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Science

On May 29, 2006, mud and steaming hot water squirted up in a rice field in Sidoarjo, East Java, marking the birth of the world's most destructive mud volcano.

The World’s Muddiest Disaster

Earth’s most violent mud volcano is wreaking havoc in Indonesia. Was drilling to blame? And when will it end?

Bottlenose dolphins are good swimmers

For Dolphins, Pregnancy Comes With a Price

A bigger body means increased drag, slower speeds and greater vulnerability to predators

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The Latest Destination for Human Spaceflight

The latest proposed destination for human space missions illustrates the essential hollowness of the current direction of our civil space program

Big Southern elephant seal bulls (Mirounga leonina) fighting for females on beach during breeding season in spring.

Wild Things: Piranhas, Nazca Boobies, Glowing Millipedes

Elephant Seals, Neanderthal evolution and more news from the world of science

Whalers pursued sperm whales for the rich oil in their oversized heads. Now biologists are on the tail of these deep-diving, long-lived, sociable and mysterious sea creatures.

The Sperm Whale’s Deadly Call

Scientists have discovered that the massive mammal uses elaborate buzzes, clicks and squeaks that spell doom for the animal’s prey

Novacem plans to test its experimental cement (above: sample blocks) first in structures like doghouses and patios.

Building a Better World With Green Cement

With an eye on climate change, a British startup creates a new form of the ancient building material

A 19th-century print of New Madrid earthquake chaos.

The Great Midwest Earthquake of 1811

Two hundred years ago, a series of powerful temblors devastated what is now Missouri. Could it happen again?

Sea otters have teeth that resemble those of Paranthropus

Strange Animal Models of Human Evolution

What do sea otters, wolves and capuchin monkeys reveal about our hominid ancestors?

A reconstructed skeleton of Rapetosaurus on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Inside Sauropod Armor

A hollow, thin-walled bone is not exactly the sort of structure that is going to protect a sauropod from attack—so what was its purpose?

Water crystallizes into ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time, but not always.

Ask Smithsonian

At What Temperature Does Water Freeze?

The answer is far more complicated than it first appears—water doesn’t always turn to ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit

A pigeon's turn is very different from that of an airplane

How A Pigeon Is Like A Helicopter

The bird changes direction with its whole body

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Has Terra Nova Delivered on the Dinosaurs?

What’s the use of setting your science-fiction family drama 85 million years in the past if you’re not going to highlight some of the local fauna?

The outline of a mastodon skeleton, found at a pre-Clovis site in Washington, indicating where a spear hit the animal.

The First Americans

Technicans work on the Mars Science Laboratory, aka Curiosity

Curious About Curiosity? What to Read on the Mars Science Laboratory

The traveling science laboratory launched successfully on Saturday and is scheduled to touch down on the red planet in August 2012

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The Simpsons Sit With Dinosaurs

D’oh! Homer and the gang meet up with some scary dinosaurs

A reconstructed model of a young Tyrannosaurus at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Were these little tyrants covered in feathers?

Was Tyrannosaurus a Big Turkey?

Neanderthals’ successful adaptation to climate change may have contributed to their extinction by leading to more interactions with humans.

Were Neanderthals Victims of Their Own Success?

A new archaeological study shows how Neanderthals’ ability to adapt to changing climates may have led to the species’ eventual extinction

A Microraptor catches a prehistoric bird, based on bird bones found within one Microraptor specimen.

Non-Avian Dinosaur Eats Avian Dinosaur

Paleontologists have found the bones of a bird inside a feathered dinosaur. What can this discovery tell us about how Microraptor lived?

The track of an Early Jurassic theropod dinosaur at St. George, Utah's Dinosaur Discovery Site. This track is of the same general type and close of the age of the tracks recently found near Las Vegas.

Paleontologists Track Dinosaurs Near Las Vegas

Very few skeletons have been found from this period, and much of what we know about the dinosaurs of the Early Jurassic Southwest comes from tracksites

Yellow saddle goatfish

The Fish That Hunt Like Lions

Yellow saddle goatfish collaborate when one finds prey to chase

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