Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

Trending Today

Has Hillary Step on Mount Everest Collapsed?

A British mountaineer says yes, but authorities in Nepal have denied his assertions

New Research

New App Makes It Easier to Colorize Old Photos

The software combines human input and a sophisticated neural network to make historical images pop

Image on the original Pioneer 10 and 11 plaques

Cool Finds

Now You Too Can Own a Piece of Space History

The engraver who inscribed Carl Sagan’s and Frank Drake’s 1973 message to extraterrestrials is now taking orders

Trending Today

Pringles: Snacktime Hero or Recycling Villain?

The UK Recycling Association speaks out against hard-to-recycle products

It's peak waterfall season in Yosemite National Park—and epic snowmelt means it's better than ever.

Trending Today

Chasing Waterfalls? Head to Yosemite

Don’t stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to—recent snowmelt is fueling spectacular falls

The tiny creatures can adeptly fold their large wings, tucking them under their spotted forewing.

New Research

The Origami-Like Folds of Ladybug Wings Could Lead to Better Umbrellas

Scientists have finally figured out how ladybugs fold their wings

The recently sold bit of Sylacauga meteor, worth 18 times more than gold

Trending Today

Piece of the Meteorite That Struck a Woman Sells for More Than Its Weight in Gold

About the size of a dime, the fraction of the space rock fetched $7,500 at auction

The VLF bubble around Earth

New Research

A Human-Made “Bubble” of Radio Waves Could Be Shielding Earth From Radiation

Very Low Frequency radio waves have created a protective bubble around the planet

Marie Curie and President Warren Harding walk down the White House steps arm in arm in 1921.

When Women Crowdfunded Radium For Marie Curie

The element was hard to get and extremely expensive but essential for Curie’s cancer research

An illustration from 'Professor Dowell's Head,' a 1925 science fiction story from Russian author Alexander Belyayev.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Good News, Everybody! Someone Once Patented Plans For Keeping A Severed Head Alive

It was what’s called a “prophetic patent”—one that isn’t real yet

Aspens are one of the American tree species moving northwest.

New Research

American Trees are Shifting West

For 86 common species, northwest seems to be best. But why?

New Research

New Zealand’s Yellow-Eyed Penguins May Be in Trouble

A new study estimates that the beloved birds could disappear locally within 25 years

Orangutans may not wean for years, a new study shows.

New Research

Wild Orangutans Can Breastfeed for Over Eight Years

The primates take a while to wean their young

Iceland’s Volcano and Earthquake Museum is Devoted to the Country’s “Epic” Geology

The Lava Center is surrounded by three volcanoes

The unassuming face of one of twentieth-century America's most dangerous men, even to himself

The Innovative Spirit fy17

One Man Invented Two of the Deadliest Substances of the 20th Century

Thomas Midgley Jr.’s inventions have had an outsize impact—not all of it good—on humankind

This forest in Guatemala was burned to make way for agricultural development. A new study suggests that drug traffickers contribute to rainforest loss by laundering money with agriculture in forest lands.

New Research

Cocaine Is Destroying Forests in Central America

Once-forested lands are being used in money laundering operations

Behold T. Rex the ant

New Research

T. Rex Ants Found Alive for the First Time

It is not nearly as formidable as its namesake

The 3D printed ovaries

New Research

Mice With 3D-Printed Ovaries Successfully Give Birth

The gelatin-scaffold ovary could one day help restore endocrine function in young cancer patients and treat infertility

A posthumous engraving of Maria Agnesi from 1836.

The Witch of Agnesi

A mistranslation led to the unusual name of this mathematical concept

New Research

Glue Made of Mussel Slime Could Prevent Scarring

The glue, infused with a version of the protein decorin, healed wounds in rats, giving them skin with hair follicles and oil glands instead of scar tissue

Page 366 of 545