Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science / Our Planet

Some researchers are trying to harness the energy from huge storms.

Future of Energy

Can We Capture Energy From a Hurricane?

Loaded with power, massive storms may be another conduit for renewable energy

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Cuba

Discover Cuba’s Unspoiled Shores

Thanks in part to government conservation efforts, Cuba’s 3,500 miles of coastline are a wealth of beauty and history

None

Journey to the Center of Earth

How Earthquakes and Volcanoes Reveal the Beating Heart of the Planet

The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program has stitched together a visual archive of the world’s earthquakes and volcanoes

A sun-bleached skull is evidence of the first recorded jaguar predation on a black bear, linked to the big cat roaming this terrain.

The Return of the Great American Jaguar

The story of tracking a legendary feline named El Jefe through the Arizona mountains

Why Do We Still Have Morse Code and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answer

A beach in Juneau, Alaska. Sea levels in Alaska are not rising, but dropping precipitously due to a phenomenon known as glacial isostatic adjustment.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Melting Glaciers Are Wreaking Havoc on Earth’s Crust

Sea levels are dropping, earthquakes and volcanoes are waking up, and even the earth’s axis is moving—all because of melting ice

Visitors cast shadows on the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, at sunrise.

From Our Photo Contest: Soak Up the Beauty of America’s National Parks

2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service. Enjoy these standout images submitted by our photo community

Age of Humans

These Microbe-Coated Seeds Could Help Us Thrive in a Dark, Dry Future

A Massachusetts-based startup is prepping for your basic apocalyptic scenario

Winners at last year's Google Science Fair

Google Thinks These 20 Teenagers Could Change Our World for the Better

These kids from around the globe have created innovative new technologies, from malaria-testing apps to water-saving agriculture systems

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?

Humans cling to the idea that the beasts of the field could help to make earthquakes predictable, but prognosticators they are not

A condor, tagged with a transmitter for tracking, perches on California's coast.

Age of Humans

Mercury-Laden Sea Lion Carcasses Threaten California’s Coastal Condors

The new findings put a wrench in conservation of one of the world’s rarest birds

New models of ocean currents suggest that the oceanic gyres thought to collect garbage actually have "exit doors" that allow plastic to eventually wash up on the shores of North and South America.

Age of Humans

The Ocean’s Great Garbage Patches Might Have Exit Doors

Garbage isn’t destined to swirl in the ocean forever; new models show it eventually washes up on shore.

A wheat field in Rajasthan, irrigated during the dry season with water from a johad.

Age of Humans

Back to Basics: Saving Water the Old-Fashioned Way

Across the world, communities are reviving old ways of saving or storing water—with promising results

Mark Barton and principal investigator Kevin Boswell of Florida International University conduct species sampling of the nearshore waters.

Photo Contest Featured Photographer

From Playboy to Polar Bears: A Fashion Photographer’s Journey to Document Climate Science in Northernmost Alaska

Florencia Mazza Ramsay traveled to Barrow, the northernmost town in the United States, to document life and research on the front lines of climate change

A drone shot of a researcher collecting data on cryoconite holes on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Journey to the Center of Earth

The Tiny World of Glacier Microbes Has an Outsized Impact on Global Climate

Microbes living on glaciers collectively cover an area the size of New Hampshire—and they could have a big influence on global climate

The Mauna Loa observatory.

Age of Humans

The Enduring Climate Legacy of Mauna Loa

Sixty years after a trailblazing climate scientist scaled its heights, the Hawaii-based observatory remains essential

Learning about bugs at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio.

Age of Humans

Americans Think National Parks Are Worth Way More Than We Spend On Them

An independent survey finds that although NPS’s annual budget is around $3 billion, Americans are willing to pay much more

Page 42 of 107