Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science / Human Behavior

Migraine Headaches and the Remarkable Power of Placebos

A new study finds that the placebo effect is just as powerful as a popular pill in treating migraines. How can doctors use that to help us feel better?

At What Moment Do You Finally Become Yourself?

New psychological research considers whether you are ever really comfortable with your own taste

Your Complete Guide to the Science of Hangovers

Here’s what we know, what we don’t know, and how you can use this information to minimize your suffering

The Vast Majority of Raw Data From Old Scientific Studies May Now Be Missing

A new survey of 20-year-old studies shows that poor archives and inaccessible authors make 90 percent of raw data impossible to find

A friendly label, instead of a threatening warning, might cut down on the vandalization and theft of scientific instruments.

How Do You Protect Scientific Equipment From Vandals? With A Friendly Warning

A friendly label, instead of a threatening warning, might cut down on the vandalization and theft of scientific instruments

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Where Do Humans Really Rank on the Food Chain?

We’re not at the top, but towards the middle, at a level similar to pigs and anchovies

It’s time to give thanks for your taste buds.

10 Things We’ve Learned About Taste

Do following rituals before a meal make the food taste better? What about the ambience of the room in which you’re eating it?

Soon this field in inner-city Detroit could be lined with maple trees.

Can Planting Gardens and Orchards Really Save Dying Cities?

Urban planners sure hope so, particularly in places like Detroit where a company plans to start filling abandoned lots with small forests

Genetic testing of people with Caribbean ancestry reveals evidence of indigenous population collapse and specific waves of slave trade.

A History of Slavery and Genocide Is Hidden in Modern DNA

Genetic testing of people with Caribbean ancestry reveals evidence of indigenous population collapse and specific waves of slave trade

People in Mexico Were Using Chili Peppers to Make Spicy Drinks 2400 Years Ago

New analysis of the insides of ancient drinkware shows chemical traces of Capsicum species, proof positive that its owners made spicy beverages

Simply by looking at geo-tagged tweets, an algorithm can track the spread of flu and predict which users are going to get sick.

Your Tweets Can Predict When You’ll Get the Flu

Simply by looking at geotagged tweets, an algorithm can track the spread of flu and predict which users are going to get sick

Can cameras read what’s going on in a second grader’s mind?

Can Facial Recognition Really Tell If a Kid Is Learning in Class?

Inventors of software called EngageSense say you can tell if kids are engaged in class by analyzing their eye movements

Projections indicate that our rate of trash production will keep rising past 2100—a concern, because waste can be a proxy for all other environmental stresses.

When Will We Hit Peak Garbage?

Projections indicate that the global rate of trash production will keep rising past 2100—a concern because waste can be a proxy for environmental stresses

A new study shows that chimps make different warning calls based on the presence of other chimps, and keep sounding the alarm until their friends are safe.

Chimpanzees Intentionally Warn Their Friends About Danger

A new study shows that the apes make specific warning calls when near other chimps, and they keep sounding the alarm until their friends are safe

A lot of factors go into making a deal.

10 Things We’ve Learned About Negotiation

Make the first offer. Don’t use “I” too much. And maybe it’s not a good idea to look your counterpart straight in the eye

A new focus of hospitals is keeping you from ending up here.

How Hospitals are Trying to Keep You Out of the Hospital

With a big boost from supercomputers, hospitals are shifting more of their focus to identifying people who need their help staying healthy

What is appropriate Google Glass behavior?

Will Google Glass Make Us Better People? Or Just Creepy?

Some think wearable tech is just the thing to help us break bad habits, others that it will let us invade privacy like never before

A creative mind at work?

What Your Messy Desk Says About You (It’s a Good Thing)

Recent research suggests that working in a sloppy setting may actually help inspire creative thinking

None

3,000 Years of Human History, Described in One Set of Mathematical Equations

A surprisingly accurate model shows that warfare and military technology determined where empires arose

None

What Urban Planners Can Learn From a Hindu Religious Festival

Every 12 years, one Indian city balloons from a few million residents to tens of millions. How does this happen with such ease?

Page 15 of 29