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Science

Screen grab from Panda Cam

BREAKING: A Panda Cub is Born at the National Zoo (Video)

The 17-year-old female giant panda Mei Xiang gives birth

Humans take 14 times more adult biomass from the oceans than other marine predators.

Anthropocene

Modern Humans Have Become Superpredators

Most other predators target juveniles, but our species tends to kill more full-grown adults

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: Why Do Flamingos Stand on One Leg?

Flamingos may be doing their one-legged tree pose to stay warm or just because it’s comfortable

This layered metal sphere is a wormhole for magnets.

Innovative Spirit Health Care

Physicists Built a Wormhole for Magnets

The metal sphere lets one magnetic field pass through another undetected, which could lead to improvements in medical imaging

Veterinarians detected what they believe is a developing giant panda fetus in an ultrasound procedure on giant panda Mei Xiang. Based on the size of the fetus, which is about four centimeters, officials say that Mei Xiang could give birth early next week, or possibly in early September.

Panda Cub (Or Is It Bamboo?) Detected in Mei Xiang’s Ultrasound

Breeding pandas is complicated and frustrating. The Zoo’s female Giant Panda has delivered two healthy cubs in the past ten years

"Flatties" might be more aptly nicknamed "fliers" for their ability to glide to safety should they lose their grip in tree canopies.

New Research

Gliding Spiders Found Falling From Tropical Trees

Flat-bodied spiders that live in the rainforest strike a Superman pose to take control of their free-falls

The remains of slash-and-burn land clearing in Rondônia in 1985.

Age of Humans

How a Farming Project in Brazil Turned Into a Social and Ecological Tragedy

This week’s Generation Anthropocene podcast looks at Rondônia, a textbook tale of how not to set up sustainable land use

Head lice crawl across a nit comb and into your nightmares.

New Research

Lice That Can Resist Drugs Have Infested Half the States in the U.S.

Mutated pests that can survive common drugstore treatments have been found in at least 25 states so far

Sweetgrass, a possible anti-mosquito agent.

New Research

This Sweet-Smelling Herb Can Ward Away Mosquitoes

Traditionally used by some Native American peoples, sweetgrass contains chemicals known to repel pesky bugs

Greetings, 51 Eridani b!

How, and Why, Do Astronomers Take Pictures of Exoplanets?

The latest snapshot of a Jupiter-like world hints at the potential for seeing more diverse planets in direct images

Yeast, a multipurpose microbe.

Innovative Spirit Health Care

A Genetically Modified Yeast Turns Sugar Into Painkillers

Stanford scientists have engineered a strain of yeast that can produce opiates on its own

Discharge from the Gold King Mine colored Colorado's Animas River a distinct golden hue on August 6.

Anthropocene

Why Tens of Thousands of Toxic Mines Litter the U.S. West

The spill in Colorado’s Animas River highlights the problem of wastewater building up in abandoned mines

A combined shot shows two Perseids falling a minute apart over Bergen, Norway, on August 13.

See Spectacular Photos From This Year’s Perseid Meteor Shower

The annual event sent sparks flying over dark skies as Earth plowed through debris from a comet

This inscription in Dayu Cave dates to 1894. The writing on the wall says that a scholar and several local leaders brought more than 120 people to the cave to get water during a drought.

Anthropocene

Chinese Cave Graffiti Records Centuries of Drought

And chemical clues in a stalagmite inside the cave confirm the chronicles on the walls

The larger Pacific striped octopus uses unique prankster shoulder-tapping techniques to lure shrimp prey within arms' reach.

New Research

Tropical Octopus Definitely Mates Beak-to-Beak

Larger Pacific striped octopus couples engage in a host of behaviors unheard of among other octopuses

People walk past the damaged Durbar High School a few days after the major earthquake that struck Nepal in April.

Anthropocene

What Happened When a Disaster Preparedness Expert Was Caught in an Earthquake

In this Generation Anthropocene podcast, geologist Anne Sanquini gives her first-hand account of April’s disaster in Nepal

Debris still litters Durbar Square in Kathmandu, seen in June 2015.

New Research

Why the Nepal Earthquake Was Especially Bad for Cultural Sites

The major quake sparked a resonance in the basin that made taller buildings more likely to topple

Corythomantis greeningi frogs carry potent venom in their pouts.

Ask Smithsonian

What’s the Difference Between Poisonous and Venomous Animals?

The first known venomous frogs, discovered in Brazil, raise some basic questions about toxic biology

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Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: Why Do We Get Prune Fingers?

Some researchers say that, like tire treads, our fingers and toes could get better traction in wet conditions

Climate change is raising the stakes for human conflict.

Anthropocene

A Hotter Climate May Boost Conflict, From Shootings to Wars

In this episode of Generation Anthropocene, scientists explore the link between rising temperatures and aggression

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