Anthropocene

A Poem Dedicated to Earth in the Age of Humans

National Portrait Gallery historian David Ward writes a new ode for the Anthropocene

Latino populations like those in Red Hook, Brooklyn, suffered greatly during Hurricane Sandy

Anthropocene

Latinos Are Suffering the First Effects of Climate Change, Their Voices Need to Be Heard

The director of the Smithsonian Latino Center weighs in on the disproportionate burden that climate change brings to Latino populations

Ice Age humans left their footprints across what is now Willandra Lakes in southeastern Australia.

Anthropocene

How Climate Change May Have Shaped Human Evolution

Evidence is building that past climate change may have forged some of the defining traits of humanity

Vice-grips Fossil (detail), 2014, wood, oil paint, polyurethane, pigment, marble dust, cast plastic.

Anthropocene

What Will We Leave in the Fossil Record?

Artist Erik Hagen considers the remnants of modern human life that may be found in rock strata millions of years from now

Paris has spread along the banks of the Seine since 1900.

Age of Humans

Make Cities Explode in Size With These Interactive Maps

From Los Angeles to Lagos, see how megacities have been taking over the planet during the past 100 years

A Burning Man tribute to the last remnants of humanity, a buried Statue of Liberty, depicted in the 1967 science fiction film, Planet of the Apes.

Anthropocene

Six Weird Ways Humans Are Altering the Planet

From deep holes to flying sheep, some signs of human activity might really perplex geologists in the far future

Pack ice and fjord walls with sedimentary strata.

Age of Humans

Have Humans Really Created a New Geologic Age?

We are living in the Anthropocene. But no one can agree when it started or how human activity will be preserved

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Age of Humans

Travel Through Deep Time With This Interactive Earth

Explore key moments in Earth’s transformative history as continents drift and climate fluctuates over 4.6 billion years

A bobtail squid hides on the ocean floor.

Research Into How Squid Camouflage Leads to An Ultra-Sharp Display for Televisions and Smartphones

Researchers at Rice University have created pixels 40 times smaller than those found in today’s LCD displays

The Namib desert beetle gathers water from fog that condenses on its bumpy back—which inspired one company to design a self-filling water bottle.

Five Wild Ways to Get a Drink in the Desert

The moisture farmers of Tatooine could take a few tips from these projects for harvesting water out of thin air

Members of the Apollo 15 crew training at Cinder Lake.

Can’t Make It to the Moon? Head to Arizona Instead

In 1967, the United States Geological Survey turned an old volcano into a lunar training ground for astronauts

Coho salmon, here in full vivid spawning colors, are one of many species of wild Pacific salmon in danger of extinction.

What Can Humans Do to Save the Pacific Northwest’s Iconic Salmon?

The fish is facing an upstream struggle to survive. Can human ingenuity find a solution?

Inside the Brain’s Amazing Ability to Re-Map Your Body

Surgeons only have to go so far before the brain takes over and reconnects the nervous system

The vast unknown deep sea floor

Why We Must Explore the Sea

Robert Ballard, the famed explorer who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, ponders what else is on the ocean floor

Buck moth caterpillars are the bane of the New Orleans spring.

New Research

Caterpillars Beware: Venom Won’t Protect You From Clueless Baby Birds

Young birds will dumbly peck at anything that crawls their way—even if it winds up teaching them a painful lesson

The ornate black gates to the Poison Garden warn visitors of the deadly plants that grow within.

Step Inside the World’s Most Dangerous Garden (If You Dare)

The Poison Garden at England’s Alnwick Garden is beautiful—and filled with plants that can kill you

A shop sells nostalgic souvenirs, including a UK coat of arms, at the Portobello Road market in London.

Ten Unusual National Animals That Rival the Unicorn

Scotland doesn’t have the market cornered on exotic national symbols—check out the mouflon, the takin and the xoloitzcuintli

Art Meets Science

Secretive Victorian Artists Made These Intricate Patterns Out of Algae

A new documentary profiles Klaus Kemp, the sole practicioner of a quirky art form that is invisible to the naked eye

The Sahara, the world’s largest non-polar desert, may be at least 7 million years old.

New Research

The Sahara Is Millions of Years Older Than Thought

The great desert was born some 7 million years ago, as remnants of a vast sea called Tethys closed up

Blood-sucking kissing bugs carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease, a malady that plagues some 9 million people in Latin America.

New Research

A Blood-Sucking Foe Lurks in Central American Caves

Kissing bugs, which can spread Chagas disease, turned up positive for human blood meals in caves in Guatemala and Belize

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