Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science / Our Planet

Roughly 70 pink pigeons exist in captivity around the world, including this one at the San Diego Zoo.

Future of Conservation

Threatened Species? Science to the (Genetic) Rescue!

This still-controversial conservation technique will never be a species’ panacea. But it might provide a crucial stop-gap

“Salt Series” taken during a low-altitude flight in Western Australia.

Australia’s Salt Ponds Look Like Beautiful, Abstract Art From Above

Taking to the sky to show how industry shapes the earth

Sirocco, currently MIA, has helped millions connect with the island’s endangered wildlife.

Future of Conservation

Seduced By a Rare Parrot

What can conservationists learn from New Zealand’s official “spokesbird,” a YouTube celebrity who tries to mate with people’s heads?

Ingenious leafcutter ants have developed a successful symbiotic relationship with the fungi they farm. New genetic analysis helps pinpoint when, and why.

New Research

How Ants Became the World’s Best Fungus Farmers

Ancient climate change may have spurred a revolution in ant agriculture, Smithsonian researchers find

Busting apart this aging dam on the Jeremy River in Connecticut opened up 27 kilometers of salmon habitat and spawning gravel for the first time in close to 300 years. Other fish will benefit too, including the eastern brook trout, sea lamprey, American eel, and river herring.

The Environmental Price of Dams

Why some conservationists are demolishing dams in the name of rivers and fish

A rare Eld's deer fawn was born at the National Zoo last fall.

Future of Conservation

Take a Walk on the Bright Side at the First Smithsonian Earth Optimism Summit

As an antidote to doom and gloom, a conference on Earth Day weekend, takes a look all the good that is being done

Underground, all these aspen trees share a singular root system.

Where to Hike to (and Through) the World’s Largest Organisms

Some of the largest organisms will surprise you

Researchers have documented more than 4,000 fossils on clifftop beds accessible to the public.

Canada

Darwin Would Have Loved the Cliffs of Newfoundland, Where 500-Million-Years-Old Fossils Reside

Step back in time half a billion years to a world of mysterious sea creatures that would have thrilled Darwin

The government worker Chandra Rangani tends to the health of Thimmamma Marrimanu.

Evotourism ®

The Biggest Tree Canopy on the Planet Stretches Across Nearly Five Acres

In remote India, a visit to Thimmamma Marrimanu offers a spectacular lesson in the vital coexistence of living things

Kilauea at sunrise: A massive flow streams from a lava tube at the Kamokuna ocean entry.

Evotourism ®

Hawaii’s Must-See Lava Flows Are Home to New, Startling Ecosystems

These stunning volcanoes are creating new islands of evolution

Andrew Altieri of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama conducts a survey where more than 90 percent of the coral reef has died due to hypoxia.

Coral Reefs Now Face Deep Water Dead Zones, As If Climate Change Were Not Enough

A Smithsonian scientist says there may be a greater prevalence of undocumented oxygen-starved deep coastal waters

Planet launched 88 more satellites in February.

How Daily Images of the Entire Earth Will Change the Way We Look At It

With more satellites than any other company, Planet Labs gives environmental researchers daily data

Coralline algae of the genus Clathromorphum are specific to the Arctic and Subarctic, and they have critically important stories to tell about their ocean and how it has changed over the centuries.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

In Its Layers, This Stunning Pink Coralline Algae Holds Secrets of Climates Past

Unseen and unsung for centuries, these underwater species of coralline algae are providing scientists with an unparalleled new archive of information

Flame retardants and lead in Mardi Gras beads may pose a danger to people and the environment.

The Toxic Truth Behind Mardi Gras Beads

Every year, 25 million pounds of plastic beads made by Chinese factory workers get dumped on the streets of New Orleans

The Amazon rainforest appears wild and untouched by humanity, but people have been shaping its biodiversity for millennia.

New Research

The Supposedly Pristine, Untouched Amazon Rainforest Was Actually Shaped By Humans

Over thousands of years, native people played a strong role in molding the ecology of this vast wilderness

Emissions from steel production in eastern China are fertilizing nearby oceans.

Age of Humans

Human Pollution May Be Fertilizing The Oceans. That’s Not a Good Thing

Our iron emissions from coal and steel may be fuelling ocean life, and trapping carbon in the process

The Experimental Lakes Area in Ontario is one of the world's leading long-term experiments tracking the effects of climate change, pollution and other factors on freshwater ecosystems.

Canadian Scientists Explain Exactly How Their Government Silenced Science

It wasn’t just climate research. Rock snot, sharks and polar bears: All were off-limits during the Harper administration

This Town in Iceland Is a Modern Pompeii

Iceland’s ‘Mountain of Fire’ volcano wreaked havoc with an island and the island fought back

Page 40 of 107