Clam shells, likely collected from live clams, would have made for naturally sharp cutting tools.

To Craft Cutting Tools, Neanderthals Dove for Clam Shells on the Ocean Floor

Clam shell knives from a cave on the Italian coast suggest Neanderthals dove underwater for resources

A drone captured the ice circle that formed on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine, last January.

The Science Behind Snow Rollers, Ice Circles and Other Winter Phenomena

A meteorologist explains how bizarre snow and ice formations take shape—and where you’re most likely to see them

2020 is shaping up to be a great year for sky watching.

Ten Celestial Events You Don’t Want to Miss in 2020

Whether you are a telescope enthusiast or just want to step outside to enjoy the night sky, these are the phenomena to look out for this year

Dust-rich outflows of evolved stars similar to the pictured Egg Nebula are plausible sources of the large presolar silicon carbide grains found in meteorites like Murchison.

Meteorite Grains Are the Oldest Known Solid Material on Earth

The oldest dust sample, perhaps 7 billion years old, predates the formation of our planet and the sun

A "living machine" containing frog stem cells in a new configuration designed by a computer algorithm. Parts shown in green are made up of frog skin cells, while parts in red are frog heart cells.

Scientists Assemble Frog Stem Cells Into First ‘Living Machines’

The so-called ‘xenobots’ could replace traditional metal or plastic robots without polluting the planet, but they raise ethical questions

African grey parrots are highly social, and may benefit from establishing reputations for generosity.

Parrots Will Share Currency to Help Their Pals Purchase Food

Animals often share food, but these birds understand that metal rings can be exchanged for treats, and they share the rings with no promise of reward

The hypothetical dream spacecraft flies over Uranus and past its rings and moons, too.

Astronomers Prepare a Mission Concept to Explore the Ice Giant Planets

NASA scientists imagined some innovative technologies that could enhance a future mission to Uranus or Neptune

Cuttlefish are calculating hunters, and need depth perception to efficiently snare their prey.

Scientists Velcroed 3-D Glasses to Cuttlefish to Study Their Depth Perception

The results of the eye-popping study suggest cuttlefish see the world in surprisingly human ways

Iron-rich dust launched into the air by winds swirls around the Southern Ocean. Understanding how iron’s chemistry shifts during its journey from earth to air to sea will be important for developing better climate models.

The Complicated Role of Iron in Ocean Health and Climate Change

Iron dust may have played a significant role in the last ice age, and it could be an important factor in mitigating future global temperature increases

Aerial view of deforested area of the Amazon rainforest.

The Amazon Has Lost More Than Ten Million Football Fields of Forest in a Decade

The Royal Statistical Society’s stat of the decade is 24,000 square miles of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

These are ten of the biggest strides made by scientists in the last ten years.

The Top Ten Scientific Discoveries of the Decade

Breakthroughs include measuring the true nature of the universe, finding new species of human ancestors, and unlocking new ways to fight disease

Scientists seeking extraterrestrial life in the universe (above: a radio observatory in New Mexico) seek the answer to what is called the Fermi paradox: “Where is everybody?”

If Aliens Existed Elsewhere in the Universe, How Would They Behave?

In a new offering from Smithsonian Books, James Trefil and Michael Summers explore the life forms that might exist on a dizzying array of exoplanets

The Pompeiian sorceress' kit contained about 100 different objects.

Cool Finds

Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019

The list includes a sorceress’ kit, a forgotten settlement, a Renaissance masterpiece and a 1,700-year-old egg

Nearly a century ago, archaeologists started to shift the focus of human origins research from Europe to Africa’s ‘cradles of humankind’ like Oldupai (Olduvai) Gorge in Tanzania.

Archaeologists Are Unearthing the Stories of the Past Faster Than Ever Before

Recent research helps reveal the origins of humans, determine what ancient people ate and monitor historical sites from the sky

Presenting Smithsonian magazine's top ten stories of 2019

Our Top Ten Stories of 2019

From a 16-million-year-old tree to Confederate soldiers’ diaries, voracious snakes and England’s warrior king, these were the most-read stories of 2019

In the past decade or so, the number of podcasts to choose from has soared.

Education During Coronavirus

Eighteen Podcasts to Listen to in 2020

Need podcast recommendations for travel or the treadmill? Here’s what Smithsonian experts listen to

An artist's illustration of Dendromaia unamakiensis, a 310-million-year old land-dwelling vertebrate that looked a like a modern monitor lizard, pictured here with its offspring

Lizard-Like Fossil May Represent 306-Million-Year-Old Evidence of Animal Parenting

Shortly after transitioning from sea to land, our egg-laying ancestors may have started parenting their young

An aerial view of a fossil of Archaeopteris, a 385-million-year-old tree with surprisingly modern-looking roots.

The World’s Oldest Forest Has 385-Million-Year-Old Tree Roots

A trove of arboreal fossils pushes back the origin of modern forests and sophisticated tree roots

The Blue Mountains of Niger. Arable land in the fast-growing country shrank nearly 50 percent per capita from 1996 to 2016.

Photographs From One of the World’s Most Troubled, and Least Understood, Regions

A photojournalist journeys to the Sahara-Sahel desert of remote northern Africa to catalogue the state of emergency on the ground

The North Island brown kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird that lays the biggest egg relative to its body size.

What Bird Lays the Biggest Eggs Compared to Its Body Size? Where Does ‘Lame Duck’ Come From? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got question. We’ve got experts

Page 90 of 453