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Science / Our Planet

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Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 4 of 4)

On this blog, several of the staff of Smithsonian magazine have been debating who was more important, Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin

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Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 3 of 4)

We asked: Who was more important, Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin? T.A. Frail took up the fight for Lincoln, and Laura Helmuth argued for Darwin

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Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 2 of 4)

Recently, someone here at Smithsonian asked: Who was more important, Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin?

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Picture of the Week—Snowy Peaks

The recent cold spell is getting a lot of attention, but we should all remember that it could be worse

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Lincoln vs. Darwin (Part 1 of 4)

Next month we celebrate an odd double anniversary—the 200th anniversaries of the births of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin

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What We Missed While Watching the Inauguration

Dr. Eric Lander, Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, speaks at the Mouse Genome Sequencing Press Conference on December 4, 2002.

A Welcome to the Obama Administration’s Scientist Appointees

Last month, then president-elect Obama devoted one of his weekly addresses to science

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An Antarctic Scientist’s Advice for Surviving the Cold

Sure, it’s zero degrees outside. But you can handle it

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Meet the Elements

There are 118 elements in the periodic table, from hydrogen to ununoctium

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Could Science Education Be a Victim of the Recession?

Mountain operations, like the Hobet 21 mine near Danville, West Virginia, yield one ton of coal for every 16 tons of terrain displaced.

Mining the Mountains

Explosives and machines are destroying Appalachian peaks to obtain coal. In a West Virginia town, residents and the industry fight over a mountain’s fate

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Eight Great Science Stories From the Magazine in 2008

The week before the new year is a time for reflection, right? And so I though I would share my favorite stories from the magazine

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Missing: Arctic Rubber Duckies

Missing: 90 yellow rubber duckies dropped into a moulin (a tubular hole) in a melting Greenland glacier approximately three months ago

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Clean Coal Advice From Doctor Who

We have gotten conflicting information on clean coal—that mythic technology that would let us burn all the coal we want without any carbon emissions

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Lessons in Space Exploration From Lewis and Clark

The similarities between the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803 to 1806 and a manned mission to Mars are not immediately obvious

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Leap Second Added to Your Calendar

The official Keepers of Time will add a leap second to the world’s master clocks (in the U.S. Naval Observatory) on December 31 at 23:59:59 UTC

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Why Is Minnesota’s Recount Doomed?

Charles Seife wrote an op-ed for yesterday’s New York Times about the recount in Minnesota, which seems like it ought to be a simple problem but isn’t

Picture of the Week—Diatoms or Modern Art?

Michael Stringer of Westcliff-on-Sea, England won the 2008 Nikon Small world Photomicrography Competition earlier this year with the image below

Angel Watkins and co-workers in Colorado blame many culprits in the decline of the Aspen.

What’s Killing the Aspen?

The signature tree of the Rockies is in trouble

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A Chemistry Lesson at the American History Museum

Spark!Lab at the National Museum of American History, which reopens on Friday after extensive renovations

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