Science / Our Planet

Photos of Starfish Up Close: What Are You Looking At?

A stunning look at starfish reveal beautiful patterns—but what exactly are those wormy structures, bald patches, and spiky maces?

February 8, 2013

Can Birds Survive Climate Change?

Predicted increases in torrential rain and severe drought will force birds in Asia to relocate in search of food and viable habitat, a new study finds

February 8, 2013

Salmon Swim Home Using Earth’s Magnetic Field as a GPS

Their intuitive sense of the magnetic field surrounding them allow sockeye salmon to circumnavigate obstacles to find their birth stream

February 7, 2013

Scientists See Insect Outbreaks From Space

A new tool uses satellite imagery to help researchers track small disturbances such as bug infestations, which may increase in scope as climate changes

February 1, 2013

Air Pollution Has Been a Problem Since the Days of Ancient Rome

By testing ice cores in Greenland, scientists can look back at environmental data from millennia past

February 2013

Anthropocene

How Climate Change Affects the Smithsonian

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough looks at how our scientists are studying our changing climate

February 2013

Urban Heat Islands Can Alter Temperatures Thousands of Miles Away From a City

Ambient heat produced by a city’s buildings and cars often gets lifted into the jet stream and affects temperatures in places thousands of miles away

January 26, 2013

Lightning May Trigger Migraine Headaches

A new study suggests that lightning alone—even without the other elements of a thunderstorm—might trigger migraines

January 25, 2013

Scientists Dismiss Geo-Engineering as a Global Warming Quick Fix

A new study shows that dispersing minerals into oceans to stem climate change would be an inefficient and impractical process

January 23, 2013

Learning From Nature How to Deal With Nature

As cities like New York prepare for what appears to be a future of more extreme weather, the focus increasingly is on following nature’s lead

January 23, 2013

Plants Flower Nearly a Month Earlier Than They Did A Century Ago

In 2012, many plants in the eastern U.S. flowered earlier than in any other year on record

January 16, 2013

Scorchingly Hot 2012 Riddled With Extreme Weather

Drought, heatwaves, cyclones—even a tornado in Hawaii—mark last year as one filled with record-breaking severe weather

January 11, 2013

Drill, Baby, Drill: Sponges Bore Into Shells Twice as Fast in Acidic Seawater

In acidic water, drilling sponges damage scallops twice as quickly, worsening the effects of ocean acidification

January 10, 2013

Is Climate Change Strengthening El Niño?

New research on Pacific corals that trace climate patterns back 7,000 years shows how recent El Niños compare with those of the past

January 9, 2013

The Secrets of Earth’s History May Be in Its Caves

An underground scientist is pioneering a new way to learn what the climate was like thousands of years ago

January 2013

How Will the Wetlands Respond to Climate Change?

Smithsonian scientists have taken to the Chesapeake Bay to investigate how marshlands react to the shifting environment

January 2013

The Smithsonian Heads to Hawaii

Coral reefs and radio telescopes make a trip to the tropics more than worthwhile

December 2012

Seven Must-See Art-Meets-Science Exhibitions in 2013

Preview some of the top-notch shows—on anatomy, bioluminescence, water tanks and more—slated for the next year

December 28, 2012

New Discovery of 7000-Year-Old Cheese Puts Your Trader Joe’s Aged Gouda to Shame

Previously traced to ancient Egypt, prehistoric pottery indicates that cheese was invented thousands of years earlier

December 12, 2012

UPDATE: Spidernaut Dies at Natural History Museum

After 99 days in space, the museum’s new jumping spider made it only five days before dying of natural causes

December 4, 2012