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Our Sustainable Future

Our Sustainable Future

The latest on how climate change affects life on Earth today and on what solutions scientists, including those at the Smithsonian, are innovating

"AquaReinas," or costumed mermaid messengers with the Mermaid Society of Texas, participate in the 2022 Mermaid Capital of Texas Fest parade in San Marcos, Texas.

Planet Positive

The Texas City Where Mermaids Inspire River Conservation

“Aquamaids” were once the stars at an amusement park in San Marcos. Now, they are making a comeback to help the environment

Technician Yesmarie De La Flor prepares cultures of probiotics in the Smithsonian Marine Station’s microbiology laboratory in Fort Pierce, Florida. These probiotics were used for testing on diseased corals.

Probiotics May Help Corals Fight a Dangerous Disease Off Florida’s Coast

The new treatment shows promise in lab experiments

A monk seal in southern Greece. Females tended to give birth on beaches before human hostility drove them into hiding.

Planet Positive

The Mediterranean Monk Seal Is Making a Comeback

The endangered sea creature, known for its reclusive nature, has re-emerged out of the shadows

A sadhill crane flies over the San Luis Valley.

Planet Positive

Planet Positive

From stories about rebounding species to dispatches about green innovations, Smithsonian magazine shares environmental practices that are working.

A team skis from the remote Taku D site to the Camp 10 sleeping quarters. Students often travel as much as 8 to 10 miles a day, carrying packs a third of their body weight.

Alaska

These Students Are Part of a 75-Year Study to Map Alaska’s Glaciers

Traversing an icefield by foot and on skis, the young researchers experience one of the coolest classrooms in the nation

Researchers hike near a creek that formed after a glacier retreated.

As Glaciers Retreat, New Streams Offer Homes for Salmon

After the waterways form, insects move in, alders and willows spring up, and spawning fish arrive in thousands

Theodore Roosevelt, right, and Cândido Rondon, second from right, led the fateful mission to map an uncharted waterway and document natural wonders.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Perilous Expedition on the Amazon

The dangerous—yet victorious—trip wouldn’t have been possible without Cândido Rondon, an icon of Brazilian history

Saylor Flett, left, fans flames ignited by Jeff Greef. Air quality, weather and even bird migration affect when it’s safe to conduct a burn.

Planet Positive

Fighting Fire With Fire in California

How communities in the West are boldly setting property ablaze to reduce the impact of extreme wildfires

An artist’s reconstruction of Rhinesuchus, a rhinesuchid temnospondyl

Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians

The find reveals how the creatures swam and relaxed in prehistoric waterways

Archaeologists collect samples from a prehistoric caribou hunting site on Alpena-Amberley Ridge in Lake Huron.

America's Waterways: The Past, Present and Future

Clues to the Lives of North America’s First Inhabitants Are Hidden Underwater

Submerged prehistory holds insights on the first humans to live in North America

Live oaks in Beaufort, South Carolina, photographed using an old-fashioned wet-plate process

The Live Oak Tree Has Withstood the Ravages of History

Majestic and sturdy, the icon of the American South has offered protection time and again

Several private companies are designing space stations that may eventually orbit Earth.

The ISS Will Fall From the Sky After the End of the Decade. What Will Replace It?

As NASA plans to retire the orbiting laboratory, these four privately owned and operated space stations are under development

Lego Caveman comes armed with a toy wooden club.

Did Our Ancestors Actually Wield Clubs?

Inspired by pop culture depictions of cavepeople, an archaeologist searches for what is real and what is a myth

This functional connectivity map, a kind of “fingerprint” of the brain, displays how different regions interact with each other in 12-year-olds. The map was constructed from resting-state MRIs, where participants were lying down and not completing a task. Larger red circles denote brain “nodes” with more connections.

The Future of Mental Health

Can a ‘Fingerprint’ of Your Brain Help Predict Disorders?

Using new medical imaging techniques, researchers are working to identify early signs of developmental disorders and mental illness

Many of the reptiles that thrived during the Triassic were crocodile relatives that dinosaurs would later mimic through evolutionary happenstance, such as Postosuchus (back) and Desmatosuchus (front).

Dinosaurs Were Evolutionary Copycats of These Long-Lost Look-Alikes

Before T. rex and ankylosaurus ruled the Earth, a host of similar Triassic reptiles reigned

Wandering albatross pair in courtship in South Georgia. Researchers have found some birds have bolder personalities than others.

Animal Personalities Can Trip Up Science

Individual behavior patterns may skew studies, but researchers have a solution to this problem

To collect a saliva sample, technicians instruct a person to tilt their head for two to five minutes and spit the accumulated saliva into a sterile tube. The saliva-filled tube is kept on ice and sent to the laboratory to test for the presence of biomarkers for cancer or other diseases.

Is Saliva the Next Frontier in Cancer Detection?

Scientists are finding tumor signals in spit that could be key to developing diagnostic tests for various types of cancer

The adaptive lighting cooked up by Camilla Rathsach and Mette Hvass would automatically adjust to the availability of moonlight, tweaking this church’s lighting automatically to balance visibility and darkness. This mock-up shows how the church would be lit under a full moon.

This Danish Church Is a Beacon for How to Protect Wildlife From Artificial Light

A proposed design looks to automatically adjust the exterior lighting on the Anholt Island building to the moonlight

A cockatoo uses a sharp stick to poke through a membrane before using a scoop to fish out the cashew inside the box.

Like Humans and Chimps, Cockatoos Can Use a Set of Tools to Get a Meal

In lab experiments, the brainy birds carried a stick and scooped with them to get at cashews kept in a box

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