Ben Panko

Ben Panko is a staff writer for Smithsonian.com

This reconstruction of the grave site shows how the woman may have originally looked.

This High-Ranking Viking Warrior Was a Woman

DNA analysis shows that the elaborate grave of what appears to be a Viking officer was a real-life shieldmaiden

Monarch butterflies nesting in California in the winters have declined rapidly since 1981

West Coast Monarch Butterflies Flutter Toward Extinction

Since 1981, the butterfly's numbers have declined 97 percent according to a new survey

Bison could soon get grazing space next to a Denver airport

Denver Airport...Where the Bison Might Soon Roam

Flyers through this large airport could be greeted by America's official mammal

An image from the New Horizons satellite showing three officially named features on Pluto: Norgay Montes, Hillary Montes and Sputnik Planitia

Pluto's Surface Features Get Their First Official Names

The International Astronomical Union approved 14 dark and heroic names for the erstwhile planet

Tapeworms, like this one imaged using a scanning electron micrograph, weaken their victims but don't typically kill them.

The World's Parasites Are Going Extinct. Here’s Why That’s a Bad Thing

Up to one-third of parasite species could vanish over the next few decades, disrupting ecosystems and even human health

This Algorithm Can Tell How Much Pain You're In

Doctors may soon measure pain with an app

Buskers audition for licenses to make their living in the stations of the London Underground

How to Busk the London Underground

It's a lucrative gig, but it means passing a strenuous process of auditions to find the very best subway musicians

Archaeologists diving off the coast of Nabeul, Tunisia.

Ruins of a Roman City Found Off the Coast of Tunisia

The city destroyed by a 4th-century tsunami is rediscovered

An image of cells showing Zika virus (highlighted green) targeting the cancerous stem cells (highlighted red) of a human glioblastoma tumor

How Zika Virus Could Be Used to Fight Brain Cancer

The same properties that make Zika virus devastating to fetal brains could be turned against cancer cells

Scientists can study stress in these petite primates with simply a few strands of their hair.

Stress Is Killing These Teeny Lemurs, and The Story Is In Their Hair

Sampling the fur of Madagascar’s gray mouse lemurs reveal a bevy of environmental pressures

A sign of "suggestions" for other natural wonders similar to New Zealand's Mount Taranaki

Why Internet Ads Are Taking Over New Zealand's Real-Life Wild Spaces

‘People who liked this also like...'

An illustration of what the surface of exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f could look like if it had liquid water

Could These Nearby Earth-Sized Exoplanets Harbor Liquid Water?

Analysis of the TRAPPIST-1 stellar system shows that several of its planets have the right conditions for liquid water

Some of the hundreds of brass plaques taken from Benin City in 1897 now held by the British Museum

European Summit to Discuss the Return of Looted West African Art

Treasures taken by a British invasion in 1897 could return to Nigeria as a permanent exhibition

The skeletal remains found in a Mexican cave before their looting

Skeleton Stolen From Underwater Cave in Mexico Was One of Americas' Oldest

A new study shows that the human remains looted in 2012 are more than 13,000 years old

Genetically modified immune cells ready to be reintroduced back into a person and attack leukemia.

First Gene Therapy Treatment Approved in U.S.

By modifying a person's own immune cells, the treatment can effectively target leukemia cells

Colorado Construction Crew Unearths 66-Million-Year-Old Triceratops Fossil

While Thornton’s new Public Safety Facility, the crew happened upon a rare find

Brawling was one of the few ways available to settle disputes among lower-class Londoners, potentially leading to injuries and deaths

Medieval Graveyards Unearth London’s Violent Past

A new analysis of hundreds of ancient skulls shows how often violent trauma affected the poor and the rich

Artificial intelligence is trying to write the sixth Game of Thrones book

A Neural Network Attempted to Write the Next Game of Thrones Book

Impatient readers can quench their thirst with the awkward, yet fascinating, prose of a neural network trained on George R.R. Martin

Alexander served as the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and was a prominent Founding Father before his untimely death.

Get Your Hamilton Fix With This New Trove of Digitized Documents

The Library of Congress has uploaded 12,000 items relating to the 'ten-dollar Founding Father without a father'

One of the stinky blooms at the U.S. Botanic Garden just starting to open last year.

A Triplet of Corpse Flowers Will Soon Release Their Stench in D.C.

If you can't make it to D.C., you can still catch the action (smell free) via live stream

Page 5 of 13