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Science

One of the Central Park coyotes trots by with the New York City skyline as a backdrop.

In a Milestone for Manhattan, a Pair of Coyotes Has Made Central Park Their Home

For six years, two photographers have carefully followed the canines and documented their secret lives

The title Jaws doesn’t quite give justice to the sharp teeth that are the real terrifying characteristic of these marine animals.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of ‘Jaws’ With 15 Shark Snapshots

The classic thriller might discourage you from getting in the water, so check out these sensational shark images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest instead

A Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba) flies from its roost.

Ten Stunning Nature Photos From the BigPicture 2025

From the beautiful to the bizarre, this annual photographic showcase shines a light on some of our planet’s most breathtaking species and places

A veery gets ready to rise into the Vermont skies, not long before setting off on an annual migration to the species’ wintering grounds in Brazil.

Scientists Are Tracking Worrying Declines in Insects—and the Birds That Feast on Them. Here’s What’s Being Done to Save Them Both

In Vermont, researchers have investigated the types of creepy, crawly bugs that their avian predators consume and may have found the answers to keeping them both alive

The view from a research aircraft that scientists use to collect data from high in Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists Are Just Beginning to Understand How Life Makes Clouds, and Their Discoveries May Drastically Improve Climate Science

Plants, plankton and sea spray all release elements that help the atmospheric blankets form

Fishing guide Tori Arnona, 23, holds a redfish caught near Buras in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

Can the Redfish, That Gulf Coast Culinary Icon, Be Brought Back From the Brink?

The Cajun cooking craze nearly wiped out the species native to Louisiana, but conservation stemmed the tide. Now the fish faces new threats

Some sebecids grew to lengths of 20 feet.

After Crocs and Lemurs Went Extinct on the Mainland, Many Survived on Islands for Millions of Years

Isolation allows creatures to thrive as their relatives perish due to the threats present on much larger landmasses

The vision is to use the gate to create extended elephant migration routes that cut across South Africa, connecting green areas with navigation corridors that bypass cities and the rehabilitated gold mine dumps that ring Johannesburg.

In South Africa, a Smart Gate Could Help Connect Elephants’ Fragmented Habitat

An unlikely quartet’s clever contraption may allow the pachyderms to make better use of their range

I have an ancestor who was in Massachusetts in 1640. What is the best way to research ships that arrived before that time? 

How Do I Research Ancestors Who Sailed to America in the 1600s? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Red-shanked doucs are adept communicators, growling with a fixed stare when they’re threatened, or squealing harshly and slapping tree branches when they’re in distress or startled.

This Majestic Monkey Has Become a Beloved Neighbor for Millions in Vietnam

For the critically endangered red-shanked douc, proximity to an urban center has had surprising benefits

A sandhill crane stands over a Canada gosling it adopted in Madison, Wisconsin. Such interspecies adoptions appear to have become more common in recent years.

These Sandhill Cranes Have Adopted a Canada Gosling, and Birders Have Flocked to Watch the Strange Family

Ornithologists and locals wonder what the future holds for this chick being raised by much taller, but still doting parents

During mating season in fall, this male hellbender wanders along the bottom of a stream in North Carolina in search of a den site. Hellbenders rely on pristine streams and well-oxygenated flowing water. As they have declined across much of their range, sights like this have become uncommon.

Why Has This North Carolina Town Embraced a Strange Salamander?

The city of Boone has put a giant mural of the eastern hellbender downtown and its residents often imbibe a local Hazy IPA named after the amphibian

Experts say those patients at the highest risk of developing severe illness should get vaccinated.

Six Questions About Covid-19 Vaccines, Answered

Recent vaccination announcements have led to some confusion. Four physicians weigh in on who should get vaccinated and when

A computer illustration details dog roundworm (Toxocara canis). Humans can pick up the parasite when coming into contact with infected soil or feces.

How Worm-Inspired Treatments Are Inching Their Way Toward the Clinic

Infection by certain wrigglers may reduce inflammation and fight obesity and diabetes. Scientists are working to turn the findings into therapies

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Journey Into a Prehistoric Cave That Trapped and Entombed Animals for Millennia

The animals that plummeted 85 feet into Wyoming’s Natural Trap Cave provide a layered history of life dating back to the Pleistocene

A flamingo peeks from behind its feathers at the North Carolina Zoo.

Engineers Are Racing to Harness the Dazzling Magic of Feathers. They Haven’t Solved the Mystery Just Yet

The natural marvels, which do everything from enabling acrobatic flight to insulating against Antarctic cold, continue to inspire new designs and technologies

A Cape sundew wraps its sticky leaves around a helpless fly.

Carnivorous Plants Have Been Trapping Animals for Millions of Years. So Why Have They Never Grown Larger?

Plants that feed on meat and animal droppings have evolved at least ten times through evolutionary history

A dormitory at the San Servolo psychiatric hospital in Venice in the early 1900s

Tens of Thousands Were Treated for a Deadly Disease While Confined to Psychiatric Hospitals on These Two Venetian Islands

In the 19th and 20th centuries, San Servolo and San Clemente housed patients suffering from pellagrous insanity, a condition caused by a vitamin deficiency

Studying foraminiferan fossils can help us understand how the climate may change in the future.

These Tiny, Beautiful Fossils Detail the History of the Ocean

Bountiful remains of foraminifera reveal how organisms responded to climate disturbances of the past

Before her rescue in 2010, the Asiatic black bear Suki had been kept in a shipping container with 18 other bears. Now, she’s known at her new sanctuary home as a bear who loves to climb up high and survey the open space.

These Asian Bears Were Cut Open for Their Bile. Here’s What’s Being Done to Rehabilitate Them

Veterinarians in Vietnam perform surgeries, prepare special diets and craft recovery routines for moon bears to give them a better life

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