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Science

A Savannah sparrow stands on a patch of melting snow in a warm-season grass field in Virginia.

Not All Birds Fly South for the Winter

Researchers in Virginia studied how mowing, burning or animal grazing helped or hindered birds that stayed home for the winter

In 1904, Abyssinia’s King Menelik presented a four-year-old zebra, who became known as Dan, as a gift to President Theodore Roosevelt.

How Dan the Zebra Stopped an Ill-Fated Government Breeding Program in Its Tracks

At the centennial of the death of this captive animal, an archaeozoologist visited collections at the Smithsonian to examine human-animal relationships

Red blood cells imaged by a scanning electron microscope.

Harmful Bacteria Masquerade as Red Blood Cells to Evade the Immune System

Studying the stealthy strategy could help researchers develop new treatments for group A strep infections, which kill more than 500,000 people each year

The tooth-filled mouth of a lamprey. These bloodsucking fish have managed to survive for hundreds of millions of years.

Why the World Needs Bloodsucking Creatures

The ecological benefits of animals like leeches, ticks and vampire bats are the focus of a new exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum

Two Majungasaurus hunting down a Rapetosaurus.

Flesh-Ripping Dinosaurs Replaced Their Teeth Multiple Times a Year

A high rate of tooth turnover gave these prehistoric carnivores an edge

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Gift Guides

The Best Books of 2019

In our efforts to increase and diffuse knowledge, we highly recommend these 65 titles released this year

Students and teachers can download 3-D print-ready files of the Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops skulls.

Holiday Gift Guide

Ten Smithsonian Artifacts You Can 3-D Print

The list includes Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit, an Abraham Lincoln life mask and a coral skeleton

The central region of our Milky Way is a bustling galactic downtown with a supermassive black hole at its hub.

Chandra Telescope Observes Two Decades of Turning Theory Into Reality

A new book, ‘Light From the Void,’ showcases the telescope’s images of nebulas, supernovae, supermassive black holes and more

Although ammonoids died out around the same time as most dinosaurs, new computer models are revealing how these marine animals moved through the water.

Video Game-Inspired Models Demonstrate How Prehistoric Squid Relatives Swam Through the Seas

By simulating liquid flows around the shells of ammonoids, scientists study how these ancient animals moved

In the hubbub after the meteorite strike, Ann Hodges became a minor celebrity. Photographs of her bruise and the damage to her home appeared in Life magazine in an article entitled, “A Big Bruiser From the Sky.”

In 1954, an Extraterrestrial Bruiser Shocked This Alabama Woman

Ann Hodges remains the only human known to have been injured by direct impact of a meteorite

A chocolate model fo the African Bush elephant in the rotunda of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on top of a festive holiday cake.

Smithsonian Archaeologist Crafts Science-Themed Cakes; This One Is an Elephantine Treat

Confectionary artworks span everything from an Aztec calendar stone to King Tut’s tomb

At Agate Fossil Beds National Monument near the town of Harrison, Nebraska, visitors can view in the outcropping a curious spiral-shaped fossil called Daimonelix, also known as Devil's Corkscrew.

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

How Scientists Resolved the Mystery of the Devil’s Corkscrews

Smithsonian paleontologist Hans-Dieter Sues tells the tale of a fossil find that bedeviled early 20th-century researchers

Thanks to the ubiquity of electric light, less and less of the planet falls genuinely into darkness any more.

How Cities and Lights Drive the Evolution of Life

Urbanization and the spread of artificial light are transforming all of earth’s species, bringing about a host of unintended consequences

Purdue University’s INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering works with pre-school, school-age, college undergrads, engineers and parents to test and rate science- and tech-themed products.

The Ten Best STEM Toys to Give as Gifts in 2019

Stretch young learners’ minds with everything from card games to robotic spheres

Paired Images of Melting Glaciers and Flooding Wetlands Tell the Story of Global Climate Change

Photographer Tina Freeman’s exhibition ‘Lamentations’ at the New Orleans Museum of Art juxtaposes two different environments

Female wasp of the newly described species Idris elba (holotype specimen).

Tiny Parasitic Wasp Named After Idris Elba Hijacks Stink Bug Eggs

The wasp genus Idris had only been known to infest spider eggs, until now

An ice patch nearing complete melt in northern Mongolia's Ulaan Taiga Special Protected Area, 2018.

Archaeologists Race to Preserve Artifacts as the Ice Melts in Mongolia

Disappearing patches of ice unleash new artifacts for discovery, but many could quickly degrade exposed to the elements

An artist's concept showing a "naked-eye" view of a GRB up close. Observations suggest that material is shot outward in a two-component jet (white and green beams). Credit: NASA/Swift/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith and John Jones

Astronomers Detect Record-Breaking Gamma Ray Bursts From Colossal Explosion in Space

A powerful outburst in a distant galaxy produced photons with high enough energies to be detected by ground-based telescopes for the first time

While mosquitoes can be pesky, they're an important part of the food chain.

Why Do Mosquitoes Exist? Why Do Elephants and Donkeys Represent the G.O.P. and the Democrats? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

The Paris Aquarium rescues unwanted goldfish and gives them a home.

The Paris Aquarium Is Giving Unwanted Goldfish a Second Chance

The sanctuary is home to 1,000 fish and counting

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