The book was published so hastily the fuse bomb pictured on the cover was “ticking.”

1968: The Year That Shattered America

The Book That Incited a Worldwide Fear of Overpopulation

‘The Population Bomb’ made dire predictions—and triggered a wave of repression around the world

Coast guard officers in Costa Rica say they’re understaffed and overwhelmed. “We’re just order,” says Colonel Miguel Madrigal. “Not the law.”

An Unexpected Victim of Costa Rica’s Drug Trade: Fish

The archipelago was once synonymous with tourism, sustainability and biodiversity. Now collapsing fisheries have led to turmoil

Scientists Recreate a Stone Age Cremation

A scientist recreates a Stone Age funeral pyre using nothing but resources from that era. The makeshift pyre achieves same temperatures as a crematorium

Each chapter progresses from the very small to the very big.

Learn to Speak the Language of the Universe With This Mindblowing New Book

Magnitude helps you imagine the outer limits of time, speed and distance—without breaking your brain

This 2,400-Year-Old Corpse Is in Remarkable Condition

A murdered corpse in a remote wetland in Denmark is found to be over 2,400 years old

This Mass Grave Discovery Could Alter Roman History

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that a mass grave discovered in the north of England is a gladiator cemetery

A Polar Bear Released Back Into the Wild by Helicopter

A marauding polar bear is about to be returned to the the wild, as far away as possible from the town of Churchill

The stunning image that opens the Siphonophorae chapter in The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel. Each gelatinous siphonophore is actually a group of colonial organisms all living and working together. To grow, they clone themselves—each new minion specialized for a specific function.

Art Meets Science

This 19th-Century Illustrator Found Beauty in the Slimiest of Sea Creatures

A new book chronicles Ernst Haeckel’s life and his gorgeous renderings of wild things—scales, spikes, tentacles and all

A Tense Encounter Becomes a Perfect Polar Bear Photo Op

A local guide from Churchill, Manitoba, is on a late night walk, hoping to spot a polar bear. He strikes gold when a large male appears

The Enduring Romance of Mistletoe, a Parasite Named After Bird Poop

Nine things you should know about our favorite Christmas plant

The 2007 midwinter solstice illumination of the main altar tabernacle of Old Mission San Juan Bautista, California.

How the Sun Illuminates Spanish Missions On the Winter Solstice

Today, the rising sun shines on altars and other religious objects at many Spanish churches in the U.S. and Latin America

Kono Yasui at Tokyo University.

Women Who Shaped History

How a Pioneering Botanist Broke Down Japan’s Gender Barriers

Kono Yasui was the first Japanese woman to publish in an academic journal, forging a new path for women in her country

Female Polar Bears Need an Extra 220 Lbs. for Pregnancy

During seal hunting season, a female polar bear strives to put on up to 300 pounds of fat. That weight gain is a necessity

Until now, no one had been able to show at a microscopic level that the turkey vulture’s larger olfactory bulbs conferred advantage in the smell department.

Turkey Vultures Have a Keen Sense of Smell and Now We Know Why

Inside the brains of this olfactory king of the roost is a powerful cellular mechanism for detecting carrion from hundreds of feet away

Large animal skeletons at the Finnish Natural History Museum.

The Hidden Biases That Shape Natural History Museums

Here’s why museum visitors rarely see lady animals, penis bones or cats floating in formaldehyde

Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire: Desolation, 1836

The Next Pandemic

How Climate Change and Plague Helped Bring Down the Roman Empire

We can learn crucial lessons by examining the natural forces that shaped Rome’s rise and fall

The black-necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis) that sprayed venom into Wandege’s eye.

When Science Means Getting Cobra Venom Spat Into Your Eye

How a reptile mix-up and a fortuitous dose of breastmilk helped researchers tap into biodiversity in Africa’s eastern Congo

Shan Dou (from left), Jonathan Ajo-Franklin, and Nate Lindsey were on a Berkeley Lab team that, in collaboration with researchers from Stanford, used fiber optic cables for detecting earthquakes and other subsurface activity.

Could Fiber Optics Detect Earthquakes?

By monitoring every grumble, shiver and burp our planet makes, researchers hope to be more prepared to take action when things go awry

It Took Decades to Solve This UN Plane Crash Mystery

Over a half century after the crash of UN DC-6 on September 18, 1961, a new investigation is launched

This dinosaur footprint was found in sandstone at Dinosaur Track at Hackberry Canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National. A proclamation recently signed by President Trump would reduce the protected area by half.

What Shrinking Fossil-Rich National Monuments Means for Science

Smithsonian.com asks paleontologists how their work will change after the decision to slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase

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