Satellite image of the Thomas Fire's burn scar and active flames, in northern Ventura, on December 5, 2017.

Could Wildfire Ash Feed the Ocean’s Tiniest Life-Forms?

Ash falling on the ocean after a wildfire could fuel plankton growth

See the 17th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Finalists and Vote for the Readers’ Choice Winner

Over its two-minute lifetime, the faux rhino (above: The Substitute) adapts “to his environment and moves around. His form and his sound become more lifelike, but ultimately, he is coming to life without any natural context and in this completely digital form," says the museum's curator Andrea Lipps.

The Northern White Rhino Went Extinct, But for Two Minutes at a Time, the Animal Makes a Digital Comeback

An artist’s 3-D recreation of the immense mammal probes the paradox of efforts to bring such animals back in the lab

Swamp wallabies can nourish three separate offspring at once: an older joey that's left the pouch, a young one nursing inside of it, and an embryo that has yet to be born.

Swamp Wallabies Can Get Pregnant While Pregnant

These marsupials can conceive during the final days of an ongoing pregnancy, creating a “backup” embryo ready to take its predecessor’s place

A family commutes by cargo bike on a rail-and-trail path in Seattle.

Can We Really Combat Climate Change by Consuming Less? Maybe.

In her new book, scientist Hope Jahren talks about the warming planet and what can be done to slow its effects

Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man

Science in the Movies

‘The Invisible Man’ Isn’t Real, but This Invisibility Technology Is

A new take on H.G. Wells’ classic novel is in theaters, but how far has real-life cloaking tech come?

An autonomous float is lowered into the waters of Southern Ocean. Part of the SOCCOM project, floats like this measure a variety of parameters that allow scientists to determine whether the waters are absorbing or releasing carbon dioxide.

The World’s Best Natural Defense Against Climate Change May Soon Make Things Worse

As extreme weather rocks the Southern Ocean, a tumultuous mix of carbon dioxide, winds and warming waters could reach an environmental tipping point

The Smithsonian's “Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World” exhibition is joining other efforts to combat misinformation about COVID-19 on multiple fronts. Volunteers, public programs and forthcoming content updates are providing visitors with access to credible and relevant information.

Covid-19

How Museums Can Help the Public Make Sense of Pandemics

We can’t let fear overrun science, says Sabrina Sholts, the Smithsonian’s curator of biological anthropology

Mo‘omomi Preserve on the north coast of the Hawaiian island of Moloka‘i protects a dune ecosystem that boasts rare coastal species.

Hawai‘i’s Last Dunes Are Home to Species Found Nowhere Else on the Planet

A nature preserve on Moloka‘i reveals rare life forms—some ancient and others just newly established

Graphic illustrating the MAVEN spacecraft encountering plasma layers at Mars.

Ten Trends That Will Shape Science in the Decade Ahead

Medicine gets trippy, solar takes over, and humanity—finally, maybe—goes back to the moon

The first two cheetah cubs born via embryo transfer

In a First, Cheetah Cubs Born Through Surrogacy at the Columbus Zoo

Zookeepers and Smithsonian scientists successfully transferred cheetah embryos, marking a major conservation milestone for the vulnerable species

Drone image above the wreck of HMS Erebus

Divers Recover More Than 350 Artifacts From the HMS ‘Erebus’ Shipwreck

The treasure trove could help answer questions about what happened during the disastrous Franklin Expedition

Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Angkor Wat May Owe Its Existence to an Engineering Catastrophe

The collapse of a reservoir in a remote and mysterious city could have helped Angkor gain supremacy

A female wolverine roams the Arctic tundra at the edge of the Brooks Range, on Alaska’s North Slope. 

Why Wolverines Are the Arctic Animal We Love to Hate

Scientists brave the deep snows and frigid cold of Arctic Alaska to study one of its most furtive and ferocious denizens

When curators gather, the topics are lively. Did Dolley Madison save the day? Do astronauts eat freeze-dried ice cream? And where exactly did the Pilgrims land?

Smithsonian Curators Help Rescue the Truth From These Popular Myths

From astronaut ice-cream to Plymouth Rock, a group of scholars gathered at the 114th Smithsonian Material Culture Forum to address tall tales and myths

Oscillations originating deep inside the sun become detectable only on the surface.

How Do Scientists Record Sounds From the Sun? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions, we’ve got experts

An author of blockbuster books and a pioneering photographer, she braved the wilderness to collect these moths and butterflies.

As Popular in Her Day as J.K. Rowling, Gene Stratton-Porter Wrote to the Masses About America’s Fading Natural Beauty

Despite her fame, you wouldn’t know about this beloved writer unless you visit the vanishing Midwestern landscape she helped save

Photographers gather at the eastern edge of El Capitan in February, eager to capture Yosemite's "firefall."

Nine Rare Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling For

You have to be in the right place at the right time to see these awe-inspiring events

The HL Hunley pressed its torpedo against the side of the USS Housatonic until it detonated.

The New Explosive Theory About What Doomed the Crew of the ‘Hunley’

A blast-injury expert takes aim at the mystery of what sank the most famous—and lethal—submarine of the Civil War

Depictions of Madame Yale often suggested that she had a hand in crafting her concoctions.

Madame Yale Made a Fortune With the 19th Century’s Version of Goop

A century before today’s celebrity health gurus, an American businesswoman was a beauty with a brand

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