Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

6) Eroding Late Holocene Native American oyster midden at low tide in Fishing Bay, Maryland.JPG

When Was the World Our Oyster? We Asked the Anthropologist Investigating Sustainable Oyster Practices Through History

Smithsonian anthropologist Torben Rick studies how different communities sustained oyster populations for centuries, and how that changed in the wake of colonization

A small, tan fox with large, pointed pink ears blends into its sand-colored enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

Five Wild Ways Animals Beat the Summer Heat

Under the waves swirls a bed of sea grass. Above the water is a coastal home attached to a dock.

New Study Puts Smithsonian Conservation Efforts to the Test

A flower with bright pink petals and a yellow interior blooms on the surface of a water near several green and brown lily pads.

New Smithsonian Exhibition Explores the Intersection of People and Nature

A variety of dark gray to black magnetofossils shaped like ovals, cubes and needles cluster around each other.

Meet the Scientist Who Uses Magnetic Fossils to Navigate Changing Oceans

Baby turtles emerge and scatter from a small hole in the sand

Meet Some of the Animal World’s Marvelous Moms

A large elm tree with branches full of green leaves stands in the sunlight

How a Historic Smithsonian Elm Thrives, Over 150 Years After its Planting

A chimpanzee sits among leaves

Explore How Chimpanzees Perceive Gender and More Natural History Programs This April

Yoshino cherry tree

The Hybridized Nature of Washington's Iconic Cherry Trees

A small bonfire burns in the foreground with a sunset in the background.

Explore How Fire Shaped Human Evolution and More Natural History Programs This March

Two small fossil fragments of ancient brittle stars appear green as they rest on Ben Thuy's fingertip.

Scientists Describe Two New Species of Ancient Brittle Star

A humpback whale breaches the surface of the ocean on a sunny day.

World's Biggest Whales Eat Three Times More Food Than Scientists Thought

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing global warming. This means glaciers in Antarctica are melting. Those same glaciers were originally made when carbon dioxide dropped 34 million years ago. (NASA/Jim Ross)

Drop in Greenhouse Gas Caused Global Cooling 34 Million Years Ago, Study Finds

While this year’s Arctic sea ice extended further than last year’s, there still wasn’t as much of it as there was only two decades ago. Thinner and younger sea ice in winter and less ice in the summer are two of the many elements of the Arctic’s new reality. (Credit: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard. Public domain.)

Climate Change Redefines What 'Normal' Means in the Arctic

Climate change is causing oceans to warm, which in turn affects fish and fishers. Now, scientists are turning towards management strategies to protect species and the industry. (Claudio Contreras-Koob/International League of Conservation Photographers)

Why Fishes are the Catch of the Day for Climate Research

Coral reef health is an important indicator of the ocean’s well-being. Scientists can study corals to learn more about how climate change is affecting the oceans. (Wise Hok Wai Lum, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

DNA Makes Waves in the Fight to Save Coral Reefs

Researchers study burial sites like the Falcon Necropolis at Quesna to learn more about ancient Egyptian culture and biodiversity. The site is protected by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. (Joanne Rowland)

Mummified Shrew Discovery Unearths Ancient Egypt’s Wetter Climate

Through research on living and preserved fungus-farming ants, entomologists are learning more about the insects’ deep connection to their environment and how that relationship might evolve in response to a changing climate. (Smithsonian)

How Fungus-Farming Ants Fertilize Climate Research

Through research on living and preserved plants, botanists are learning more about how flora has responded to climate change over the past centuries. (USDA photo by Preston Keres)

Why Plants are Seeding Climate Studies

Fossil plants reveal information about the temperature and precipitation of past climates. Scientists use what they learn from fossil plants to inform their research on modern climate change (USNM PAL 606436, Smithsonian)

What Fossil Plants Reveal About Climate Change

Latest

What the Demise of Mammoths Can Teach Us About Future Extinctions

To Uncover the Origins of Diseases, Smithsonian Researchers Dust Bat Specimens for Viral Fingerprints

Categories
Archive