Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

MOLAB in Hopi Buttes (1967)

Cool Finds

Looking Back at NASA’s Strange Mobile Lunar Laboratory

Unfortunately, the odd-looking MOLAB remained earthbound

Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes bubonic plague

Trending Today

30,000 People In Quarantine After Bubonic Plague Kills One in China

Officials in China are taking dramatic precautions to ensure the disease doesn’t spread

Children were asked to rate how cute they found each of the images to be.

New Research

Even Toddlers Recognize the Superior Cuteness of Puppies and Kittens

Our notion of cuteness might be hardwired rather than learned

Mayflies at a gas station in the Trempealeau Mountain Staet Natural Area

Trending Today

This is What Millions of Mayflies Emerging All At Once Looks Like

A massive emergence of mayflies has blanketed parts of the country

An artist's rendition of the Cambrian seafloor

Cool Finds

Take a Virtual Reality Trip to the Cambrian Explosion with David Attenborough

Admit it, virtual reality David Attenborough is something you’ve always wanted

New Research

Offshore Wind Farms Offer Seals a Smorgasbord of Fish

Wind farms could intentionally be fashioned into artificial reefs to further increase their value to wildlife

New Research

Early Life May Have Thrived in the Wreckage of a Meteorite

Porous rock created by high impact meteorite strikes make a surprisingly pleasant home for microbes

New Research

Circumcision Could Help Stem the Spread of HIV

Contrary to what researchers previously feared, men who undergo adult circumcision don’t engage in overly risky behavior compared to uncircumcised ones

Cool Finds

This Grocery Store Will Be Powered By Its Own Waste

Microbes digest tossed food, belch up electricity-generating methane

A mall in Beijing.

Trending Today

China’s Extra Wide Ladies-Only Parking Spaces Sparked a Backlash Over Sexism

The mall that created the women-only spaces meant well, but their reasoning is indicative of a bigger problem

New Research

Without Oceans, Earth-Like Life Probably Can’t Evolve on Other Planets

It’s not all about the planet’s distance from its star, as researchers previously thought

Cool Finds

Along I-95, 5,000 Years of History

Archaeological excavations along I-95 are digging up the past

New Research

Spider Silk is a Fine-Tuned Alert System

Web fibers can send a wide range of messages

Scientific fieldwork can be exciting, but can also create an environment where sexual harassment occurs a new study finds

New Research

64% Of Surveyed Scientists Have Experienced Harassment During Fieldwork

Female trainees are particularly vulnerable

Cool Finds

Suburban Skunks are on the Rise

Grand Rapids, Michigan, is basically enveloped in a cloud of stink

Cool Finds

This Smart Cat Feeder Uses Facial Recognition to Exclude Greedy Kitties

The feeder tracks each cat’s food intake to make sure no one is taking the lion’s share

Shiki 1, a Japanese White Pine Bonsai suspended from a weather ballon as it ascends to the edge of space for artist Azuma Makoto's project Exobiotanica

Cool Finds

Artist Sends a Bouquet and a Bonsai to Space

What happens when you send a Bonsai tree to space? See for yourself

Cool Finds

This 71-Year-Old Just Set a Record With His 1,673th Ascent of Mt. Fuji

The mountaineer says that now he’s ready to tackle Everest

The comet Cheryumov-Gerasimenko seems to be shaped like a rubber duckie

Cool Finds

The ESA is on a Mission to Harpoon a Duck-Shaped Comet

As if catching a comet wasn’t already hard enough

A hotel's welcome notice for Auke Dalstra of flight MH17 is seen at the arrival hall of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal on July 18, 2014 in Sepang, Malaysia.

Trending Today

The Horrific Downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 Has Echoes in History

Lessons from history hint at what might happen next

Page 932 of 1128