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Science

A forest elephant takes an unintentional selfie in a camera-trap photo snapped in South Sudan.

Rare Forest Elephants Seen for the First Time in South Sudan

A recent camera trap survey also spied a wealth of other species thriving in remote forests despite the young country’s civil unrest

The Lake Mills reservoir gets drawn down in March 2012 as part of the Elwha River Restoration, which involved the largest dam removal project in U.S. history.

Age of Humans

Removing a Dam Can Be a Net Win for the Planet

Once hailed as clean power sources, dams are sometimes more costly to maintain than they are to tear down

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Age of Humans

Video: What Is the Anthropocene and Why Does It Matter?

This animation explains why scientists think we’ve entered a new chapter in Earth’s history

The IVF pups were more than 30 years in the making.

New Research

These Baby Beagles Are the First Dogs Born by In Vitro Fertilization

After more than 30 years, scientists have figured out how to create healthy puppies in the lab

In this artistic reconstruction, a pod of Albicetus travel together through the Miocene Pacific Ocean, surfacing occasionally to breathe.

A Moby-Dick Emerges from the Smithsonian Collections

The rediscovery of a fossil whale, previously believed to be an extinct walrus, is reexamined and digitized

Lake Titicaca in myth is the birthplace of humanity, and the people who live on its shores depend on it for their livelihoods.

Age of Humans

What Are North American Trout Doing in Lake Titicaca?

The famous lake between Bolivia and Peru is struggling due to pollution, overfishing and the misguided intentions of almost 100 years ago

A German cockroach in a moment of solitude.

New Research

The Scent of Their Own Poop Entices Cockroaches to Congregate

Gut microbes imbue German cockroach feces with scents that allow them to find kindred groups

A gibbous moon shines over a large petrified log embedded in the sandstone at Blue Mesa in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park.

Protecting Arizona’s Petrified Forest Can Be as Easy as Taking a Hike

After dispelling myths about vandals and thieves, rangers are working to make this national park more open and engaging

A floating platform in Skadar Lake entices pelicans to build their nests here, protecting them from floods.

Age of Humans

How Floating Nests May Save One of the World’s Largest Water Birds

Designed to withstand floods, the rafts are helping the Dalmatian pelican make a comeback in Montenegro and Albania

The ruins of an ancient Norse settlement still stand near Hvalsey Fjord in Greenland.

New Research

Did Climate Change Make the Norse Disappear From Greenland?

Evidence from glacial deposits adds a new twist to the tale of the mysterious lost settlements

Water gushes out of Aswan Dam in Egypt.

Age of Humans

Humans Are Draining Even More of Earth’s Freshwater Than We Thought

Ironically, building dams and irrigation systems may end up driving food and water shortages

The mammoth nursery turned graveyard was declared a National Monument in July 2015.

What Killed the Mammoths of Waco?

Sixty-six thousand years ago, this national monument was the site of a deadly catastrophe

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: How Do Spiders Make Their Webs?

Learning exactly what those spinnerets are doing might just generate a whole new web of understanding

The volcano Sapas Mons rises over the landscape in a computer generated image of Venus based on data from the Magellan spacecraft.

New Research

Venus May Have Surprisingly Youthful Skin

Based on a new analysis of its impact-driven blemishes, the surface of our sister planet may be much younger than thought

Though the new method can't produce these large sparklers yet, it may be an important part of future diamond production.

New Research

Weird New Type of Carbon Is Harder (and Brighter) Than Diamond

Dubbed Q-carbon, the material is magnetic, emits a soft glow and can be used to grow diamonds faster and cheaper than ever before

Impalas and baboons take a snack break under a sausage tree.

New Research

Impalas Hang Out With Baboons for Sausage Fruits and Safety

Forget Timon and Pumbaa: In the African savannah, the best friends around may be impalas and baboons

New Mapping Technology Helps Arctic Communities “Keep on Top” of Sea Ice Changes

Buoys are being deployed in the bays of Labrador, Canada, with sensors that track ice thickness, to stop Inuit from breaking through

A dry boat dock sits in Huntington Lake after the water receded, in the High Sierra, California. The state is in its fifth year of drought, and more and more, California is turning to Australia—which endured a ten-year drought earlier this century—for solutions.

Age of Humans

What Can Australia Teach California About Drought?

With the Golden State entering its fifth year of drought, people are looking Down Under for solutions

A crowd sends aloft a balloon representation of Earth at Piazza Venezia during a climate change rally in Rome a day before the COP21 conference in Paris.

Age of Humans

What Will Make the Paris Climate Talks a Success?

This episode of Generation Anthropocene explores the history of the UN climate summit and what’s different at this year’s event

Thick-billed murres gathering on Coats Island in the Canadian Arctic. New research is finding that these and other birds are bringing ocean pollution back onto land; the birds eat contaminated fish and poop out the chemicals.

Age of Humans

Seabirds Are Dumping Pollution-Laden Poop Back on Land

Chemicals we’ve poured into the ocean are coming back to sting us thanks to seabirds defecating in their onshore colonies

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