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Your IMPACT | Your Smithsonian

Smithsonian Voices

Panda chewing bamboo

Smithsonian Welcomes Two Pandas

National Zoo builds on long history of wildlife conservation

Julia Ross & Marcela Luna | December 10, 2024

Amazon Fish

Fishes of the Amazon

Current methods of identifying fish species require scientists to examine specimens through a microscope or conduct DNA testing. But what if identification could be achieved simply by taking a cell phone photo?

Abigail Pocasangre & Julia Ross | March 21, 2024

Exoplanet

Life on Exoplanets

Could there be life on planets outside our solar system? For astrophysicists, it’s a big unanswered question, and one that AI technology can help investigate.

Abigail Pocasangre & Julia Ross | March 20, 2024

LandAirSea-banner.jpg

Air, Land and Sea: New Tools for Resilience

In the air, on land and in the sea, the Smithsonian is building new tools for resilient ecosystems—innovative approaches and technologies that will provide knowledge and open up avenues to understand and protect our planet.

Abigail Pocasangre , Elise Walter & Julia Ross | August 15, 2023
Lynn Whitmore

Sustaining People and the Planet

What do you know about what you eat? Where does it come from? How was it grown, fished or harvested, and by whom? From Virginia farmlands to Alaskan headwaters and Panamanian shores, the Smithsonian is working with scientists, farmers and fishermen to illuminate the connections between food and sustaining a diverse planet—working with nature to protect and nourish the land, streams and oceans that feed us.

Abigail Pocasangre & Elise Walter | October 31, 2022
Los científicos ciudadanos

Woodlawn House: Un Nuevo Capítulo

La edificación más antigua de la colección del Smithsonian abre al público por primera vez.

Abigail Pocasangre & Julia Ross | June 17, 2022
citizen scientists

Woodlawn House: A New Chapter

The oldest building in the Smithsonian’s collection opens to the public for the first time.

Abigail Pocasangre & Julia Ross | June 17, 2022
Jiro Ueda 1

Where Art Meets Science

A behind the scenes look at art conservation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

Abigail Pocasangre & Miranda Ellison | May 4, 2022
A prairie warbler greets the spring in New Jersey. PHOTO Cameron Darnell

Deciphering the Mysteries of Migratory Birds

Each spring across the forests, lakes and suburbs of North America, millions of birds take a long journey north in search of summer nesting territory.

Abigail Pocasangre & Julia Ross | April 26, 2021
(ILLUSTRATION Evan Keeling)

Moments of Innovation

The Smithsonian was founded in the early days of a brand-new democracy, as the United States was developing its identity as a nation that applies new ideas and scientific inquiry to better society. From the beginning, the Smithsonian helped shape that identity. The institution still does, innovating to meet the evolving needs of the American people. Explore moments of innovation that shaped the Smithsonian over 175 years.

Abigail Pocasangre & Elise Walter | March 8, 2021
(James Renwick Jr., Sketch of the north tower of the Smithsonian Castle, 1846. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Graphic treatment by Deanna Luu)

Our Foundation is Our Future

Explore some inspiring threads of continuity in the Smithsonian’s pursuit of its mission during the course of 175 years

Abigail Pocasangre & Heather Ewing | February 9, 2021
The Smithsonian came into being around the same time as the medium of photography (Graphic created by Deanna Luu)

175 Years of Photography at the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian came into being around the same time as the medium of photography

Abigail Pocasangre & Heather Ewing | January 28, 2021
left to right: Herrenhauser Embreea Orchid (Embreea herrenhusana). Smithsonian Gardens; Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Gwaneum bosal), Goryeo period, c. 1220–85. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, on loan from National Museum of Korea. 3D scanning data used to create this digital model generously provided by the National Museum of Korea.

Smithsonian Open Access: Unlocking Our Treasures

This month the Smithsonian becomes Creative Commons Zero (CC0). This means we are opening the digital doors, making our content available under user-friendly copyright laws. Artists, researchers and anyone with an internet connection can download, remix, reuse and share Smithsonian collections—just about any way they like.

Nick Pyenson and Sara Snyder | February 24, 2020
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