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Anthropocene

The marbled salamander is increasing its distribution and range in response to warming winter temperatures.

Anthropocene

Climate Change Will Accelerate Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction

The pace at which species disappear is picking up as temperatures rise, and things are looking especially troubling in the tropics

On October 7, 2014, protestors blocking the road, halted a groundbreaking ceremony for the Thirty Meter Telescope.

The Heart of the Hawaiian Peoples’ Arguments Against the Telescope on Mauna Kea

Native Hawaiians are not protesting science, but instead are seeking respect for sacred places, and our planet

Single-use cigarette lighters, collected by Mandy Barker, represent our transition to a consumerist, throw-away society.

Art Meets Science

This Artist Transforms Beach Trash Into Stunning, Majestic Images

Mandy Barker didn’t have spend too much time on the shores to collect enough debris for her masterpieces

A worker rescues a severely oiled brown pelican along the Louisiana shore in June 2010.

Anthropocene

The Gulf Oil Spill Isn’t Really Over, Even Five Years Later

Two Louisiana scientists reflect on the event and how its lingering effects are continuing to change the Gulf Coast

Anthropocene

Five Things The Gulf Oil Spill Has Taught Us About the Ocean

While researching the spill, scientists tracked deep-sea sharks, found new mud dragons, and discovered a type of ocean current

The oceans are teeming with tetrapods—“four-legged” birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians—that have repeatedly transitioned from the land to the sea, adapting their legs into fins.

Take a Deep Dive Into The Reasons Land Animals Moved to the Seas

Synthesizing decades of discoveries, scientists have revealed links between changing environments and animal movements

This pyramid in Lima, Peru was built by the Wari civilization, who pre-dated the Incas. Now Lima is proposing using another Wari innovation, a series of waterways called 'amunas,' to stem the city's ongoing water crisis.

Cool Finds

Ancient Tech Could Help Solve Lima’s Water Crisis

Turns out Peru’s Wari people were excellent urban planners…and their 1,500-year-old ‘amunas’ could soon bring water to Lima

New Research

Ocean Acidification Could Have Driven Earth’s Biggest Mass Extinction

Study shows the world’s oceans were dangerously acidic during the Permian Extinction Event

Scientists looked for the black-and-white colubus monkey in protected areas across the Ivory Coast but only found one population of the animals still living in a sacred grove.

Anthropocene

Illegal Cocoa Farms Are Driving Out Primates In Ivory Coast

Thirteen national parks and reserves have lost all their primates as people move in to protected regions to farm cacao

A Malaysian boy and girl holding candles during the 60 minute Earth Hour 2012 celebration in Kuala Lumpur, March 31, 2012.

Anthropocene

What Climate Change Will Mean for the People of Oceania

On many maps the ocean is colored a uniform, solid blue. But for those who live off the waters, the sea is places, roads, highways

A type of coral trout called the leopard trout (Plectropomus leopardus) swims on the Great Barrier Reef.

Anthropocene

Fishing Bans Create a Glimmer of Hope on the Great Barrier Reef

No-take reserves have helped commercially important species bounce back, but the reef still faces some serious threats

The highest summit of the Jade Dragon (Yulong Xueshan) from what in 1985 was close to the center of the old town of Lijiang, China.

Anthropocene

Why the World Needs to Go to Great Heights to Save Mountain Habitats

After 30 years working in mountain regions, Jack Ives argues that the world’s elevated habitats are essential

National Museum of Natural History.

Anthropocene

Watch Highlights From the Smithsonian’s “Age of Humans” Symposium

Experts on the science, economics and innovations of climate change spoke at this one-day event in Washington, D.C.

Good reads about our home planet.

Anthropocene

Five Must-Read Books About Earth

Geologist Robert M. Hazen selects works spanning genres that offer insights into our planet’s history and inner workings

Replicas of English sailing ships on the James River — similar ships would have brought English colonists to Jamestown in 1607

New Research

Did the Age of Humans Begin in 1610?

Debate over when the Anthropocene began is starting to narrow in on a few dates — 1610, when the Old World met the New, is one promising candidate

According to a statement released last year, the Smithsonian believes that humans are a cause of climate change.

Climate Change Researcher Received Funds From Fossil Fuel Industry

A Smithsonian-connected scientist is accused of failing to properly disclose his backers

The Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado was abandoned hundreds of years ago, probably because of a severe drought. Scientists now predict that the region could experience an even worse megadrought in the latter half of the 21st century.

Anthropocene

The Western U.S. Could Soon Face the Worst Megadrought in a Millennium

Climate models predict that the region will be drier than the droughts that likely caused ancient Native Americans to abandon their pueblo cities

The abandoned city of Machu Picchu is one legacy of the Spanish conquest of the Incas. Traces of air pollution in a Peruvian ice cap are another.

Anthropocene

Spanish Conquest of the Incas Caused Air Pollution to Spike

A sample of Peruvian ice has revealed a surge in pollution linked to mining that wasn’t exceeded until the Industrial Revolution

To reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the world would need to leave some 80 percent of current coal reserves in the ground, according to a new study.

Anthropocene

To Meet Global Warming Targets, Leave Fuels In the Ground

Hefty percentages of fossil fuels need to remain untapped to curtail the rising global temperature

The Claudio Aqueduct was built in the 1st century along the Appian Way in Rome.

Anthropocene

Ancient Roman Water Networks Made the Empire Vulnerable

A model of ancient water movement shows how trade practices might affect today’s urban centers as the climate changes

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