Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

Jeffrey Post, curator of the Smithsonian’s National Gem and Mineral Collection, says the size of the Dom Pedro Aquamarine is “unprecedented.”

Introducing the Dom Pedro Aquamarine

The one gem that can rival the Hope Diamond is finally on display at the Natural History Museum

Jellyfish glow with the flow in the Gulf of Maine and the Weddell Sea.

Bioluminescence: Light Is Much Better, Down Where It’s Wetter

From tracking a giant squid to decoding jellyfish alarms in the Gulf, a depth-defying scientist plunges under the sea

How Two Women Ended the Deadly Feather Trade

Birds like the snowy egret were on the brink of extinction, all because of their sought-after plumage

Goodall’s travels have often brought her face to face with exotic plants. In Cambodia, she was “awestruck” by the giant roots of an ancient strangler fig she found embracing the Ta Prohm temple at Angkor Wat.

Jane Goodall Reveals Her Lifelong Fascination With…Plants?

After studying chimpanzees for decades, the celebrated scientist turns her penetrating gaze on another life-form

Off the Auckland Islands, a southern right whale moves in for a closer look at Skerry’s diving partner.

Brian Skerry Has the World’s Best Job: Ocean Photographer

The freelancer’s new exhibit at the Natural History Museum captures the beauty, and fragility, of sea life

Scientists understand color vision in nonhuman animals by studying the properties of cone cells.

Can Animals Decipher Colors and More Questions From Our Readers

Clouds, bluegrass, chipmunks and Picasso round out this month’s batch of questions

Dust lofted up from the Sahara can be blown across the Pacific and seed clouds over California.

Dust from the Sahara Can Seed Rain and Snow Clouds Over the Western U.S.

Clouds above California contain dust and bacteria from China, the Middle East and even Africa, new research shows

Wild bees, such as this Andrena bee visiting highbush blueberry flowers, provide crucial pollination services to crops across the globe.

Could Disappearing Wild Insects Trigger a Global Crop Crisis?

Three-quarters of the world’s crops—including fruits, grains and nuts—depend on pollination, and the insects responsible are disappearing

A Chinook helicopter caries supplies to the stranded Kulluk oil drilling platform in January.

Arctic Drilling Is On Hiatus As Shell Packs It In

After a string of mishaps, Shell is pausing their bid to drill the Arctic seas

This weekend is the 100th anniversary of the 1913 woman suffrage parade. Join the American History Museum in celebrating Women’s History Month with a family festival on Saturday.

Events March 1-3: A thriller film, a Women’s Suffrage Festival and Influential African American Women

This week, see Nicole Kidman melt down, celebrate women’s rights and learn about great African American women you’ve never heard of

The dream of a gold miner—a nugget so big it can be handled like a small marble.

Hunting for Gold in the Amazonian Jungle

The author joins two American fortune-seekers on a gold-panning outing at the confluence of the Negro and Paute rivers

Portion of the cover of the February 1989 issue of Life magazine

In 1989, ‘Life’ Magazine Said Goodbye To Video Stores, Mailmen and Pennies…

In 1989, “Life” magazine predicted that, by the year 2000, many staples of modern American life might find themselves on the scrapheap of history

None

Nitpicking the Lice Genome to Track Humanity’s Past Footsteps

Lice DNA collected around the planet sheds light on the parasite’s long history with our ancestors, a new study shows

None

From Pyenson Lab: When Is a Museum Specimen the Real Deal?

Can you tell the difference between a replica and the real thing? Does it matter? A curator at Natural History talks about copies, 3-D printing and museums

None

Video: This Stretchable Battery Could Power the Next Generation of Wearable Gadgets

Durable and rechargeable, the new battery can be stretched to 300 percent of its size and still provide power

None

Small Satellites—Some the Size of Postage Stamps—Are Transforming How Scientists Conduct Space-based Research

A new fleet of nanosatellites is zooming through space

None

What Makes These Avocados Different From All Others?

The spectrum of the fruit here is almost as varied as the people who grow them, and for avo advocates, Ecuador is an excellent place to go tasting

None

The American Plan to Build Nuclear Power Plants in the Ocean

This ill-advised scheme would have put gigantic barges just off the Atlantic coast? Where would it have started? New Jersey, of course

The AirWaves mask by Frog Shanghai

How to Survive China’s Pollution Problem: Masks and Bubbles

The air quality in China’s biggest cities is famously atrocious, but designers think they may have found a way to combat the issue

None

Snakes in a Frame: Mark Laita’s Stunning Photographs of Slithering Beasts

In his new book, Serpentine, Mark Laita captures the colors, textures and sinuous forms of a variety of snake species

Page 742 of 1325