African dogs, it turns out, make some of the best dads in the mammal world.

Rare ‘Family Guy’ Mammal Dads Give Us All Something to Strive For

Let’s give a Father’s Day shout-out to mammal dads who put family first—and benefit themselves as well

This pesky pest has a tendency to alter world history.

How the Lowly Mosquito Helped America Win Independence

The blood-sucking insect has played a leading role in the rise and fall of empires throughout history

In this artist's conception, a carbon planet orbits a sunlike star in the early universe.

Think Big

Diamond Planets Might Have Hosted Earliest Life

A new study pushes back the earliest date that extraterrestrial life might, maybe, could appear; if so, it’d be on planets made of diamond

Female Batang and male Kyle mated in January and today, via a Facebook broadcast ultrasound, a pregnancy was confirmed.

With Her Ultrasound Broadcast on Facebook, the Zoo’s Orangutan Is Confirmed Pregnant

The female named Batang should deliver her new infant in mid-September

A male Bombay night frog getting his call on.

The Frog Kamasutra Gains a Chapter, Thanks to Camera-Wielding Biologists

One newly described sexual position for frogs could mean one giant leap for frog conservationists

The Entire Bay of Santorini Is an Active Volcanic Crater

What happened to the giant volcano thought to have destroyed Atlantis? The answer may be the island of Santorini…all of it

The view looking into the Shenandoah Valley can be hugely obscured by haze.

Age of Humans

Even in ‘Pristine’ National Parks, the Air’s Not Clear

And cleaning it up might take centuries

How the Largest Flying Bird of All Time Stayed Airborne

With a 24-foot wingspan, how did the prehistoric Pelagornis sandersi, the largest known flying bird of all time, manage to fly so well?

Scientists injected more than 200 tons of dissolved carbon dioxide into this field in Iceland. Two years later, almost all the carbon had been converted into rock.

Age of Humans

Iceland Carbon Capture Project Quickly Converts Carbon Dioxide Into Stone

More than 95 percent of gas injected into the ground precipitated out as harmless carbonate, scientists calculate

Mrs. Walcott sketching a wild flower in water colors on a frosty morning in camp.

Smithsonian’s Wildflower: The Illustrious Life of the Naturalist Who Chronicled America’s Native Flora

The life and legacy of renowned Smithsonian illustrator Mary Vaux Walcott goes beyond the works that she created

Age of Humans

Podcast: How Humans Caused Mass Extinctions Thousands of Years Ago

Humans have been the dominant species for longer than thought

A preserved specimen of the Blue Lanternfish with bioluminescent spots. New research shows that the blue lanternfish's glow isn't that unique - among ocean-dwelling fish, four out of five are bioluminescent.

Way More Fish Can Make Their Own Light Than We Thought

Bioluminescence evolved a whopping 27 separate times among finned fishes living in the open ocean

An artist's reconstruction of what the hobbit may have looked like housed in Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The “Hobbit” Lineage May Be Much Older Than Previously Thought

A new find hints that the short-statured hominins could have been living in Indonesia over a half a million years earlier than previous estimates

Fragment 19, a piece of the back cover inscription plate, enhanced with state-of-the-art techniques to make the characters more readable.

The World’s First Computer May Have Been Used To Tell Fortunes

Researchers have decoded more writing on the 2,000-year-old Antikythera mechanism and found it may have an astrological purpose

A Kiwcha couple walk into the forest to cut timber in Coca, Ecuador.

Age of Humans

Did Deforestation Contribute to Zika’s Spread?

Evidence is growing that deforestation causes disease outbreaks by changing animal carriers’ behavior.

Age of Humans

The Rise of Ocean Optimism

Sharing news of little wins for the environment fuels hope.

Banaue rice terraces (N. Luzon, Philippines) taken from observation point at beginning of road to Bontoc

Age of Humans

Since the Late Pleistocene Humans Were Already Radically Transforming the Earth

A new study suggests that trying to return habitats to a non human-impacted environment might not be realistic

An artist’s conception of the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft in orbit at Lagrange Point 1.

Life in the Cosmos

A Spacecraft Just Measured Movement Less Than the Width of an Atom

The successful results pave the way for a future mission that could detect low-frequency gravity waves

This artist's concept depicts select planetary discoveries made to date by NASA's Kepler space telescope.

Think Big

How Would You React If We Discovered Alien Life?

Experts weigh in on what the detection of other life forms might mean to the human race

Science Proves Electric Eels Can Leap From Water to Attack

Biologists confirm the curious case of eels striking animals above the water’s surface

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