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Science / Wildlife

Lady Gaga and a gametophyte of one of the fern species named after her.

Why Do We Keep Naming New Species After Characters in Pop Culture?

Why are ferns named after Lady Gaga and microbes named after sci-fi monsters?

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Richard Kurin on the Importance of Pandas

What fMRI Can Tell Us About the Thoughts and Minds of Dogs

One neuroscientist is peering into the canine brain, and says he’s found evidence that dogs may feel love

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The Science Behind Why Pandas Are So Damn Cute

There’s a reason why millions adore these furry exemplars of China’s “soft power”

Author David Sibley writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: As a young man John James Audubon was obsessed with birds, and he had a vision for a completely different kind of book. He would paint birds as he saw them in the wild "alive and moving," and paint every species actual size. He travelled the U.S Frontier on foot and horseback seeking birds of every species known to science. He wrote of his time in Kentucky, around 1810, "I shot, I drew, I looked on nature only; my days were happy beyond human conception, and beyond this I really cared not." As Jonathan Rosen points out in The Life of the Skies, these paintings promoted a romantic vision of the wilderness of the New World, to be viewed by people who would never see these birds in real life. Perhaps that is one reason Audubon found more success in England than in the young United States, and why his work still holds its appeal today, as the wilderness he knew and loved recedes further into the past. Read more of Sibley's essay.

How James Audubon Captured the Romance of the New World

An amateur naturalist’s unparalleled artworks still inspire conservationists and collectors alike

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Love These Stories? Give 11 Issues of Smithsonian This Holiday for Only $12

Save 81% off the cover price

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Watch a Tick Burrowing Into Skin in Microscopic Detail

Their highly specialized biting technique allows ticks to pierce skin with tiny harpoons and suck blood for days at a time

Horseshoe crab

Animal Specimens, From Fish to Birds to Mammals, Get Inked

Inspired by Japanese fish rubbings, two University of Texas biologists make spectacular prints of a variety of species at different stages of decay

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher uses a powerful scanning electron microscope to capture all of a bee’s microscopic structures in stunning detail. Above: a bee’s antennae sockets, magnified 43 times.

What Does A Bee Look Like When It’s Magnified 3000 Times?

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher uses a powerful microscope to capture all of a bee’s microscopic structures and textures in stunning detail

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This Mouse Has Evolved An Immunity to Toxic Scorpion Venom

The bark scorpion’s sting can be deadly—but one of its predators, the grasshopper mouse, is impervious to both the pain and paralyzing effects of its venom

Giraffes hanging out on the savannah

Weather Prevents Different Giraffe Species From Interbreeding

In zoos, different giraffe species will readily mate, but if the species cross paths in Kenya, their rain-driven mating cycles won’t be in sync

New research shows that eucalyptus trees can absorb gold particles in their roots and transport them up to their leaves, a finding that could be a boon for mining companies.

Gold Particles in Eucalyptus Trees Can Reveal Deposits Deep Underground

The plants can absorb gold particles in their roots and transport them up to their leaves—a finding that could be a boon for mining companies

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Why We Missed America’s National Treasures During the Shutdown

The Smithsonian’s Richard Kurin reflects on the recent shutdown and the icons that have shaped American history

The panda cam is back, meaning you can once again watch the baby panda to your heart’s content.

The Panda Cam is Back

After a 16-day hiatus, the Smithsonian National Zoo panda cam is back on the air

A new study shows that chimps make different warning calls based on the presence of other chimps, and keep sounding the alarm until their friends are safe.

Chimpanzees Intentionally Warn Their Friends About Danger

A new study shows that the apes make specific warning calls when near other chimps, and they keep sounding the alarm until their friends are safe

East face of the Smithsonian Castle on July 4, 2010

Smithsonian Museums and the Panda Cam are Back in Business Today

After the 16-day government shutdown, visitors can once again visit the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo relaunches the panda cam

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The Science of Winning Leaps at the Calaveras County Frog Jumping Competition

Biologists visited the world-famous frog jubilee to study the amphibians’ record-breaking jumps and the frog jockeys’ expert techniques

You might be curious, is this something macroscopic or microscopic? It’s actually the wing of a green darner dragonfly, as seen through a scanning electron microscope.

Macro or Micro? Test Your Sense of Scale

A geographer and a biologist at Salem State University team up to curate a new exhibition, featuring confounding views from both satellites and microscopes

By 2100, the world’s oceans may be radically different habitats than they are today.

No Good News for Oceans As Climate Changes

From the ocean surface to the seafloor, climate change is set to ravage marine environments, leaving practically no part of the sea untouched by 2100

Testing shows that a 46 million-year-old fossilized mosquito, found in Montana, contains the blood of an unknown ancient creature.

A Fossilized Blood-Engorged Mosquito Is Found For the First Time Ever

Testing shows that a 46 million-year-old fossilized mosquito, found by amateur fossil hunters in Montana, contains the blood of an unknown ancient creature

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