Danish physician Nadja Albertsen spent a year at Concordia Research Station in Antarctica.

Covid-19

Ten Tips From Scientists Who Have Spent Months in Isolation

Find a hobby, for starters, and don’t forget the mission, say scientists who have worked at remote research stations

Can you become immune to SARS-CoV-2?

Covid-19

What Scientists Know About Immunity to the Novel Coronavirus

Though COVID-19 likely makes recovered patients immune, experts aren’t sure how long protection lasts

Stromatolites at Lake Thetis, Western Australia

Why It’s So Difficult to Find Earth’s Earliest Life

Debate over Earth’s oldest fossils fuels the search for our deepest origins

Reconstruction of Dineobellator notohesperus and other dinosaurs from the Ojo Alamo Formation at the end of the Cretaceous Period in New Mexico by Sergey Krasovskiy. This reconstruction shows three Dineobellator near a water source, with the ceratopsid Ojoceratops and sauropod Alamosaurus in the background.

New Feathered Carnivorous Dinosaur Found in New Mexico

Dineobellator was a formidable predator and boasts the battle scars to prove it.

How should you discuss a topic as scary and complicated as a pandemic with children?

Covid-19

How to Talk With Children About COVID-19

An early childhood education expert provides tips about how to explain the ongoing pandemic to children

USS Vincennes in Disappointment Bay, Antarctica, during the Wilkes expedition.

The Forgotten American Explorer Who Discovered Huge Parts of Antarctica

It’s been more than 180 years since Charles Wilkes voyaged to the Antarctic continent and his journey has never been more relevant

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Covid-19

Covid-19

Providing historical context and scientific evidence as the pandemic unfolds

Pohl emphasized that killing rats was a civic duty, telling the Oregonian that “everyone in the city, rich and poor, should consider it his duty to exterminate rats.”

Women Who Shaped History

The Pioneering Health Officer Who Saved Portland From the Plague

Tasked with curbing a 1907 outbreak, Esther Pohl emphasized the importance of clean, vermin-free environments

Fibonacci spiral

The Fibonacci Sequence Is Everywhere—Even the Troubled Stock Market

The curious set of numbers shows up in nature and also in human activities.

The tobacco mosaic virus seen under 160,000× magnification

Covid-19

How a Few Sick Tobacco Plants Led Scientists to Unravel the Truth About Viruses

With the COVID-19 coronavirus causing a global pandemic, a look back at the scientists who figured out viruses and their relationship to disease

Al Worden visits his Apollo 15 spacesuit at the National Air and Space Museum

Smithsonian Voices

Remembering Al Worden

Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Alfred “Al” Worden, an aviator, engineer and storyteller passed away on March 18, 2020

Warmer weather can bring blooms. But don't expect it to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic on its own.

Covid-19

Why Warmer Weather Probably Won’t Stop COVID-19

Yes, most infectious diseases are seasonal. But waiting for COVID-19 to wane on its own is a bad idea

As climate change brings moister, warmer air, lightning is increasing and causing fires in the boreal forests where that used to be rare.

Why Does Lightning Rarely Strike in the Arctic? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions, we’ve got experts

The homemade flag carried by Lanphier High School students during their march to the Illinois State Capitol on the first Earth Day.

Planet Positive

This Homemade Flag From the ‘70s Signals the Beginning of the Environmental Movement

The green-and-white banner from an Illinois high school recalls the first Earth Day 50 years ago

Elizabeth Thomas's team moving between remote field camps via helicopter in Greenland in July 2018

Covid-19

How Scientists Are Keeping Irreplaceable Research Going During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak, and the travel bans and fears that come with it, have endangered long-running research projects

Jason Hayman, managing director of Sustainable Marine Energy, checks out Plat-I, the company’s primary project.

Planet Positive

The Push for Tidal Power Faces Its Biggest Challenge Yet

The renewable energy source has never quite lived up to its potential, but a new experiment in Nova Scotia could flip the script

Insect expert Dan Babbitt talks about the Chilean Rose Tarantula on “Smithsonian Science How,” a video series for students

Smithsonian Voices

Seven Ways to Learn About Natural History From Home

Deepen your understanding of the natural world with these free resources

Planet Positive

Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash the Wild on Your Backyard

Fed up with invasive species and sterile landscapes, Douglas Tallamy urges Americans to go native and go natural

Ecologist and Smithsonian associate Aung Myo Chit soothes an elephant in Myanmar after it was fitted with a collar.

Planet Positive

Researchers Are Learning How Asian Elephants Think—in Order to Save Them

As the pachyderms increasingly clash with farmers and villagers over disappearing land, scientists study the way the animals’ minds work

Planet Positive

Six Crazy Attempts to Geoengineer the Weather

These scientists and inventors set out to change the planet with these out-of-the-box ideas

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