The sun may get all the attention, but our lunar lodestar helps creatures navigate the swells and tides of ocean life.

How Moonlight Sets Nature’s Rhythms

Lunar luster triggers mating orgies, guides travelers and even can even provoke magical transformations

In 2001, Smithsonian scientists Doug Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide traveled to the Grove in Glenview, Illinois, Robert Kennicott's boyhood home, to open the naturalist's casket and determine the cause of his death.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Two Smithsonian Scientists Retrace the Mysterious Circumstances of an 1866 Death and Change History

Did the 19th-century naturalist Robert Kennicott die of his own hand?

For 19th-century American bakers—who slaved for hours trying to make their doughs rise and their cakes puff up—the advent of baking powder was a revolution in a can.

The Great Uprising: How a Powder Revolutionized Baking

Before baking powder hit the scene in 1856, making cake was not a piece of cake

Cyanobacteria, sometimes known as blue-green algae, are single-celled organisms that use photosynthesis to produce food just like plants do.

New Research

Need to Fix a Heart Attack? Try Photosynthesis

Injecting plant-like creatures into a rat’s heart can jumpstart the recovery process, study finds

Cats rule the world. But how did they get here?

New Research

How Cats Conquered the World

Scientists use 9,000 years of feline genetics to chart their global rise to power

Mateo-Vega (derecha) muestra a los compañeros Emberá y Kuna cómo tomar medidas forestales. De izquierda a derecha, los técnicos indígenas Edgar Gariboldo, Chich Chamarro, Baurdino López, Evelio Jiménez, Alexis Solís. (Sean Mattson / Smithsonian)

Future of Conservation

Cómo Los Científicos y Grupos Indígenas Pueden Aliarse Para Proteger Los Bosques y el Clima

Each time you use your phone's weather app, you're indebted to a self-taught computer scientist named Klara von Neumann.

The Unheralded Contributions of Klara Dan von Neumann

Despite having no formal mathematical training, she was a key figure in creating the computer that would later launch modern weather prediction

Why These Vegetarian Monkeys Have Sharp Predator Teeth

In the Ethiopian highlands, native Geladas have impressive canines despite being grass eaters. The reason is simple: The males need to defend themselves

In the past half-century, this tiny object has gone from feminist icon to dangerous villain to, incredibly, feminist icon once again. And no, we're not sure why the background is pink.

From Medical Pariah to Feminist Icon: The Story of the IUD

After decades of being shunned by women and doctors alike, this T-shaped device is enjoying a new surge of popularity

Why Spider Monkeys Only Have Four Fingers

Unlike virtually every other primate, spider monkeys have no thumbs, which could snag on the branches

The bird feathers attached to artifacts in the John Wesley Powell collection can give anthropologists further insight into customs and trade.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Telling the Story of 19th-Century Native American Treasures Through Bird Feathers

Famed explorer John Wesley Powell’s archive of his 19th century travels is newly examined

Mad Max: Fury Road offers a dystopian look at the future.

Art Meets Science

What Happens to Fiction When Our Worst Climate Nightmares Start Coming True?

Movies, books and poetry have made predictions about a future that could be rapidly approaching

Ancient DNA revolutionized archaeology. Now, researchers think they can use it to create a GPS system for the remains of the long-dead.

New Research

Ancient DNA Could Unravel the Mystery of Prehistoric European Migration

New research pinpoints the geographic origins of ancient Eurasians, showing how the continent’s population changed

When it comes to a crowdsourcing campaign, food might be an easier sell than feces. “Food is this amazing platform because we all have a connection to it, we all can relate,” says microbiologist Rachel Dutton. Not that poop isn't relatable, but, you know.

New Research

You Are What You Eat, And What You Eat Is Millions of Microbes

Now that they’ve tallied up American feces, researchers are turning to the other half of the microbial equation: food

This Human Feature Gives Squirrel Monkeys Their Precise Grip

Squirrel monkeys find it easy to leap fearlessly from one distant branch to another, some over 130 feet high. Their secret? Human-like fingerprints

The astronauts of "2001: A Space Odyssey" hide in a pod to discuss the troubling behavior of their spacecraft's artificial intelligence, HAL 9000. In the background, HAL is able to read their lips.

Ask Smithsonian

When We Go to Mars, Will We Have a Real-Life HAL 9000 With Us?

How generations of NASA scientists were inspired by an evil Hollywood supercomputer

Compared with the trees, lianas are able to put more energy into the production of leaves and seeds and less towards growing a trunk.

Tarzan’s Favorite Mode of Travel, the Liana Vine, Chokes Off a Tree’s Ability to Bear Fruit

With lowered fruit production, fewer seeds are dispersed to grow new trees

Don’t Be Jealous of These Oyster-Slurping Beach Monkeys

Long-tailed macaques spend much of the day frolicking on tropical sands and taking a dip in the ocean to cool off

Marine algae blooms like these in the northern Ross Sea are often vast enough to be visible from space.

Future of Conservation

Who Owns Antarctica’s Pristine Oceans?

How humans finally stopped squabbling and protected one of the world’s most pristine marine areas

Male deer grow these impressive face ornaments every year, in a cycle of life, death and itchiness.

New Research

Antlers Are Miraculous Face Organs That Could Benefit Human Health

There’s so much more to deer antlers than fighting and impressing the ladies

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