Thirty-six homes—the world’s last topped with a traditional eelgrass roof—all sit here on Laeso.

Could Eelgrass Be the Next Big Bio-Based Building Material?

On the island of Laeso in Denmark, one man is reviving the lost art of eelgrass thatching and, in doing so, bringing attention to a plant that has great potential

A worker of the fungus-farming ant species Mycetophylax asper, collected in Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2014, on its fungus garden

Ants Farmed Fungi in the Wake of Dinosaurs’ Demise 66 Million Years Ago

A new study from Smithsonian scientists analyzes ant and fungus species, and uncovers the origins of their close partnership

480 Otis, a beloved brown bear made popular by the Explore.org bear cams of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, hunts for salmon at a popular bear fishing spot known as “the jacuzzi” on July 20, 2014.

The Chonky Superstar of Fat Bear Week Is Missing, and the Competition Won’t Be the Same Without Him

While other bears battled over fish in a prime spot, Otis would sit off to the side and wait for the fish to come to him. But so far this year, he hasn’t been spotted in Katmai National Park and Preserve

Scientists observed two bowhead whales synchronizing dive schedules whenever they were within earshot of each other.

How Did Two Bowhead Whales That Were 60 Miles Apart Sync Their Diving?

Researchers suspect the marine mammals may have been communicating across the vast distance

Massive columns and karst formations decorate the vast chamber of Cenote Xulo.

Divers in Mexico’s Underwater Caves Get a Glimpse of Rarely Seen Artifacts, Fossils and Human Remains

Cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula are time capsules preserving remnants of Maya culture and fossils of extinct megafauna

A wildfire burns in Quebec, Canada, in June of last year. Smoke from the fires drifted south to the United States.

Is Wildfire Smoke Causing Birds to Tend to Empty Nests?

New studies suggest smoke from western megafires may be damaging bird health and leading to strange behavior

The Milky Way lights up a night sky accented by the bright stars of the “summer triangle.”

How to Find the Ten Brightest Stars in the Night Sky

From Aldebaran to Vega, these gleaming beacons dazzle Northern Hemisphere viewers at various times of the year and provide a useful entry point into amateur astronomy

Jellyfish are among the planet’s simplest creatures, made up of about 95 percent water and lacking brains, spines, blood or hearts.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Delight in These 15 Photos That Capture the Exotic Undersea Lives of Jellyfish

Despite their often dangerous stings, these creatures create serene scenes as they float through the deep sea

A rarely seen whiplash squid swims more than 3,500 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

See Ten Strange and Mesmerizing Creatures From the Deep Ocean, From Sea Toads to Frilled Sharks

Scientists who explore the depths using submersibles continue to discover amazing animals that inhabit dark waters

The Hinemoana Halo Waka Moana Initiative recruited 12 crew members from the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.

An All-Female Crew Sailed 1,000 Miles in a Traditional Voyaging Canoe to Help Save Humpback Whales

The team traveled from New Zealand to Tonga along a humpback highway to collect environmental DNA and raise awareness of the plight of the marine mammals

The first wind phone was built in 2010 in Otsuchi, Japan.

What Are Wind Phones, and How Do They Help With Grief?

A clinical social worker explains the vital role of the old-fashioned rotary phone for those dealing with death and loss

Some artificial intelligence models have predicted where hurricanes would make landfall earlier than numerical weather models.

Just How Much Can We Trust A.I. to Predict Extreme Weather?

Computer scientist and meteorologist Amy McGovern has studied the technology for two decades, and she weighs in with some answers

Dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes sported feathers.

Dinosaurs Evolved Feathers for Far More Than Flight

Fluff and fuzz helped the creatures keep warm, blend in and communicate

This fossil palm leaf (Sabalites sp.) found in Alaska can be seen in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Sixty million years ago, dense, wet forests covered North America, and many plants, including palms, grew in places such as Alaska where temperatures are too frigid for them today. A new study published in Science gives scientists a picture of when the Earth was warm and when it was cool over the past 485 million years.

In a Landmark Study, Scientists Discover Just How Much Earth’s Temperature Has Changed Over Nearly 500 Million Years

Researchers show the average surface temperature on our planet has shifted between 51.8 to 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit

A lead canister carrying the fuel rods from the U.S. Army’s Camp Century nuclear reactor in Greenland, during decommissioning in 1960s.

The Odd Arctic Military Projects Spawned by the Cold War

Many offbeat research efforts were doomed to fail, from atomic subways to a city under the ice.

Fossil teeth are quite abundant in Southwest Florida.

Four Places to Find Fossilized Shark Teeth in the United States

Sharks have been losing teeth for 400 million years. Here’s a guide to uncovering some of these plentiful fossils across the country

Bokmakierie's nest and eggs from the collection of the Natural History Museum at Tring

See the Wonders of Bird Engineering in These Photos of Intricate Nests

In a new book, a curator at England’s Natural History Museum describes rare and interesting nests and eggs—from the house sparrow to the village weaver—and the lessons they hold for avian conservation

Saturn, the second-largest planet in our solar system, is best known for its layered rings.

The Seven Most Interesting Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Saturn

Scientists continue to learn new things about the planet, its sweeping rings and its many moons

The vagus nerve sprawls from the brain through the body, innervating our organs and managing life support and emotion.

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Longest Nerve in the Body

Like a highway system, the vagus nerve branches profusely from your brain through your organs to marshal bodily functions, including aspects of the mind such as mood, pleasure and fear

With a white frame around its eye and green feathers, this Swinhoe’s white-eye is easily camouflaged when flying from flower to flower.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

See 15 Amazing Photos of Beautiful Birds

These Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest images celebrate our feathered friends

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