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Articles

An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission at Mars.

New Research

The Sun Stole Part of Mars’ Atmosphere, and NASA Was Watching

Observations from the MAVEN spacecraft should help scientists figure out if and when Mars had the right conditions for life

2015 Grand Prize Winner Atlantic Puffin with Wild Iris, by Megan Lorenz, Elliston, Newfoundland, Canada. "Perched precariously on the edge of a cliff trying desperately to overcome my fear of heights,' says Megan Lorenz, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, "I watched this Atlantic Puffin pull a Wild Iris from the ground and walk along the cliff toward me. He stopped for a moment and I had enough time to capture him with the blue sky in the background before he dropped the Iris over the side where his mate was waiting at the burrow entrance."

A Taste of “The Best of the Best” Nature Photography

Take a trip around the world with these breathtaking images of nature

A sugar mold with the University of Michigan logo

A Disaster in the Kitchen Leads to a Breakthrough in the Lab

After a failed attempt at making cotton candy, biomedical engineer Chris Moraes thought to use sugar to mold silicone and study human cells

Document Deep Dive

A Look Inside Howard Carter’s Tutankhamun Diary

The famed archaeologist took detailed notes of what he found inside King Tut’s tomb

Seasonal affective disorder can cause people to feel isolated and hopeless.

New Research

Talking Is the Latest Tool for Battling Seasonal Depression

A large-scale study suggests that talk therapy may have longer-lasting benefits than light boxes for treating wintertime blues

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick’s Curator-in-Charge On What It Means to Open Ourselves to Wonder

Before the renovation, Nicholas Bell asked nine artists to tour the building and think deeply about public spaces dedicated to art

The Dakotaraptor fossil, next to a paleontologist for scale.

New Research

New Winged Dinosaur May Have Used Its Feathers to Pin Down Prey

Meet “the Ferrari of raptors,” a lithe killing machine that could have taken down a young T. rex

The weasel-like fisher, an already at-risk animal, faces threats of poison from pot farms.

New Research

Illegal Pot Farms Are Killing Rare Animals With Bacon-Scented Poison

Marijuana plots hidden in California’s forests are inadvertently poisoning protected mammals called fishers

These galaxies are smiling at you thanks to general relativity.

Think Big

Seven Simple Ways We Know Einstein Was Right (For Now)

For the past 100 years, these experiments have offered continued evidence that general relativity is our best description of gravity

The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, after a $30 million renovation, is qualified once again to be called the "American Louvre."

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick: Finally The Gem It Was Meant to Be

When the newly renovated museum reopens this month, one of Washington D.C.’s most storied buildings will be elegantly reborn

Daniel Craig as James Bond escapes villains in the Austrian Alps in Spectre, the latest 007 movie.

Austria

The Man With the Golden Passport: Travel the World of the New James Bond Movie

Follow the trail of Agent 007 in his latest film

“If I go look for dinosaurs, I will find them, because there’s tons of them out there,” says Kirk Johnson, the director of the National Museum of Natural History and the star of a new Nova series "Making North America."

Smithsonian’s Kirk Johnson Steps Up to Be the Rock Star of Geology

The new PBS science series “Making North America” features the director of the National Museum of Natural History

Document Deep Dive

The Telegram That Broke News of the Civil War

After Confederate forces seized Fort Sumter, a U.S. Army officer dashed off this message to Washington

Girl Behind Bottle (Jean Patchett) by Irving Penn, New York, 1949, printed 1978

A Major Retrospective of Photographer Irving Penn Includes Previously Unseen Works

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, view works from the master photographer’s 70-year career

Pepper, the southern boobook. The southern boobook is Australia’s smallest and most common owl. It gets its name from the sound of its hoot.

Bird Watching Has Never Been More Fun

These photos by portraitist Leila Jeffreys are for the birds

Jennie Grossinger gets a kiss from her celebrity friends Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher

The Woman Who Built the Waldorf of the Catskills

Despite her humble origins, Jennie Grossinger learned to play the role of hostess

Samples of cultured meat grown in a laboratory are seen at the University of Maastricht on November 9, 2011. Scientists are cooking up new ways of sustainably feeding the world's hunger for resource-intensive foods like meat products.

Age of Humans

Strange Foods of the Future: The Planet Can Stomach Them, But Can You?

These unusual delicacies could become the staple foods of the future

First debuted as a minor character in Henson's 1955 TV show Sam & Friends, Kermit the Frog has since become a Hollywood icon.

A New Museum Pays Tribute to the Genius of Jim Henson

Make way for Muppets at Atlanta’s new World of Puppetry Museum

An artist's rendering of the MOA-2011-BLG-262 system, which hosts a potential exomoon orbiting a Jupiter-like planet.

New Research

In a Rare Pairing, a Venus-Like Planet Has Been Found Around a “Failed Star”

The system offers clues to the way planets and moons form and may aid in the quest to find habitable worlds across the galaxy

Will Driverless Cars Mean Less Roadkill?

Avoiding wildlife could be a tough task for these super-smart cars

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