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Science / Our Planet

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

Purple loosestrife, which is blooming 24 days earlier than it did a century ago, poses a serious threat to wetland habitats.

How Climate Change is Helping Invasive Species Take Over

Longer seasons and warmer weather have combined to be a game-changer in the plant wars

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This Could Be the Oldest Flowering Plant Ever Found in North America

A new look at Smithsonian’s fossil collection turned up a remarkably ancient flowering plant—scientists think it’s at least 115 million years old

Resurrection Bay, Alaska (1939), by Rockwell Kent

Art Meets Science

Art Chronicles Glaciers As They Disappear

The Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington, is exhibiting 75 works of art pulled from the past two centuries—all themed around ice

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

The seahorse may appear ungainly, but it’s actually a sophisticatedly engineered copepod-killing machine.

The Seahorse’s Odd Shape Makes It a Weapon of Stealth

The shape of the seahorse’s snout and its painfully slow movements create help create minimal water disturbance, increasing its odds of bagging prey

The production of oil and gas produces methane. But official counts may be underestimating just how much of this potent greenhouse gas comes from natural gas and similar sources.

Emissions of Methane, a Potent Greenhouse Gas, May Be Underestimated

Leaks from natural gas extraction may be a bigger source of U.S. methane emissions than previously thought, a new study finds

Fishing net at Alaska’s Gore Point

Art Meets Science

Artists Join Scientists on an Expedition to Collect Marine Debris

Now, they are creating beautiful works from the trash they gathered on the 450-nautical-mile journey in the Gulf of Alaska

New research shows that plastic particles can absorb pollution and carry it into fish, leading to biomagnification as it moves up the food chain to humans.

How Plastic Pollution Can Carry Flame Retardants Into Your Sushi

Research shows that plastic particles can absorb pollution from water, get eaten by fish and carry the toxins up the food chain

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World’s Rivers and Streams Leak a Lot of Carbon Dioxide

Lakes and reservoirs take up more space, but rivers and streams release more of the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, a new study finds

Despite warming temperatures, the sea ice around Antarctica is increasing in extent.

Why Is Antarctica’s Sea Ice Growing As Temperatures Rise?

New research shows that the explanation for the counterintuitive growth of sea ice near the South Pole can be found blowing in the wind

Large swaths of Brazil’s Amazon have been wiped out, but deforestation there is starting to slow.

Hotspots of Deforestation Revealed in New Maps

New maps of global forest loss find that while Brazil is decreasing its rate of deforestation, many other nations are rapidly losing forest cover

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

Searles Lake, California

Art Meets Science

The Science Behind Earth’s Many Colors

A new book of breathtaking aerial photography by Bernhard Edmaier explains how the planet’s vividly colored landscapes and seascapes came to be

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What Is a Species? Insight From Dolphins and Humans

More than 70 definitions exist for what makes a species—each is applied to a different group of organisms & uses different methods for determining a label

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This Year’s Best Photographs Taken Through the Lens of a Microscope

Who knew a turtle’s retina could be so beautiful?

Biochar

Energy Innovation

Carbon-Negative Energy Is Here! This Device Makes Clean Energy and Fertilizer

A Berkeley startup’s new spin on an old fuel-producing technology is a win-win for the environment

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

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher uses a powerful scanning electron microscope to capture all of a bee’s microscopic structures in stunning detail. Above: a bee’s antennae sockets, magnified 43 times.

What Does A Bee Look Like When It’s Magnified 3000 Times?

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher uses a powerful microscope to capture all of a bee’s microscopic structures and textures in stunning detail

Superbugs are making public health experts very nervous.

What Will It Take to Wipe Out Superbugs?

Scientists are taking all kinds of approaches to try to stop the ominous threat from bacteria antibiotics can no longer kill

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