Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Charles Darwin

Showy traits, like the large antlers of these bull moose, can be detrimental to an animal's health.

New Research

Go Big or Go Generic: How Sexual Selection Is Like Advertising

When it comes to attracting mates, it pays to either go all out—or not try at all

The National Zoo's resident cassowary in 2010.

Behind the Scenes at the National Zoo With the World’s Most Dangerous Bird

The zoo’s cassowary “still has that mysterious aura about her—that prehistoric, dinosaur-walking-through-the-rainforest-quality.”

Sully Vent in the Main Endeavour Vent Field in the northeast Pacific, similar to the environment LUCA would have lived

New Research

Behold LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor of Life on Earth

New discoveries suggest life likely descends from the inhospitable environment of deep sea vents

Front and back of the letter written by Charles Darwin to Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden on May 2, 1875

A Letter Written by Charles Darwin, Twice Stolen, Returns to the Smithsonian

After being snatched by an intern in the mid 1970s, the missive written by the scientist returns to Washington

The Ichthyornis is a toothed bird that links birds with reptiles.

The “Sistine Chapel of Evolution” Is in New Haven, Connecticut

Charles Darwin never visited the Yale museum, but you can, and see for yourself the specimens that he praised as the best evidence for his theory

A female medium ground finch, one of at least 14 species of Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

Age of Humans

Charles Darwin’s Famous Finches Could Be Extinct in Half a Century

The finches on the Galapagos Islands are suffering from a parasitic fly introduced to the islands by humans

Montsechia’s origins in freshwater lakes challenge the idea that flowers evolved on land before moving into water.

These Are the Oldest Known Flowers in the World

Found in the fossil record, these plants are more than 100 million years old

Cool Finds

A Letter About Darwin’s Belief in God Just Sold for Nearly $200,000

Just 41 words long, it provides a missing link for historians who have long wondered what the naturalist thought about religion

The day Darwin climbed Patagonia’s Mount Tarn, Conrad Martens painted it from across the bay.

The Beautiful Drawings by Darwin’s Artist-in-Residence

On the famous HMS Beagle voyage, painter Conrad Martens depicted the sights along the journey

Illustration of Macrauchenia from the forthcoming book "Biggest, Fiercest, Strangest" W. Norton Publishers (in production)

New Research

Mystery Mammals’ Ancestry Was Revealed by Proteins, Not DNA

The huge rhino-like animal and trunked llama-like animal posed a mystery until now

One LEGO master is proposing this tiny version of the HMS Beagle.

Cool Finds

A Great Idea: Create an HMS Beagle in LEGO Form

Vote to turn this tiny version of a famous ship into a LEGO kit available for all to enjoy

Charles Darwin statue at London’s Natural History Museum

Cool Finds

Darwin May Have Experienced Extreme Anxiety

Many attempts have been made to diagnose Darwin’s illness, here’s a well-argued possibility

Cool Finds

You Can Now Riffle Through the Same Library Charles Darwin Used Aboard the Beagle

The digital library includes 195,000 pages of text and 5,000 illustrations

A painting by one of Darwin's children, found on the back of one of the manuscript pages of "On the Origin of Species."

Cool Finds

See the Doodles Darwin’s Children Made in His “On the Origin of Species” Manuscript

While Darwin contemplated speciation and evolution, his kids envisioned battling vegetables and tropical birds

After purchasing Down House, he and his wife continually expanded the building and their gardens.

Evotourism ®

The House Where Darwin Lived

Home to the naturalist for 40 years, the estate near London was always evolving

None

The Problem With Eureka

The son of Charles Darwin, a scientist in his own right, knows where the true secret to success lies

A freelance humorist gets a lesson on Darwinism from his daughter.

Darwin for Dads

A daughter tries to help one member of an endangered species survive

Black jaguars, like the cub on the left, have a mutation that causes them to produce more of the pigment melanin than spotted jaguars do.

Evolution in Black and White

The alternative color forms of some animals are providing new insights into how animals adapt and evolve

"Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history," Darwin (c.1880) said of a future in which his hard-won findings would be tested.

What Darwin Didn’t Know

Today’s scientists marvel that the 19th-century naturalist’s grand vision of evolution is still the key to life

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin helped shape the modern world.

How Lincoln and Darwin Shaped the Modern World

Born on the same day, Lincoln and Darwin would forever influence how people think about the modern world

Page 3 of 4