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Science

Behold! The World’s First One-Handed Zipper

After a lot of trial and error, inventor Scott Peters has made a no-fuss magnetic zipper

Projections indicate that our rate of trash production will keep rising past 2100—a concern, because waste can be a proxy for all other environmental stresses.

When Will We Hit Peak Garbage?

Projections indicate that the global rate of trash production will keep rising past 2100—a concern because waste can be a proxy for environmental stresses

These Spectacular Cutaways Give You An Insider’s View of Your Food

Nathan Myhrvold and a team of photographers have sliced meats, vegetables, pots, pans and ovens in half to produce stunning cross-sections of cooking

5 High-Tech Ways to Scare Anyone This Halloween

Forget spaghetti for brains and grapes for eyeballs, these ultra-realistic props will take fright night to whole new level

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熊猫实时视频花絮

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Last Day! Vote to Name the National Zoo’s Panda Cub

It is Chinese tradition to celebrate the name of a new life on the 100th day, and we need your help picking the name!

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Love These Stories? Give 11 Issues of Smithsonian This Holiday for Only $12

Save 81% off the cover price

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What to Expect During the Next Year

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Making Giant Panda Breeding Recommendations

Making Giant Panda Breeding Recommendations

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Watch a Tick Burrowing Into Skin in Microscopic Detail

Their highly specialized biting technique allows ticks to pierce skin with tiny harpoons and suck blood for days at a time

Horseshoe crab

Animal Specimens, From Fish to Birds to Mammals, Get Inked

Inspired by Japanese fish rubbings, two University of Texas biologists make spectacular prints of a variety of species at different stages of decay

Will This $15 Device Protect Against School Shootings?

High school students in Washington D.C. have designed the DeadStop, a simple attachment that instantly locks armed intruders out of classrooms

Kura

Does This Japanese Restaurant Chain Foretell the End of the Waiter?

A mechanized sushi diner drives down the cost of eating out, but does the experience feel as cold as the fish?

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher uses a powerful scanning electron microscope to capture all of a bee’s microscopic structures in stunning detail. Above: a bee’s antennae sockets, magnified 43 times.

What Does A Bee Look Like When It’s Magnified 3000 Times?

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher uses a powerful microscope to capture all of a bee’s microscopic structures and textures in stunning detail

Energy Innovation

Follow the Glow-in-the-Dark Road

Durable, long lasting material can be painted onto streets and sidewalks to eliminate the need for lamp posts

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This Mouse Has Evolved An Immunity to Toxic Scorpion Venom

The bark scorpion’s sting can be deadly—but one of its predators, the grasshopper mouse, is impervious to both the pain and paralyzing effects of its venom

Superbugs are making public health experts very nervous.

What Will It Take to Wipe Out Superbugs?

Scientists are taking all kinds of approaches to try to stop the ominous threat from bacteria antibiotics can no longer kill

Giraffes hanging out on the savannah

Weather Prevents Different Giraffe Species From Interbreeding

In zoos, different giraffe species will readily mate, but if the species cross paths in Kenya, their rain-driven mating cycles won’t be in sync

Everyone has a unique “fingerprint” of oral bacteria species, and new research shows that it correlates with genetic and ethnic factors.

Your Ethnicity Determines the Species of Bacteria That Live in Your Mouth

Everyone has a unique “fingerprint” of oral bacteria species, and new research shows that, in isolation, it can be used to predict your ethnicity

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This Clever Augmented Reality System Lets Drivers See Through Cars

One day, augmented reality may help drivers know when to pass up a slow truck on a two-lane road

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