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Science

A fossil of a Diegoaelurus jawbone was recovered from a construction site in Oceanside, California.

Paleontologists Uncover the Oldest Sabertoothed Predator

Fossil jaw shows earliest evidence of a specialized carnivore with scimitar-shaped fangs

Further analysis of bones collected from the Bluefish Caves in Yukon is expanding scientists’ understanding of what early Americans were up to

What Were Humans Doing in the Yukon 24,000 Years Ago?

Scientists have examined remains from caves and think the shelters served as temporary camps for hunters who targeted horses

Red pandas are classified as endangered and are legally protected in their home countries.

Before Seeing ‘Turning Red,’ Learn These Amazing Red Panda Facts

Delight your friends with these eight surprising details about the furry creatures

Dorchester County artist Michael Rosato painted a mural of Harriet Tubman in Cambridge, Maryland.

Women Who Shaped History

Harriet Tubman Is Famous for Being an Abolitionist and Political Activist, but She Was Also a Naturalist

The Underground Railroad conductor’s understanding of botany, wildlife biology, geography and astronomy allowed her to guide herself and others to safety

The Venus flytrap Dionaea muscipula is the most sophisticated of the carnivorous plants. Its traps snap shut in a fraction of a second, imprisoning prey in a cage of teeth that line the edges of the trap.

How Carnivorous Plants Evolved

Botanists are beginning to trace the origins of their gruesome appetites

To better understand how hypoxia—dangerously low oxygen levels—affects crabs, researchers and fishers are working together to find a way to adjust to changing conditions in the northeast Pacific Ocean.

A New Tool May Help Crab Fishers Sidestep Dead Zones

Low-cost sensors that fit into crab pots could provide real-time data on oxygen fluctuations in the ocean

The Carnegie under full sail.  Cruise VII, Pacific Ocean.  November 14, 1928.

Inside the Last Journey of the ‘Carnegie’

The groundbreaking ship and its dedicated captain shaped our understanding of the Earth’s magnetic field

Building a Corsi-Rosenthal box portable air filter comes down to duct-taping together a set of furnace filters and a box fan.

The Homemade Air Purifier That’s Been Saving Lives During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Made from everyday items found in hardware stores, the Corsi-Rosenthal box is a testament to the power of grassroots innovation

Bones communicate in varying ways with other parts of the body.

How Bones Communicate With the Rest of the Body

A new vision of the skeleton as a dynamic organ that sends and receives messages suggests potential therapies for osteoporosis and other problems

Within a few years, NASA’s OSAM-1 mission will launch into space and use a robotic arm to refuel the Landsat 7 Earth-observation satellite, as shown in this animation.

Robots May Soon Fix and Fuel Satellites in Space

Orbiting machines that grip, grapple and maneuver could one day maintain the fleet of small spacecraft that encircle Earth

A greater horseshoe bat can use echolocation to target an insect meal.

Five Amazing Adaptations That Help Animals Thrive in the Dark

From snakes that use infrared radiation to find prey to deep sea fishes that communicate via bioluminescence, these creatures flourish without light

A new way of recycling has grabbed the attention of some of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, including L’Oréal, Nestlé, and PepsiCo, who collaborated with startup company Carbios to produce proof-of-concept bottles.

The Future of Recycling May Be in Microbes

An enzyme-based recycling technology is poised to go commercial, but questions about cost and scalability linger

Artist rendering of a solar canal system for California.

California Is About to Test Its First Solar Canals

The innovative project is a win for water, energy, air and climate

A great tit sitting on a post in Suffolk, England, calls out.

Do Birds Have Language?

In the cheeps, trills and tweets of birdsong, scientists find some parallels with human speech

Researchers identified that these vertebrae belonged to giant snakeheads, freshwater fish native to Southeast Asia.

Fish Bones Found in Razed California Chinatown Reveal Complex 19th-Century Trade Network

DNA analysis suggests the Chinese immigrants’ supply chain stretched to Southeast Asia

David and Priscilla Burke's daughter Aoibheann with a wild fig tree her parents discovered.

In California, the Search for the Ultimate Wild Fig Heats Up

A booming market has specimen hunters tracking down rare new varieties of the ancient fruit

Reconstruction of debris surging into the Tanis River as impact spherules rain down from the sky. A dinosaur tries to get away from the disaster.

Asteroid That Decimated the Dinosaurs Struck in Spring

Clues from fossil fish help scientists pinpoint the season when Earth’s fifth mass extinction began

This seven-foot statue of Pearl Kendrick, center, and Grace Eldering, left, was unveiled in Grand Rapids in 2019. Lab assistant Loney Clinton stands to the right with a microscope.

Women Who Shaped History

The Unsung Heroes Who Ended a Deadly Plague

How a team of fearless American women overcame medical skepticism to stop whooping cough, a vicious infectious disease, and save countless lives

One reader wonders if European modernists thought of the American painter Georgia O’Keeffe as a remarkable artist.  

Ask Smithsonian

Was Georgia O’Keeffe’s Genius Appreciated Outside of America? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts.

Nick Pyenson, the Smithsonian Institution’s curator of fossil marine mammals, compares the skeletons of ancient whales to the life-sized model of a North Atlantic right whale displayed at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Whales have been evolving for more than 50 million years, and long before becoming ocean-dwelling giants, the earliest cetaceans walked on land. 

This Cliff Face Is Packed With Fossilized Whale Remains

An exposed prehistoric seafloor is a hotspot for relics, and now an international team is helping unravel their mysteries

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