newly Excavated Viking Dwelling May Be Oldest Found in Iceland

Archaeologists say the settlement, which may have housed a Norse chieftain, dates to roughly 800 A.D.

In Australia, pyrocumulonimbus clouds sent somewhere between 300,000 and 900,000 metric tons of smoke into the stratosphere.

Australia’s Fires Sent Smoke 19 Miles High

The unprecedented plumes of were carried aloft by smoke-filled thunderclouds and exhibited unusual wind patterns

The Alaska Army National Guard used a CH-47 Chinook helicopter to remove the bus featured in the book and film "Into the Wild." The bus was removed due to public safety concerns. Hundreds of fans of the book and film had undertaken the dangerous pilgrimage to reach the bus's remote location, resulting in the deaths of two women.

‘Into the Wild’ Bus Airlifted Out of the Wilderness

Dangerous and even deadly pilgrimages to the bus prompted officials to remove the bus due to public safety concerns

Page 18 of 24