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Science

The Eastern Tiger Salamander has managed to survive in an inhospitable and unlikely habitat in Wisconsin.

The Salamanders that Refuse to Grow Up

In a Wisconsin reservoir, these normally terrestrial animals have managed not only to survive but to thrive underwater

In this GOES satellite image taken on August 24, the eye Hurricane Irene, traveling over the Bahamas, can be clearly seen

The Satellite Eyes On Irene (And Other Great Resources)

There are satellites orbiting overhead, powerful computers and plenty of scientists to make sense of a wealth of data

The skeleton of Xiaotingia (head is to the left)

An Ode to Archaeopteryx

The many fuzzy and feathery dinosaurs that have been discovered reveal one of the most magnificent evolutionary transformations in the history of life

In 1912, as the HMS Titanic was going down, Sarnoff was involved with using early radio equipment to transmit information about the ship’s demise.

Before Steve Jobs: 5 Corporate Innovators Who Shaped Our World

The former head of Apple comes from a long line of American innovators who changed society

The badlands north of Worland, Wyoming, shown here, expose sediments deposited during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Wyoming Paleontology Dispatch #9: Why It’s Called “Breaking Camp”

Some trick of the human psyche makes a patch of sagebrush feel like home

Artist Donald E. Davis' depiction of the asteroid impact which played a critical role in the end-Cretaceous extinction.

Pixar Rewrites Dinosaur History

What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet and giant dinosaurs never went extinct?

A building in the northern reaches of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, that was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938

Katharine Hepburn’s Connecticut beach house and 8,900 other homes were swept into the sea

A skeletal restoration of Smok wawelski. The black parts are missing elements of the skeleton.

The Dinosaur That Wasn’t

Even so, a terrestrial, 16-foot, carnivorous crocodile-like predator is not something I would like to meet in a dark alley (or anywhere else, really)

The contiguous bedrock on the east coast allows energy to pass more efficiently and travel farther. That is why the earthquake on Tuesday was felt over such a broad geographic range.

Q&A: Smithsonian’s Elizabeth Cottrell on the Virginia Earthquake

A Smithsonian geologist offers her expertise on the seismic event that shook much of the mid-Atlantic this week

With the Beartooth Mountains looming to the west in the morning light, team members set up the coring rig on Polecat Bench.

Wyoming Paleontology Dispatch #8: Polecat Bench Badlands

Can the team drill past an ancient river channel?

Earthquake hazard map for the United States

Earthquake in Washington, D.C.

Today’s shaking may have been unexpected, but Washington isn’t the only unlikely location for an earthquake in the United States

Sand sculpture dinosaurs, as seen in Albufeira, Portugal

Dinosaur Sighting: Portugal’s Sandy Dinosaurs

The sculpture shows a group of carnivorous dinosaurs chowing down on a sauropod, much like the dinosaurs of the country’s Lourinhã Formation must have done

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The Great Penguin Rescue

After an oil spill, should people put in the time and effort to clean up wildlife, or would it be better to just let the animals die?

Bob Rosenfield holds a pair of Cooper’s hawks in a city park in Victoria, Canada. The female, in the foreground, is a third again as large as her mate.

The Hawks in Your Backyard

Biologists scale city trees to bag a surprisingly urban species, the Cooper’s Hawk

A wild capybara by a lake in Brazil

What In The World Is A Capybara?

And why is one running loose in California?

One of Amani's five cubs at seven weeks age

Helping Older Cheetahs Become Moms

Researchers may soon be able to transfer embryos from older cheetahs into younger animals and give them a better chance of success

Did two sub-moons collide to form our Moon?

Splat! Two Moons over Miami?

Captive zebra finches

Same-Sex Finch Couples Form Strong Bonds

The ties between same-sex couples can be just as strong as those in heterosexual birds

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The Ghost of Slumber Mountain

Without this film, we might never have seen a giant gorilla hang from the Empire State Building

The products of our first day of coring. Drying in the hot Wyoming sun are segments of cores in their Lexan liners.

Wyoming Paleontology Dispatch #7: The Excitement—and Dread—of Coring

Looking ridiculous, we rush around like inexperienced wait-staff in a busy restaurant

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