Small town travel, the Monuments Men, Chernobyl and Stonehenge were all among reader favorites in 2014

Our Top Stories of 2014

From weird red waterfalls to the pleasures of small-town America, these were the most read articles on Smithsonian.com this year

Puberty Is Beginning Earlier in Girls, So What Can Parents Do?

The authors of a new book about the earlier onset of female puberty explain the evidence and offer advice

Get a good look at Sinea incognita, a newly recognized species of assassin bug.

New Research

Meet the Stealthiest Assassin Bug in the United States

The unique and secretive species has been living among us unrecognized for a century

Researchers found that human joint-bone density remained pretty high until recently in our evolutionary history, around the same time that humans began switching from hunting and gathering to farming.

Switching to Farming Made Human Joint Bones Lighter

A more fragile skeleton evolved about 12,000 years ago, probably driven by a shift from hunting to agriculture

The way cancer cells process zinc might help scientists identify a new biomarker.

Using Zinc to Detect Breast Cancer Early

Researchers at Oxford have taken the first step towards finding a new biomarker for breast cancer

Windswept trees seem to loom over a beach on the remote island of Tarawa in Kiribati. Scientists have found that coral reefs near Tarawa record changes in Pacific trade winds.

Corals Show How Pacific Trade Winds Guide Global Temperatures

The world has been in a global warming hiatus, but that will change when the winds once again weaken

Volunteers participate in the 2009 Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Now in its 115th year, Audubon touts the event as the largest and longest-running citizen science project in the world.

Top Three Results From a 115-Year-Old Citizen Science Project

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is touted as the world’s longest running citizen science project—so what has it taught us?

Science can help you avoid a holiday gift faux pas.

How to Give the Best Gifts, According to Science

Researchers are unwrapping the science behind gift giving, from the value of simplicity to the quality of the bow on top

Meet William Harvey, a Misunderstood Genius in Human Anatomy

A new video from the World Science Festival tells the story of this medical pioneer

The Claudio Aqueduct was built in the 1st century along the Appian Way in Rome.

Anthropocene

Ancient Roman Water Networks Made the Empire Vulnerable

A model of ancient water movement shows how trade practices might affect today’s urban centers as the climate changes

Eurasian lynx playing in the snow in Germany.

New Research

Europe Is a Great Place to Be a Large Meat-Eater

In a rare success story for wildlife, bears, lynx, wolverine and wolves are increasing in numbers across the continent

An aerial view of the lower portion of the Colorado River shows the leading edge of the water pulse flow on May 12, before it connected with the sea.

Anthropocene

The Colorado River Delta Turned Green After a Historic Water Pulse

The experimental flow briefly restored the ancient waterway and may have created new habitat for birds

Going the distance: Evolution mavens in the Quantock Hills of England walked for some 3.5 billion years.

Evotourism ®

Evotourism: Great Places to Celebrate Evolution Around the Globe

From lemurs to Neanderthals, here’s our latest guide so you can travel the globe to enjoy what Darwin famously called “endless forms most beautiful”

Beware of this meat-eating Albertosaurus on the Royal Tyrrell Museum plaza.

Canada

Want to Excite Your Inner Dinosaur Fan? Pack Your Bags for Alberta

Canada’s badlands are the place to see fantastic dinosaur fossils (and kitsch)—and eye-opening new evidence about the eve of their fall

“You could say that saving species is in my blood,” says Chris Darwin, a conservationist who lives in the mountains explored by his great-great-grandfather.

Evotourism ®

How Australia Put Evolution on Darwin’s Mind

The famous naturalist’s revolutionary theory first took shape not in the Galápagos but in the primeval Blue Mountains

Think Big

Why String Theory Still Offers Hope We Can Unify Physics

Evidence that the universe is made of strings has been elusive for 30 years, but the theory’s mathematical insights continue to have an alluring pull

Why the Leatherback Turtle Has a Skylight in its Head

How do animals with poor vision see in dark locales?

What Does ‘Happy New Year’ Even Really Mean?

Physicists engage in a strange debate about whether time really passes

NASA is using nighttime pictures of Earth to track energy use during cultural holidays.

NASA Can See Your Holiday Lights From Space

Scientists can use holiday lights during Christmas and Rammadan as a proxy for overall energy use in urban areas

Singer and plastic-clothing designer Pharrell Williams at the "Raw For The Oceans" event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The Top 12 Ocean Stories That Made Waves in 2014

The seas served up some compelling headlines this year, from celebrity fashion to solving the mystery of the melting starfish

Page 220 of 454