The Block Island Wind Farm should be operational before the end of this year.

Future of Energy

Getting Up Close and Personal With America’s First Offshore Wind Farm

The newly-erected turbines off of Block Island may signal the future of American wind power

How One Millionaire’s Promise Led to a National Park

When millionaire John D. Rockefeller Jr. first visited Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1926, he vowed to preserve the awe-inspiring land

Visitors cast shadows on the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, at sunrise.

From Our Photo Contest: Soak Up the Beauty of America’s National Parks

2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service. Enjoy these standout images submitted by our photo community

West acropolis at the Maya site of Yaxchilan, in Southern Mexico.

Ancient Maya Bloodletting Tools or Common Kitchen Knives? How Archaeologists Tell the Difference

New techniques for identifying the tools of sacrifice sharpen our understanding of the ritual

Astronomy students at the Banneker and Aztlán Institutes in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Space Hub

Why the Universe Needs More Black and Latino Astronomers

Astronomy has one of the worst diversity rates of any scientific field. This Harvard program is trying to change that

A farmer in southern Zinder, Niger, collects leaves that will feed his sheep.

Age of Humans

The “Great Green Wall” Didn’t Stop Desertification, but it Evolved Into Something That Might

The multibillion-dollar effort to plant a 4,000-mile-long wall of trees hit some snags along the way, but there’s still hope

Can scientists make cardboard diet food taste like the real deal?

New Research

Food Tasting Too Healthy? Just Add Scent

How scientists use smell to trick tastebuds—and brains

Simple times may be over for the National Parks. Shown here: El Capitan, a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, California.

Age of Humans

How the National Parks Are Playing the Game of “What If” to Prepare for Climate Change

Federal agencies are starting to embrace scenario planning, a tool developed by the military to plan for thermonuclear war

Small fixes can keep birds from being snagged by fishing lines, which also helps fishing vessels not lose bait to the flying foragers.

Age of Humans

These Simple Fixes Could Save Thousands of Birds a Year From Fishing Boats

Changes as basic as adding a colorful streamer to commercial longline fishing boats could save thousands of seabirds a year

Bei Bei visits the vet.

A Beary Happy First Birthday to Bei Bei. Unbearably Cute Celebrations Are in Store

America’s sweetheart celebrates his birthday this weekend at the National Zoo

Martin Couney holds up Beth Allen, a premature baby who was on view at the Coney Island attraction.

The Man Who Ran a Carnival Attraction That Saved Thousands of Premature Babies Wasn’t a Doctor at All

Martin Couney carried a secret with him, but the results are unimpeachable

Just a handful of key animals—mostly charismatic megafauna and a few economically important species—make up the bulk of conservation research efforts.

Scientists Know They Should Really Study Important Bugs but OMG a Baby Cheetah

In conservation science, the cutest animals still get all the attention

A male zebra finch.

Age of Humans

Birds Sing to Their Eggs, and This Song Might Help Their Babies Survive Climate Change

Embryonic learning—things birds pick up from their parents while still in the egg—may play a bigger role than imagined.

This toy diplodocus fetches up to $600 on eBay.

This Man Claims He Has the World’s Largest Collection of Toy Dinosaurs, and He Loves Them All

Randy Knol’s stunning array chronicles our evolving knowledge about the prehistoric beasts

Scenes from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

The Paris Olympics

The Rise of the Modern Sportswoman

Women have long fought against the assumption that they are weaker than men, and the battle isn’t over yet

Ostrich Feather Hat, 1910-1912

100 Years Later, the First International Treaty to Protect Birds Has Grown Wings

The U.S. and Canada celebrate the centennial of an agreement recognizing that birds see no borders

Girls get taught simple circuits, but how they decorate their robots is up to them.

Robotics Can Get Girls Into STEM, but Some Still Need Convincing

The lack of women leaders in STEM creates “a catch-22 death spiral.” Robotics teams try to change that

A nesting male with a female in his nest.

New Research

Give it Up, Sneaky Males: These Lady Fish Have You Outwitted

Female ocellated wrasses have developed a surprising trick to control who fathers their offspring

The fossil Arktocara yakataga (resting on an 1875 ethnographic map of Alaska) belonged to a dolphin that swam in subarctic marine waters around 25 million years ago.

Smithsonian Researchers Uncover Extinct, Ancient River Dolphin Fossil Hiding in Their Own Collections

Sometimes, paleontologists don’t have to go into the field to discover a tantalizing new species

A Secret Refuge for Elk Thought to Be Extinct

As many as 500,000 tule elk once roamed the coast of California, but they were hunted to extinction in the mid-1860s. Or so we thought…

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