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Science

Google Earth image of a healthy forest on the lower right and a ghost forest full of dead trees on the left.

Why Ecologists Are Haunted by the Rapid Growth of Ghost Forests

A study in North Carolina of dying trees may represent a foreboding preview of what may come to coastal ecosystems worldwide

Iran's Lake Urmia, once one of the largest saltwater lakes in the world, is vanishing due to climate change.

Innovation for Good

Can Climate Fiction Writers Reach People in Ways That Scientists Can’t?

A new subgenre of science fiction leans on the expertise of biologists and ecologists to imagine a scientifically plausible future Earth

The aged bathe in the restorative waters of the mythical fountain of youth in this 1546 oil painting by German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. Scientists have turned to studies of blood to identify a path to rejuvenating tissues damaged by the aging process.

In the Search to Stall Aging, Biotech Startups Are Out for Blood

A handful of companies are trying vastly different approaches to spin animal studies into the next big anti-aging therapy

Smithsonian ecologist Andy Boyce reported the rediscovery and photographed the elusive Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops owl, Otus brookii brookii, in the mountainous forests of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia.

Rare Owl With Bright Orange Eyes Seen for the First Time in More Than 125 Years

The elusive Bornean Rajah scops owl is inspiring scientists and researchers after its brief rediscovery

So far, scientists have only documented jagged lightning bolts. Some physicists believe that the discovery of a completely straight lightning bolt could prove the existence of dark matter.

Could Weirdly Straight Bolts of Lightning Be a Sign of Dark Matter?

A group of scientists say the phenomenon could indicate dark matter speeding through our world at more than 300 miles a second

Through research on living and preserved plants, botanists are learning more about how flora has responded to climate change over the past centuries.

Smithsonian Voices

Why Plants Are Seeding Climate Studies

The National Museum of Natural History’s herbarium is helping botanists research climate-driven changes in plants, their biology and their abundance

Bodies lose their vigor with the passing of the years, but emotional well-being tends to improve, studies find. Among the observations: Though older people may have fewer social contacts, those they retain bring more satisfaction and meaning.

Why Do Older Individuals Have Greater Control of Their Feelings?

Psychologist Susan Turk Charles talks about findings that reveal the elderly have higher emotional well-being

Edmontasaurus, a duckbilled creature weighing around 7,000 pounds that could walk on two or four legs, was an average-sized dinosaur.

An Ode to the World’s Most Average Dinosaurs

They lacked the gargantuan size and spikes of the species museums often celebrate, but these species are how paleontologists learn about the Mesozoic

Whether they are left- or right-handed, mothers tend to carry their babies on the left side of their bodies.

14 Fun Facts About the Science of Motherhood

A short list of the amazing changes and behaviors that transform both humans and animals on the journey of motherhood

Great white sharks travel hundreds of miles to specific locations in the world’s oceans.

New Evidence Suggests Sharks Use Earth’s Magnetic Field to Navigate

Bonnethead sharks swam in the direction of their home waters when placed in a tank charged with an electromagnetic field

A virtual reconstruction of the child’s remains found in Panga ya Saidi cave in Kenya

Scientists Discover Oldest Known Human Grave in Africa

The unearthing of a tiny child suggests Africa’s Stone Age humans sometimes practiced funerary rites and had symbolic thoughts about death

This 17-year Brood X cicada nymph is one step away from adulthood. After emerging from the dirt, cicadas typically crawl up the base of a tree to complete their final molt, expand their wings and fly away.

Smithsonian Voices

Will Animals at the Zoo Find Brood X Cicadas a Tasty Snack?

What will animals think of the impending bug buffet?

Fossil plants reveal information about the temperature and precipitation of past climates. Scientists use what they learn from fossil plants to inform their research on modern climate change

Smithsonian Voices

What Fossil Plants Reveal About Climate Change

Paleobiologists use fossil plants to reconstruct Earth’s past climate and inform climate change research today.

Some facets of the 1918 influenza pandemic echo today's crisis: There were mask mandates, campaigns against spitting and pleas for people to cover their mouths, and more than half a million Americans died. The decade that followed the pandemic, however, was marked by social change and economic prosperity—for some.

What Caused the Roaring Twenties? Not the End of a Pandemic (Probably)

As the U.S. anticipates a vaccinated summer, historians say measuring the impact of the 1918 influenza on the uproarious decade that followed is tricky

Smithsonian Associates Streaming presents surprising stories behind the jewels in the Smithsonian National Gem Collection.

Smithsonian Voices

Dive Into National Gems, Study Photography, Discover Women Architects in These 34 Online May Programs

Stream online multi-part courses, studio arts classes and virtual study tours in these offerings from the Smithsonian Associates

This month's book picks include African Europeans, X Troop and Chasing the Thrill.

Books of the Month

African Europeans, Jewish Commandos of WWII and Other New Books to Read

These May releases elevate overlooked stories and offer insights on oft-discussed topics

A beaver peers out of a Hancock live trap after being captured by Molly Alves, a biologist with the Tulalip Tribe in Washington.

Scientists Are Relocating Nuisance Beavers to Help Salmon

When the rodents are moved from backyards to wild areas, they make their new watersheds better for fish

A prairie warbler greets the spring in New Jersey.

Smithsonian Voices

How Scientists Are Deciphering the Many Mysteries of Migratory Birds

Each spring across the forests, lakes and suburbs of North America, millions of birds take a long journey north in search of summer nesting territory

The dunes of White Sands National Monument stretch for hundreds of miles in New Mexico.

How Extreme Temperature Swings in Deserts Stir Sand and Dust

Understanding the movement of particles, some of which enter the atmosphere, may help scientists improve climate models and forecast dust storms on Mars

The new species of toadlet, Brachycephalus rotenbergae, opens its mouth in a defensive posture.

Biologists Discover New Species of Glowing Pumpkin Toadlet

The bright orange amphibian, which shines green under UV light, is different from other pumpkin toadlets due to its appearance and call

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