Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

Greg Lecoeur won the title of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020 for his Frozen Mobile Home, a playful snapshot of seals circling an iceberg.

Dazzling Display of Seals Wins Underwater Photographer of the Year Award

French photographer Greg Lecoeur triumphed over more than 5,500 submissions from hundreds of artists around the world

Evidence that blue tits (pictured) rely on social cues to determine whether to nibble on a snack or not wasn't clear, but a new study shows they can even learn from videos.

By Watching Videos, Birds Can Learn to Avoid Gross Foods

A new study suggests that great tits and blue tits eat fewer unpalatable snacks after observing videos of ‘disgust responses’ in other birds

Posed in Hampton, Virginia, Katherine Johnson stands before a backdrop of gathering clouds, "symbolic of the obstacles ... that she had to face in her career," says curator William Pretzer.

Women Who Shaped History

Smithsonian Curators Remember Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician Highlighted in ‘Hidden Figures,’ Who Died at 101

An African American woman who battled workplace discrimination, Johnson performed crucial calculations to send astronauts into space

This remarkably well-preserved horned lark died toward the end of the last ice age

This Bird Froze 46,000 Years Ago. Now, It Can Tell Scientists About the Last Ice Age

A likely ancestor of today’s horned larks, the specimen was preserved in pristine condition by permafrost

A coral-covered propeller of a U.S. SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber stands on the sea floor in Truk Lagoon.

Three U.S. Planes Lost During World War II Found in Pacific Lagoon

Project Recover, a nonprofit dedicated to locating MIA service members, identified the planes’ location

The coins show the first three dinosaurs found in modern-day Britain.

Three Ferocious Dinosaurs Featured on New U.K. Coins

Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus were the first dinosaurs to be discovered in modern-day Britain

Archaeologists uncovered nine walls made of human bones beneath Saint Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium.

Walls Made of Ancient Human Leg Bones Found Beneath Belgian Church

The macabre creations are likely the product of an overcrowded cemetery cleared out hundreds of years ago

View of Takarkori shelter from the west.

New Research

Fossilized Fish Bones in the Sahara Desert Show How Diets Changed With the Climate

Thousands of years ago, hunter-gatherers in the “green Sahara” ate mostly catfish and tilapia

A bumblebee, barred from touching a sphere that's visible in lit conditions, learns about the object through sight alone.

Like Humans, Bumblebees May Create Mental Images in Their Brains

After touching an object in the dark, the insects can recognize it later through sight alone—a complex cognitive feat

Watch a Musician Play Violin During Brain Surgery

Keeping patients awake during operations can help neurosurgeons avoid damaging areas of the brain that govern functions like vision, movement or speech

On Sunday, a National Weather Service employee snapped a photo of two ice volcanoes erupting on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Why Are Ice Volcanoes Erupting on the Shores of Lake Michigan?

They’re not really volcanoes. But they do spew freezing cold water, and that’s very cool

The Florida water snake, or Nerodia fasciata pictiventris, (pictured) is one of three southern water snake subspecies and indigenous to the Sunshine State.

A ‘Quivering Mass’ of Mating Snakes Took Over a Florida Lake on Valentine’s Day

Officials have cordoned off an area of Lake Hollingsworth where Florida water snakes are doing their business

The fossil is more than six-and-half feet long and, once it had been wrapped in a protective “jacket” and affixed to two pieces of wood, weighed nearly 1,000 pounds.

A Pair of Horses Helped Excavate a Hulking Brachiosaurus Fossil in Utah

Brachiosaurus remains rarely surface in the fossil record

Olms, also called "baby dragons" and "human fish," are blind, foot-long salamanders native to European caves.

New Research

A Cave-Dwelling Salamander Didn’t Move for Seven Years

The blind, eel-like amphibians called olms live deep in European caves and can go years without food

The Chiba cliff section along the Yoro River in the city of Ichihara shows traces of a reversal in the Earth's magnetic field.

The ‘Chibanian Age’ Is the First Geologic Period Named After a Site in Japan

The period is named for Japan’s Chiba prefecture, where a cliff shows evidence of the most recent reversal of Earth’s magnetic field

Tempestries representing daily high temperatures in Utqiagvik, Alaska, in 1925, 2010, and 2016 (left) and Death Valley, California, in 1950 and 2016 (right)

Art Meets Science

How Knitting Enthusiasts Are Using Their Craft to Visualize Climate Change

In these crafters’ scarves and blankets, rows of color correspond with daily temperature

Most cat allergies are caused by a protein called Fel d 1 that's found in cat saliva and skin glands, and often gets wicked into fur.

What Does a Study of Slow Lorises Actually Say About Cat Allergies?

An unusual theory ultimately warrants skepticism under further research is conducted

An artist's concept of the solar system

Where Will NASA Explore Next? Here Are the Four Shortlisted Missions

Targets include Venus, Jupiter’s moon Io and Neptune’s moon Triton

Archaeologists unearthed the remains of at least 48 individuals, including 27 children.

Mass Grave Shows the Black Death’s ‘Catastrophic’ Impact in Rural England

At least 48 individuals were buried in a single grave in Lincolnshire, suggesting the community struggled to deal with an onslaught of plague victims

40 million people rely on the Colorado River for water, but its flow is falling by more than 9 percent with every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit rise in temperature.

New Research

The Colorado River Is Shrinking as Temperatures Rise

River flow could drop by 19 to 31 percent if carbon emissions continues at their current pace

Page 257 of 545