Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Biology

None

Raccoons Are Getting Brain Cancer From a Previously Unknown Virus

A new cancer-causing virus is affecting U.S. raccoons

None

Why Do Flowers Smell Good?

Humans have loved flowers for millennia, for both their looks and their scents

None

Two Americans Charged in Narwhal-Tusk Smuggling Ring Bust

For the past decade, these two men have allegedly been smuggling narwhal tusks

Hungover? There’s a Cure for That No Matter Where You Live

There are some things that are universal—trade, money, shelter, hangovers

Lichens Do Not Age

One Harvard scientist hopes to find clues to immortality by studying lichens, the frilly, crusty green growths that appear on tombstones and old trees

A 15th-century French calendar depicts the natural cycle of day and night.

Your Alarm Clock May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Switching up your sleep schedule is wreaking havoc on your body’s natural rhythm

Seared Atlantic salmon with sturgeon caviar, braised leeks and pureed potato.

Genetically Modified Salmon Should Be Headed to a Plate Near You

Designed to bulk up twice as fast as a regular fish, Frankenfish should get FDA approval soon

This box turtle is very disappointed in your flagrant disregard for turtlekind.

It’s Not Safe for Turtles to Cross the Road, Humans Make Sure of That

Some motorists go out of their way to hit turtles that are trying to cross the road

None

Seven Must-See Art-Meets-Science Exhibitions in 2013

Preview some of the top-notch shows—on anatomy, bioluminescence, water tanks and more—slated for the next year

Barrels of fuel encased in snow at the Lake Ellsworth drilling site.

Antarctica’s Subglacial Lake Ellsworth Will Keep Its Secrets For Now

After a decade of planning, and two weeks in the field, the Lake Ellsworth drilling program was cancelled for the year

None

Why Do Placebos Work?

Researchers are trying to figure out just why the placebo effect works, and when doctors should use it

New research suggests that most Arctic mammals may actually benefit from climate change. Arctic specialists like the Arctic fox, however, may not do quite so well.

Most Arctic Animals Should Deal With Climate Change Just Fine

New research suggests that most Arctic mammals will actually be helped, not hurt, by climate change

None

Slice of Life: Artistic Cross Sections of the Human Body

Artist Lisa Nilsson creates elaborate anatomical illustrations from thin strips of paper

How Will Life on Earth Survive the Actual Apocalypse?

What will life be like for the last holdouts during the actual end of the world?

Even NASA Doesn’t Know Exactly What Causes Motion Sickness (But There Is a Way to Avoid It)

Entire Microbe Communities Live Up in the Clouds

Thousands of feet above your head, microbes are living—and reproducing—in the tiny drops of water that make up clouds

Images A, C, E and G show the new species E. bazinga, the others the E. ignita.

A Brand New Bee Was Just Named After Sheldon From ‘The Big Bang Theory’

Andre Nemesio and his team just named a brand new orchid bee Euglossa bazinga, after the catch phrase used by Sheldon Cooper

Hunt for African Wildlife From Your Computer

A new citizen science project lets you in to the beautiful world of Serengeti National Park

A reef ecosystem grows on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmentalists Want To Keep Oil Platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Wait, What?

Oil companies want to pull their rigs from the Gulf, but environmentalists are saying “no”

Another medicinal tattoo of the Kayan

Can Tattoos Be Medicinal?

In his travels around the world, anthropologist Lars Krutak has seen many tribal tattoos, including some applied to relieve specific ailments

Page 94 of 105