Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science / Technology & Space

Far from light and plunged into months-long darkness, Antarctica's South Pole Telescope is one of the best places on Earth for observing the universe.

Dark Energy: The Biggest Mystery in the Universe

At the South Pole, astronomers try to unravel a force greater than gravity that will determine the fate of the cosmos

Ada Lovelace

Who Was Ada Lovelace?

As we celebrate our favorite women in tech today, take a look back at the woman who wrote the first computer program

None

Budding Aerospace Engineer Wins Intel Science Competition

None

Titanic vs. Lusitania: Who Survived and Why?

The tragic voyages provided several economists with an an opportunity to compare how people behave under extreme conditions

None

Science on my Phone

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine

The NASA mission, called Stardust, brought back the only material—other than moon rocks—taken directly from a extraterrestrial body.

The Secrets Within Cosmic Dust

Dust captured by a spacecraft from a comet’s tail holds clues to the origin of the solar system

None

World’s 10 Fastest Supercomputers

None

Scientists Set Phasers to Stun

None

Sci-fi Contact Lenses Get Closer to Reality

The robotic Cassini spacecraft which is now orbiting Saturn looked back toward the eclipsed Sun and saw a view unlike any other.

Fantastic Photos of our Solar System

In the past decade, extraordinary space missions have found water on Mars, magnetic storms on Mercury and volcanoes on the moons of Saturn

None

Fun with Science Games

None

An Honor and a Party for Stephen Hawking

Galileo was the first to discover the moons of Jupiter.

Galileo’s Revolutionary Vision Helped Usher In Modern Astronomy

The Italian scientist turned his telescope toward the stars and changed our view of the universe

None

Five Funny Science Sites on the Web

None

Forensic Astronomer Tackles Three More Munch Paintings

None

Picture of the Week—Fireworks

Conventional wisdom held that only a huge stretch of DNA could function as a gene. The discovery of an overlooked genetic entity upends that view. Croce "was stunned."

High Hopes for a New Kind of Gene

Scientists believe that microRNA may lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer

The ocean's boundless energy (von Jouanne near Oregon's Otter Rock Beach) could furnish up to 6.5 percent of U.S. electricity.

Catching a Wave, Powering an Electrical Grid?

Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea

Building a robot that humans can love is pretty ambitious. But Javier Movellan (in his San Diego lab with RUBI) says he would like to develop a robot that loves humans.

Robot Babies

Can scientists build a machine that learns as it goes and plays well with others?

Page 23 of 28