Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science

None

The Top Ten Human Evolution Discoveries from Ethiopia

Home to Lucy, Ardi, the oldest stone tools, the first fossils of modern humans and many other discoveries, Ethiopia deserves the title of Cradle of Humankind

The Hestia Project provides comprehensive visualizations of a city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

New Technology Maps Greenhouse Gas Emissions at the Street and Neighborhood Level

The Hestia project draws on a variety of data sources to paint a comprehensive picture of a city’s greenhouse gas metabolism

A second specimen of the troodontid Mei, preserved in a bird-like sleeping position.

How Did Dinosaurs Sleep?

A lovely little fossil shows how some dinosaurs said goodnight

A new study debunks the idea that friendships are influenced by shared genes.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

Do We Really Pick Our Friends Based On Genetic Similarities?

A new study debunks the idea that friendships are influenced by shared genes

None

The Trouble With Trees

Here are 10 things scientists have learned about trees this year. Thanks to climate change, it’s not a pretty picture.

None

Patient, Heal Thyself

Cutting-edge research in regenerative medicine suggests that the future of health care may lie in getting the body to grow new parts and heal itself.

None

The Fall of Domino Dinosaurs

A delicately-balanced domino setup replays the end of the Age of Dinosaurs

None

Sinfully Delicious Apples That You Should Never Try to Eat

Inspired by the work of Cornell scientists, Los Angeles-based Jessica Rath creates sculptures and photographs of the autumn fruit

New research indicates that the influenza virus can jump from humans to pet animals, raising the possibility of dangerous mutations.

Can You Give the Flu To Your Dog or Cat?

New research indicates that the influenza virus can jump from humans to pet animals, raising the possibility of dangerous mutations

A headless Haplocanthosaurus, laid out at the Utah Field House of Natural History.

Haplocanthosaurus–A Morrison Mystery

Without a skull, determining the dinosaur’s relationships is difficult

Tungsten carbide drill bits will grind through miles of ultra-hard igneous seafloor rock in hopes of reaching the mantle.

New Project Aims to Drill to the Earth’s Mantle, 3.7 Miles Down

Scientists aim to reach the mantle and bring back rock samples for the first time in human history

Skull fragments from a 2-year-old child (exterior view, top left; interior view, top right) that died 1.5 million years ago contain evidence of anemia. The blood disorder can lead to very porous bone (bottom left, right).

Fossils Reveal Earliest Known Case of Anemia in Hominids

2-year-old child that lived 1.5 million years ago suffered from the blood disorder, which may suggest that hominids by this time were regularly eating meat

Amazing Photographs of Water Droplets Colliding

See the results of 98-year-old Irving Olson’s kitchen experiments

Thomas the T. rex, a lovely reconstruction at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

Long Live the King

Paleontologists have named scores of dinosaurs, but why is T. rex our favorite?

Plastic debris and particles are now turning up in the ocean waters surrounding Antarctica.

High Levels of Plastic and Debris Found in Waters off of Antarctica

In the world’s most remote ocean waters, researchers discovered unexpectedly high levels of plastic pollution

Dilophosaurus, in a restoration based on an impression found at St. George, Utah. Art by Heather Kyoht Luterman

Dilophosaurus – An Early Jurassic Icon

Tracks made by a 20-foot predatory dinosaur have been found in rock from Connecticut to Arizona, but who made the tracks?

As part of the Pacific Centennial Oscillation pattern, ocean waters in certain areas become warmer and cooler as part of a century-long cycle. Red indicates warmer water; blue shows cooler.

New Climate-Shifting Pattern: Is PCO the Next El Niño?

Computer simulations indicate that ocean temperatures and weather patterns might vary on a 100-year-long cycle called PCO

A new study indicates that fraud in the biomedical sciences occurs but is exceedingly rare.

How Often Do Scientists Commit Fraud?

The evidence says scientists are pretty honest. New techniques could make it easier for scientific fabricators to be caught

Recyclosaurus rex, seen outside the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida.

Dinosaur Sighting: Recyclosaurus

A reader shows us a snapshot of a spare-parts dinosaur

Oldowan choppers are among the oldest-known type of stone tools.

Becoming Human: The Origin of Stone Tools

Archaeologists are still debating when hominids started making stone tools and which species was the first toolmaker

Page 288 of 457