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Partially protected areas are often proposed as a way to bolster marine life and to improve people’s enjoyment of the ocean—neither of which seems to be happening.

Partially Protected Marine Areas Have Little Benefit, Scientists Say

Compared to fully safeguarded marine protected areas, the zones don’t show a lot of positive effects for marine life or people’s enjoyment

Children participate in a hands-on science activity with the Smithsonian Latino Center for a Dia del Niño festival hosted by LA Plaza de Cultura y Arte in Los Angeles, California.

Smithsonian Voices

How to Take the Museum to Learners Who Can’t Be There

Educators can make a big difference in the lives of young students who have never met a scientist, seen a microscope, or been to a museum

Smithsonian Summer Virtual Adventures will be held from June 21 through Aug. 27.

Smithsonian Voices

Smithsonian Summer Virtual Adventures Offer Live Learning Experiences for Kids

These online experiences offer children opportunities to explore, discover, create and go behind the scenes at the museums—online

Grooming miles of track is a job that starts long before January, when drivers start taking to the ice.

Why Automakers Flock to This Small Swedish Town Every Winter

From January to April, the population of Arjeplog more than quadruples, as almost every brand test drives its vehicles on the region’s frozen lakes

The dictionary documents the “core” vocabulary of science fiction that turns up again and again, both in stories and in the real world.

A Dictionary of Science Fiction Runs From Afrofuturism to Zero-G

The long-running project found a new online home, one that showcases the literary genre’s outsized impact on popular culture

On March 13, 1996, a gunman murdered 16 students and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland. Pictured: the class of 5- to 6-year-olds and their teacher, Gwen Mayor

History of Now

How the 1996 Dunblane Massacre Pushed the U.K. to Enact Stricter Gun Laws

A devastating attack at a Scottish primary school sparked national outcry—and a successful campaign for gun reform

Sylvester Musembi Musyoka, a Kenyan colleague and field crew leader, recording a large mammal fossil bone during a virtual field project to collect fossils in Kenyan excavation sites that were in danger of being damaged by severe weather.

Smithsonian Voices

How the Pandemic Changed Scientific Exploration

Seven Smithsonian scientists continued to discover the secrets of the natural world safely during the pandemic

Although this sign was used in Connecticut, similar quarantine signs were used across the United States.

Smithsonian Voices

How Failed Quarantines Led to 20th-Century Measles Outbreaks

In 1904, measles epidemics were spiraling across the state of Connecticut

Sea beans, otherwise known as sea asparagus and pickleweed, belong to the genus Salicornia, marsh plants that thrive in salty soils.

How One Farmer Is Introducing Americans to Sea Beans

In Charleston, South Carolina, Heron Farms is attempting to grow a gangly, salt-tolerant plant in the face of sea level rise

Foster mother, BD, feeds her adopted vampire bat pup in a captive bat colony at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama.

Smithsonian Voices

Baby Vampire Bat Adopted by Mom’s Best Friend

The strong relationship formed between two female adult vampire bats may have motivated one of the bats to adopt the other’s baby

What if literature was an invention for making us happier and healthier?

Eight of Literature’s Most Powerful Inventions—and the Neuroscience Behind How They Work

These reoccuring story elements have proven effects on our imagination, our emotions and other parts of our psyche

Aviation pioneer Henry “Hap” Arnold (above: with the Fly Fortress "Memphis Bell") lead the Army Air Force to victory in World War II and later establish the U.S. Air Force as the best in the world.

How Gen. Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, the Architect of American Air Power, Overcame His Fear of Flying

Despite his phobia, the five-star general built the U.S. Air Force

Thurgood Marshall's work challenging school segregation in Hearne, Texas laid the groundwork for the pivotal Brown v. Board of Education case.

How Thurgood Marshall Paved the Road to ‘Brown v. Board of Education’

A case in Texas offered a chance for the prosecutor and future Supreme Court justice to test the legality of segregation

Architect Julia Morgan is best known for California’s Hearst Castle.

Virtual Travel

Six Wonders Built by Pioneering Women Architects

Virtually explore these groundbreaking designs around the world, from an Italian villa to an American castle

Jennifer Doudna, a Nobel Prize recipient for her work on the gene-editing tool CRISPR, and the "life sciences revolution" are the dual subjects of Walter Isaacson's latest biography.

How Scientist Jennifer Doudna Is Leading the Next Technological Revolution

A new book from Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson offers an incisive portrait of the gene editing field that is changing modern medicine

A female ruby-throated hummingbird sips nectar from a flower.

Smithsonian Voices

How Do You Weigh a Hummingbird?

Find out how animal keepers weigh Spot, the hummingbird, and get tips on attracting the tiny beauties to your backyard

Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse with Northwell Health, was the first person known to receive the approved vaccine in the United States on December 14, 2020.

Covid-19

First Vial Used in U.S. Covid-19 Vaccinations Joins the Smithsonian Collections

The empty vial, a vaccination card and scrubs worn by nurse Sandra Lindsay, first to be injected, will go on view in a new exhibition in 2022

Bryophytes in the tropics are threatened due to lack of information and research.

Smithsonian Voices

Step Into the Mossy World Where Tiny Plants Play an Outsized Role in the Environment

Bryophytes are an important part of our environment, but in the tropics, there’s still much to learn about them

Barbara Dane with the Chambers Brothers at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

Smithsonian Voices

Meet Barbara Dane and Her Proud Tradition of Singing Truth to Power

From Mississippi Freedom Schools, to free speech rallies at UC Berkeley, and in the coffeehouses, her protest music took her everywhere

Jessica Cox sitting in her Ercoupe.

Smithsonian Voices

The World’s First Licensed Armless Pilot Is a Devoted Advocate for People Facing Similar Challenges

Jessica Cox, author of ‘Disarm your Limits: The Flight Formula to Lift You to Success,’ motivates people around the world to overcome their differences

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