Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Biology

None

Catfish Are Teaching Themselves to Catch Pigeons

In southwestern France, catfish are throwing themselves on the shore to catch pigeons

None

Nine Gift Ideas For the Science-Loving Art Enthusiast on Your List

Be it a book, movie, calendar or game, these picks are perfect for the hardest-to-shop-for people on your list

None

Birds Harness the Deadly Power of Nicotine to Kill Parasites

And city birds are stuffing their nests with cigarette butts to poison potential parasites

None

Sometimes, Being the Best Dad You Can Be Gets You a Giant Metal Hook in the Face

Fishing selectively targets the best largemouth bass dads

None

Urbanization Is Supersizing Spiders

City-dwelling spiders are bigger than their country-living brethren

Panama is the ideal site for the BioMuseo (Museum of Biodiversity), due to open next summer.

Frank Gehry’s BioMuseo, New Science Museum in Panama

Over 43,000 square feet of exhibit space will tell the story of the isthmus and the diverse species who live there

None

Lobsters Have Age-Revealing Rings, Just Like Trees

Scientists have figured out a way to determine the age of your lobster

None

Sometimes Blue Whales Do Barrel Rolls While They Eat

If you were to attach yourself to a Blue Whale, this is what you would see

None

The Great Lakes Have More Garbage Per Square Inch Than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Huge concentrations of small plastic pellets were found in the Great Lakes

Frogfish Might Look Like Sponges, But They’re Super Fast

Frogfish are really good at blending in with their environment - particularly with the sponges that they live on. But they’re also crazy fast hunters

None

Why Do We Hiccup? And Other Scientific Mysteries—Seen Through the Eyes of Artists

In a new book, 75 artists illustrate questions scientists haven’t fully answered yet

Bacteria reside amongst the icy brine from Lake Vida.

Bacterial Life Abounds in Antarctic Lake, Cut Off From the World for 2,800 Years

From a frozen Antarctic lake, researchers pulled samples teeming with bacteria

None

Citizen Science Projects Are Actually Helpful to Science

How helpful can citizen scientists really be? A new review study says: very helpful

None

Who’s Murdering And Mutilating These Dolphins?

Along the southern coast of the United States a mystery is deepening: mutilated dolphins keep washing up on the beach, and no one knows where they’re coming from

None

You Can’t Blow Somebody’s Brain Up With Sound

The sounds of nails on a chalkboard, the sound of someone vomiting, the sound of a baby screaming - all pretty unpleasant sounds. But not so unpleasant that you might, say, die

None

We Can Only Process Thirty Smells at a Time

If we had the technology, I would be blowing smells at you right now. But if I were to try and combine more than thirty, you wouldn’t be able to tell the smells apart

Invasive brown and black rats feed on the eggs of the Galapagos land iguana.

Ecuador Set To Poison Millions of Rats on Galapagos Islands

Twenty-two tons of tiny blue poison pellets will be used to try to wipe out invasive rats

None

The Physics of Flocking

There are a few things that people can watch forever - fire, water, and herds of animals moving

None

What Will Convince People That Genetically Modified Foods Are Okay?

In California, a loss for labeling GM foods has both sides wondering when people wil stop shouting and start thinking

Have Bedbugs Been Vanquished At Last?

Bedbugs have terrorized cities long enough, and now a human drug might stop them in their tracks

Page 95 of 105