Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

New Research

You Have Carbon Monoxide in Your Blood—But Not As Much As an Elephant Seal Does

Elephant seals have so much carbon monoxide in their blood, it’s as if they’re smoking 40 cigarettes a day

Ask Smithsonian 2017

How Do We Know the Earth Is 4.6 Billion Years Old?

We know the Earth is old. But how do we know its age?

New Research

Fewer Honeybees Died Last Year, But Not Enough to Save Them

If losses continue at the same rate, honey bees in the U.S. won’t survive on the long term

Hurricane Felix off Grand Cayman Island, September 3, 2007.

New Research

The Tropics are Moving, And They’re Bringing Their Cyclones With Them

Over the past 30 years hurricanes have been hitting their peak intensities nearer to the poles

Cool Finds

Fujitsu is Growing the Most Technologically Advanced Lettuce Ever

This gives a whole new meaning to factory farm

Trending Today

America Maybe Depends a Little Too Much on Russia to Get to Space

The situation in Ukraine is affecting the International Space Station

New Research

Even Tiny Amounts of Radioactive Food Made Caterpillars Become Abnormal Butterflies

Even a tiny amount of radioactive food can turn caterpillars into mutated butterflies

Waves breaking on a coral reef in Hawaii.

New Research

Coral Reefs Absorb 97 Percent of the Energy From Waves Headed Toward Shore

This finding applies to reefs around the world

Yardangs on Mars

Cool Finds

What in the World (Or Off of It) Is a Yardang?

They’re on Mars, they’re beautiful and they have nothing to do with pirates

The sperm cells were found in Riversleigh, a remote spot in northwestern Australia that was once a teeming rainforest.

New Research

Giant Sperm Cells Belonging to 17 Million Year Old Shrimp Are the Oldest Ever Found

The sperm were longer than the male shrimp’s entire body

Cool Finds

Small, Quiet Drones Let Conservationists Peek Inside Bird’s Nests

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is using remote-controlled drones to monitor nests of endangered species

The new Mars rover, scheduled for 2020, is to be built on roughly the same platform as the Curiosity rover.

Cool Finds

NASA’s Going to Mars in 2020 And Wants to Bring Back Martian Rocks

The next NASA Mars rover, scheduled for 2020, may be the first step in a sample return mission

This is one of the oldest living trees in the world

Cool Finds

Is This the Oldest Living Tree?

This Norway Spruce in Sweden has roots that are over 9,000 years old

A war disbled man, who lost both of his arms in World War I, learns to hold knife and fork with his prostheses.

Trending Today

The “Star Wars” Prosthetic Arm Was Approved for Sale in the U.S.

The advanced prosthetic reads muscle contractions and turns them into motion

New Research

When We’re Threatened, We Try to Show What Good People We Are

Outside observers, however, tend to see through flimsy claims of innocence

Cool Finds

In an Emergency, We Act Like Ants

Like many animals, we tend to clump together when danger presents itself

Thermal image of window mounted AC units in an apartment building.

New Research

This Is How Much Hotter Nights in Phoenix Are Because of A/C

Waste heat from air conditioners causes a significant amount of warming outside

New Research

Hurricanes Katrina And Rita Caused At Least 117 Uncounted Deaths, of Stillborn Babies

Higher rates of stillbirths overlapped with the most devastated areas in the aftermath of those 2005 natural disasters

New Research

One More Way Cities Might Mess With Birds—By Throwing Radio Waves at Them

Radio waves disrupt birds’ migratory patterns, but birds may have a natural work-around

Cool Finds

To Save the Apples We Love Today, We Need to Save Their Ancient Ancestors

Apples aren’t set to cope with our changing world. To help them, first we’ll need to protect the past

Page 476 of 538