Sustainability at the Smithsonian

Candid photo of Elena Terry smiling holding a white dish full of colorful beans, peppers, and corn tilted away from her.

Smithsonian American Women's History Museum

How Chef Elena Terry Revisited Heritage Seeds to Cultivate Hope

20170609-113RP.jpg

National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Ten Fascinating Facts About the Arapaima, the Largest Freshwater Fish in South America

A clear blue river winds through a reedy wetland, reflecting the clouds overhead. A wooden boardwalk with rails overlooks the river on the right.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Hot, Fresh & Flooded: These Wetlands Spew Out the Most Methane

Imama

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Between Pasture and Forest: The Crusade to Protect the Jaguar in Panama

Head and shoulders photo of Denise Breitburg, a woman with glasses and shoulder-length gray hair, with forested mountains in the background.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Wait, the Ocean Is Losing Oxygen? Q&A With Denise Breitburg

A7S09160.jpg

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Centering Relationships Between People and Place: A Critical Step Towards Improving Science's Contributions to Society

IMG_6380.jpg

National Museum of the American Indian

Connecting Community and Collections

Sustainability News From Smithsonian Magazine

The plant-based egg substitutes available today are less than perfect. Food scientists are working hard to improve them — and, maybe, make them better tasting and more nutritious than the real thing.

INNOVATION

Scientists Are Trying to Crack the Recipe for the Perfect Plant-Based Eggs

In Ecuador, a glass frog from a new species identified in 2022, Hyalinobatrachium nouns, hangs from the underside of a leaf, seen from below.

SCIENCE

The Andes’ Translucent Glass Frogs Need to Be Seen to Be Saved

A selection of the bounty from Isabella Dalla Ragione’s orchard, including apples, pears, plums, almonds, hazelnuts and grapes.

ARTS & CULTURE

Meet the Italian 'Fruit Detective' Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table

Thirty-six homes—the world’s last topped with a traditional eelgrass roof—all sit here on Laeso.

INNOVATION

Could Eelgrass Be the Next Big Bio-Based Building Material?

A rendering of the 3D-printed rounded hotel rooms

SMART NEWS

Workers Just Started Building the World's First 3D-Printed Hotel in the Texas Desert

Climate Change News

New England Aquarium staff treat a cold-stunned sea turtle.

SMART NEWS

Hundreds of Sea Turtles With Hypothermia Are Washing Up in Cape Cod, Cold-Stunned as Temperatures Drop

Arctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate.

SMART NEWS

The Arctic Could Have Its First 'Ice-Free' Day by as Early as 2027

Grazing cows produce more methane than feedlot cows because of the fiber content of the grass they consume.

SMART NEWS

Eating Seaweed Could Make Cows Less Gassy, Slashing Methane Emissions From Grazing by Nearly 40 Percent

Ships float in Aasiaat’s harbor.

SCIENCE

As Greenland’s Ice Sheet Melts, an Island Town Rises

A NASA scientist's picture out the window of a plane over Greenland, combined with the new radar map of Camp Century, at the bottom.

SMART NEWS

NASA Radar Detects Abandoned Site of Secret Cold War Project in Greenland—a 'City Under the Ice'

The yellow powder is a type of compound known as a “covalent organic framework,” or COF.

SMART NEWS

This New, Yellow Powder Quickly Pulls Carbon Dioxide From the Air, and Researchers Say 'There's Nothing Like It'

A diver swims alongside the world’s largest coral colony, located in the Solomon Islands.

SMART NEWS

See Staggering Photos of the World's Largest Coral, Newly Discovered by Scientists in the Pacific Ocean