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The process of coloring the test objects took between 15 and 40 minutes.

This New Dye Changes Color When Exposed to UV Light

Color-change shoes, jewelry, cars, furniture and more could be possible with this new MIT technology

Visualization of a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurement of a human brain. Depicted are reconstructed fiber tracts that run through the mid-sagittal plane.

The Gut Microbiome Could Speed Up the Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease

The microbes in the gastrointestinal tract influence the immune system and the brain, possibly playing a role in the development of Alzheimer’s

People gathered to watch a giant peach as it is moved through the center of Cardiff in September 2016—part of a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl's birth.

Exploring Roald Dahl’s Wondrous Wales

Follow in the footsteps of the beloved children’s book author by visiting these four locales in the United Kingdom

An artist's illustration of the planet K2-18b and another planet, K2-18c, that orbits closer to the parent star. Both planets orbit a red dwarf about 110 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo.

Water Vapor Detected in the Atmosphere of an Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone

The planet K2-18b, about 110 light-years away, could have swirling clouds and falling rains of liquid water droplets

At right is a left front foot followed by the hind foot of the mysterious Chirotherium, or "hand beast." The tracks were first found in the German town of Hildburghausen.

The Long, Strange Tale of the Hand Beast Footprints

A Triassic creature left curious tracks in the sandstone; it took decades to unravel the mystery

The National Zoo's female panda Mei Xiang (above in 2019) is exhibiting signs of a possible pregnancy. These same behaviors could also mean she is experiencing a pseudopregnancy.

Pandamonium

14 Fun Facts About Giant Pandas

Mother Mei Xiang’s annual ambiguous maternal behaviors always deliver heightened anticipation at the National Zoo

Fishless filets are on the rise.

Move Over Fake Meat, It’s Time for Veggie Seafood

Here are six companies bringing you animal-free fish products, from tomato-based sushi to “Fysh Sauce”

Electrophorus voltai, a newly discovered species of electric eel, pictured swimming in the Xingu River, a southern tributary of the Amazon.

Smithsonian Researchers Triple the Number of Electric Eel Species, Including One With Record-Setting Shock Ability

It’s literally shocking news

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How Scientists Are Learning to Tell a Bird’s Age by Its Song

Take a journey into this ornithologist’s world tracking a pair of antshrikes in Panama’s Soberania National Park

Starlit Stratus rendering, by Sunggi Park

Art Meets Science

These Wild Sculptures Could Bring Sustainable Energy to the Desert

Winners of this year’s Land Art Generator Initiative competition proposed beautiful, power-generating works of public art for Abu Dhabi

Fishermen in Milwaukee during the salmon run.

Milwaukee’s Secret Salmon Runs

In the spring and fall, watch huge salmon fly up two rivers in Milwaukee to spawn with the city as a backdrop

Kelsi Rutledge, a UCLA PhD student in biology, and a museum specimen of a new species of ray called a guitarfish from the Gulf of California, Pseudobatos buthi, or "spadefish."

Scientist Lampoons Birth Announcements With Discovery of New ‘Spadenose’ Ray

The new species sees the light of day after more than 70 years tucked away in museum collections

An artist's depiction of an asteroid impacting the Earth.

What Happened the Day a Giant, Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Hit the Earth

Using rock cores from Chicxulub crater, geologists piece together a new timeline of the destruction that followed impact

Images and measurements of the fossil beetle that revealed it was a different kind of beetle than originally thought.

Fossil Mix-Up Could Rewrite the History of Beetles, the Largest Group of Animals on Earth

The reclassification of a 226-million-year-old beetle species could change our understanding of insect evolution

A detail of Toledo’s self-portrait Eye of the Beholder (2017) uses gold leaf in a grid of refracted identities. All artwork used with permission of the artist.

What Makes Francisco Toledo ‘El Maestro’

Mexico’s most important living artist mixes magical realism with passionate rebellion

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Riveting Footage Captures the Destruction of Last Year’s Volcanic Eruptions in Hawai‘i and Guatemala

A new documentary from Smithsonian Channel shows the explosive activity at the Kilauea and Fuego volcanoes

Coney Island Boardwalk, Day to Night, 2011

How Photographer Stephen Wilkes Captures a Full Day in a Single Image

In his new book ‘Day to Night,’ the photographer uses technology to play tricks on the eye

Rutgers student on move-in day in the early 1960s

How College Dorms Evolved to Fit America’s Gender and Racial Politics

Ever since the 17th century, educators and architects designed university housing with societal mores in mind

A photograph of a red slipped ware globular pot placed near the head of the skeleton that yielded ancient DNA. There are lines as well as indentations on the upper right side, just below the rim. The indentations on the body of the pot could be examples of ancient graffiti and/or "Indus script."

Rare Ancient DNA Provides Window Into a 5,000-Year-Old South Asian Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization flourished alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt, but the early society remains shrouded in mystery

Children cross the street in front of a yellow school bus in 1965.

The History of How School Buses Became Yellow

Rural educator Frank Cyr had the vision and pull to force the nation to standardize the color of the ubiquitous vehicle

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