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Science

A historian inspects oysters from a reef on the Nansemond River, in Virginia.

Can Scientists Help Oysters Thrive Again?

Dredging and pollution devastated the once-bountiful reefs. Careful science may help bring them back

Inmate Willie H. feeds juvenile robins that are being rehabilitated in prison.

In Prisons Across Ohio, These Inmates Are Finding Meaning by Saving Orphaned and Injured Animals

The Ohio Wildlife Center’s hospital sends critters to five facilities for care before eventual release

A coronal mass ejection erupts from the sun in 2013.

How Prepared Are We for a Rare and Powerful Solar Event?

A coronal mass ejection could knock out power and disrupt communication on Earth

The domestication of some species of bumblebee has had unintended consequences.

A Deep Look Into the Wild and Not-So-Wild World of Bumblebees

Over the past several decades the lives of the domesticated and native pollinators have increasingly overlapped

“Brain rot” was the Oxford Word of the Year 2024.

Can You Really ‘Rot’ Your Brain by Scrolling Too Much on Your Smartphone?

While that message has been spread on social media, researchers are just beginning to understand how the devices affect the mind

Animal life seemed to explode into a wide variety of new forms in the Cambrian period.

What Led Life to Flourish Roughly 520 Million Years Ago?

Changes to the world’s oceans and the rise of certain predators may have driven diversification

Many different types of animals, from birds to orcas, are affected by human noise.

Five Dramatic Ways Animals Respond to Human Noise, From Mimicking Car Alarms While Wooing Mates to Calling Higher Over the Din of Traffic

As human-caused sound gets louder around the world, some animals change their behavior and many creatures suffer health issues

An aardvark emerges from its burrow.

Could Aardvark Burrows Be Ground Zero for the Next Pandemic?

Animals of all kinds mix and mingle in the underground refuges, offering troubling opportunities for diseases to jump species

Predatory dinosaurs like Acrocanthosaurus perform a mating dance. Fossils indicating such a dance took place, possibly by this species, were described in 2016.

From Dinosaur Scratches to Insects in Amber, How Paleontologists Uncover Prehistoric Courtship

Researchers have found fossil evidence of varied creatures wooing and mating, as they continue to search for the telltale signs of dinosaurs copulating

Dustin Partridge of the New York City Bird Alliance looks for migrating birds during the 2024 Tribute in Light in New York City.

The New Science of Aeroecology Reveals So Much About the Amazing Creatures That Populate the Skies and How Humans Can Ensure Their Survival

The sky above us is a complex ecosystem, just like the land and sea. A new field of research is bringing a fresh understanding of the birds, bugs and other species that live there

Five-year-old Segi, rescued in 2021, learns how to climb at “jungle school,” run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

An Orangutan Sanctuary in Borneo Is Giving the Endangered Primates a Second Chance, Just When They Need It Most

The critically endangered species gets a helping hand from an Indonesian facility as the island’s human population is about to explode

Where did the Big Bang take place? Is it now at the center of the universe? 

Where Did the Big Bang Happen? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of 3I/ATLAS with its Wide Field Camera 3.

Telescopes Reveal Surprising Chemistry of a Rare Interstellar Object Passing Through Our Solar System

Called 3I/ATLAS, the object is only the third of its kind known to astronomers, and it’s likely been heading our way for billions of years, carrying pristine material from another star system

The only human development on Tetepare is a small research center and ecolodge on the western corner of the island, which is otherwise covered in lush rainforest and lined by coral reefs and meadows of seagrass.

Why Is Tetepare the South Pacific’s Largest Uninhabited Island?

Descendants of the island’s former inhabitants struggle to balance environmental conservation with sustaining their community’s livelihoods

In some countries, it’s not uncommon to bring cows and other farm animals into the house with humans for the winter. It protects them from the chill and adds a source of heat to the home in frigid months.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Get a Glimpse of Farm Life All Around the World

These 15 images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest will grow on you

Mexican tetras lost their eyes in multiple ways.

These Cavefish Lost Their Eyes, but They Gained Some Pretty Nifty Traits

Mexican tetras that got swept into pitch-black caverns had no use for the energetically costly organs

Researchers are studying pollen grains for applications across medicine and engineering.

For the Allergy-Ridden, Pollen Can Be a Nuisance. But Scientists Are Using the Powdery Stuff to Make Paper, Sponges and More

Re-engineered into a microgel, pollen could become a critical material for eco-friendly products

Early whales walked on land and swam in the shallows to hunt.

Before Whales Took to the Sea, These Ten Species Walked on Land

The creatures, which ranged in size from that of a fox to more than 50 feet long, divided their time between the coast and the water

Gedi is another precolonial African site that was occupied from about 1000 to 1500 C.E. The courthouse from the site is shown.

Understanding the Gaps in Africa’s Archaeological Record

Sites and artifacts are revealing clues to the continent’s recent history. An archaeologist explains the findings and threats to this heritage

Several species have evolved in response to human environmental impacts.

Five Astounding Ways Humans Are Driving Animal Evolution, Including Causing Lizards to Grow Longer Legs and Leading Moth Populations to Become Darker

When people build cities and introduce invasive creatures, resident critter populations sometimes adapt

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