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Science

The algal scrubber in action.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Smithsonian Scientists Are Using Algae to Revitalize America’s Waterways

Walter Adey’s algal turf scrubber filters pollutants to clean water

On Earth, creatures from sharks to snails to these coral polyps light up the darkness. Are glowing aliens really that far-fetched?

Life in the Cosmos

Could We See Glow-in-the-Dark Aliens From Earth?

Extraterrestrial life might make its own light to protect itself from harmful radiation

This month, several news outlets misleadingly reported that women's birth control was causing "transgender" fish.

How One Bad Science Headline Can Echo Across the Internet

Recent articles claiming birth control causes “transgender” fish show how science communication can mislead—even when it relies on facts

The Pleistocene world was filled with megafauna like woolly mammoths and saber-tooth cats. Did humans kill them all off?

New Research

Are Humans to Blame for the Disappearance of Earth’s Fantastic Beasts?

100,000 years ago, giant sloths, wombats and cave hyenas roamed the world. What drove them all extinct?

If you've eaten an avocado lately, chances are it was a Hass.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Holy Guacamole: How the Hass Avocado Conquered the World

Why one California postman’s delicious mistake now graces toast and tacos from California to New Zealand

There are mind-bogglingly vast quantities of alcohol in outer space. Sadly, it's so dispersed you’d have to travel half a million light years to make a pint of beer.

Guess What? Space is Full of Booze

We’ll toast to that

The fin of a blacktip shark glides through the waters in the Bahamas.

New Research

Ten Things We’ve Learned about Sharks Since Last Shark Week

In light of Shark Week 2017, here are some revelations about the fearsome fish we’ve made in the past year

Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714-1774), Italian anatomist and sculptor, from a drawing by Cesare Bettini.

The Lady Anatomist Who Brought Dead Bodies to Light

Anna Morandi was the brains and the skilled hand of an unusual husband-wife partnership

Christina Gebhard prepares to measure a condor's wingspan

Behind the Scenes: Skinning Condors in the Name of Science

One intrepid reporter documents the careful science, artistry and gross factor of a very strange party

Little does it know, but getting eaten by a great tit is the least of this grub's worries.

New Research

Meet the Supervillain Worm That Gets By With a Little Help From Its Friends

This deadly nematode and its sidekicks reveal the power of bacterial symbiosis

Here, wildebeest find themselves trapped by high cliffs while crossing the Mara River in Africa's Serengeti. Every year thousands of wildebeest die while crossing the river due to strong currents or crossing at dangerous sites.

New Research

The Upside of Rotting Carcasses

Large animals dying en masse are crucial to the the Serengeti—and they aren’t the only ones

The cheetah population almost halved since 1975 with only an estimated 7,100 left in the wild today.

Future of Conservation

How to Help Cheetahs Live Longer in Captivity

The key is in what we feed them, researchers surmise

Moonlight's cub was born on June 17.

Meet the Zoo’s Newborn Red Panda Cubs, Who Just Opened Their Eyes

The three cubs were born within days of each other at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Illustration made using an 1851 portrait of Mitchell by H. Dassell and a false-color image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A by NASA.

Women Who Shaped History

When Girls Studied Planets and the Skies Had No Limits

Maria Mitchell, America’s first female astronomer, flourished at a time when both sexes “swept the sky”

An artist's rendering of a star colliding with the surface of a supermassive sphere. In recent years some scientists have surmised that black holes may be hard objects rather than a region of intense gravity and compressed matter.

Could You Crash Into a Black Hole?

Probably not, but it’s fun to think about

A red fox listening for prey under the snow in Yellowstone National Park. Noise can affect foxes and other animals that rely on their hearing when they hunt.

How Human Noise Ruins Parks for Animals and People

Even in America’s most pristine wildernesses, unwanted sound is changing landscapes

A Smithsonian scientist and other researchers announce success in the first-ever cryo-preservation of zebrafish embryos using gold nanotechnology and lasers.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

A Cool New Way to Freeze and Unfreeze Zebrafish Embryos Using Gold Nanotechnology and Lasers

The downstream applications could make food cheaper, repair coral reefs and help restore frog populations

A scuba diver swims in the coral reefs of Palau. Beneath the depths that humans can dive, natural wonder and a better understanding of our planet awaits.

Why The First Complete Map of the Ocean Floor Is Stirring Controversial Waters

Charting these watery depths could transform oceanography. It could also aid deep sea miners looking for profit

Adorable New Tiger Cub Born at the Zoo Yips at Its Mom on Video

The new Sumatran tiger cub signals a success in efforts to save the critically endangered species

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