Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science

None

Dating a Dinosaur

Fossil prospector Ron Frithiof (with a mosasaur from his collections) was sued over a T. rex that he uncovered.  "This whole experience," he says, "has been a disaster."

The Dinosaur Fossil Wars

Across the American West, legal battles over dinosaur fossils are on the rise as amateur prospectors make major finds

Joshua Tewksbury and colleagues study whether the hot stuff in chili fruit deters bugs that may carry fungus.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

What’s So Hot About Chili Peppers?

An American ecologist travels through the Bolivian forest to answer burning questions about the spice

Volvo introduced the three-point seat belt 50 years ago.

Buckle Up Your Seatbelt and Behave

Do we take more risks when we feel safe? Fifty years after we began using the three-point seatbelt, there’s a new answer

None

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Wolves, hibernating animals, spitting cobras and more

Tangier Island is located in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, just south of the Maryland line.

Tangier Island and the Way of the Watermen

In the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, a culture struggles to survive as aquatic life becomes scarce

None

Video Games Improve Your Vision

Yes, you read that headline right. Video games, specifically first-person shooter games, train your brain and help you see better

Climbers Brian French and Will Koomjian ascend the Brummit fir in Coos County Oregon.  It is the National Champion Douglas fir and stands 335 feet tall.

Climbing the Tallest Trees

A select group of adventurers climb the world’s tallest trees to learn more about the wildlife that lives on the highest branches

None

A Dinosaur Opera

For the first time in 16 years, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center celebrated the birth of clouded leopard cubs.

National Zoo Celebrates Birth of Rare Clouded Leopards

Notoriously difficult to breed, two new clouded leopards are born at the National Zoo’s research facility

None

Commercial Collectors and the Plight of Paleontology

In paleontology, “amateur” can be a dirty word

None

Have You Seen These Women?

Female scientists in history, photos and blogs

Page 380 of 441