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Science / Wildlife

Fishing net at Alaska’s Gore Point

Art Meets Science

Artists Join Scientists on an Expedition to Collect Marine Debris

Now, they are creating beautiful works from the trash they gathered on the 450-nautical-mile journey in the Gulf of Alaska

New research shows that plastic particles can absorb pollution and carry it into fish, leading to biomagnification as it moves up the food chain to humans.

How Plastic Pollution Can Carry Flame Retardants Into Your Sushi

Research shows that plastic particles can absorb pollution from water, get eaten by fish and carry the toxins up the food chain

A Darwin’s frog daddy, of the southernly species.

One of Nature’s Most Extreme Dads, the Darwin’s Frog, Is Going Extinct

The frog’s northern species is likely gone forever and a southern variety seems doomed to follow suit thanks to the amphibian chytrid fungus

Six tons of ivory was destroyed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workers.

Why is the U.S. Government Crushing Six Tons of Valuable Ivory?

Rather than sell the luxury item, the Fish and Wildlife Service thinks that they’ve found a new tactic to save elephants

A friendly garter snake

Mating Snakes Engage in a Literal Battle of the Sexes

Male and female red-sided garter snakes have antagonistic genitals, evolved to further the interests of their respective gender

CT scans (left) and photos (right) of the skull

This Fossil Skull Unearthed in Tibet Is the Oldest Big Cat Ever Found

The fossil belongs to a newly discovered species called Panthera blytheae and is between four and five million years old

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What Is a Species? Insight From Dolphins and Humans

More than 70 definitions exist for what makes a species—each is applied to a different group of organisms & uses different methods for determining a label

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

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