Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Discoveries

Some of the corpses looked newly dead but have actually been preserved in ice for more than 800 years.

New Research

Scientist Unearths a Colony of Mummified Penguins in Antarctica

Melting ice revealed an ancient colony that has never before been recorded

Newly discovered fossils indicate the Asio ecuadoriensis owl hunted and ate various smaller species of owl.

This Giant Prehistoric Owl Was an Actual Cannibal

Fossils found in the Ecuadorian Andes suggest the creature was a formidable predator

Sperm swimming illusion when seen from above. The sperm tails seems to move symmetrically from one side to another. This view on how sperm moves was established since first observed by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1677, more than three centuries ago.

Researchers Discover How Human Sperm Really Swim

A new 3-D microscopy study overturns hundreds of years of reproductive science

An adult male Hippocampus nalu will grow to a maximum of just 2 centimeters long.

Newly Discovered Pygmy Seahorse Species Is the Size of a Fingernail

This tiny creature is the first of its kind discovered near the continent of Africa

Cracked-open and burnt fragments of crab pincers, found in the cave of Figueira Brava.

Neanderthals Really Liked Seafood

A rare cache of aquatic animal remains suggests that like early humans, Neanderthals were exploiting marine resources

Archaeologists excavated the site ahead of construction of a new health center.

Cool Finds

Remnants of 13th-Century Town Walls Unearthed in Wales

Caernarfon, where the discovery was made, was key to Edward I’s conquest of the Welsh

Icebergs breaking off of Pine Island Glacier into Pine Island Bay, where researchers found an uncharted island now named Sif.

Melting Glaciers Reveal a New Island in Antarctica

Earlier this month, Antarctica experienced its third major melt event of the summer, including record high temperatures

The cabin is believed to date to the 1700s.

Cool Finds

18th-Century Log Cabin Discovered Beneath Condemned Pennsylvania Bar

The structure can be saved, experts say, but whether it can stay in the local community remains unclear

Some of the 824 bones uncovered at a site in Mexico

Two Traps Where Woolly Mammoths Were Driven to Their Deaths Found in Mexico

The discovery may offer rare evidence that humans were actively hunting the great creatures

Sketches of the salamanders.

New Giant Salamander Species Is the World’s Largest Amphibian

A new study has revealed that Chinese giant salamander consists not of one species, but three

Found: A Hub Where Humpback Whales Share Their Songs

A new study has found that whales from diverse locations gather at the Kermadec Islands, where they seem to transmit unique ditties

The frame of the underwater observatory responsible for the power supply during deployment.

A Huge Underwater Observatory Has Vanished Without a Trace

The instrument, located off Germany’s Baltic coast, cost more than $330,000. But its data was ‘priceless,’ one expert said

Europe's cave bear population started crashing around 40,000 years ago—roughly the time period when modern humans arrived on the continent

Ice Age Humans Likely Played Major Role in Cave Bears’ Extinction

Researchers have long debated whether human activity or climate change precipitated the species’ demise

None

A New Species of Leech Is Discovered Near Washington, D.C.

Smithsonian researcher describes a previously unknown species of olive-green bloodsucker that has three jaws with up to 59 teeth

Reconstruction of the giant parrot Heracles, with small New Zealand wrens for scale.

This Chonky Ancient Bird Is the World’s Largest Known Parrot

Discovered in New Zealand, the bird has been dubbed ‘Squawkzilla’

Egon Schiele, Reclining Nude Girl (around 1918)

Drawing Found in Thrift Store Turns Out to Be an Original Egon Schiele

The work, on display as part of an exhibit at Galerie St. Etienne, is expected to sell for between $100,000 to $200,000

The newly identified American Pocket Shark was first discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

This New Shark Species Looks Like a Tiny Sperm Whale

The 5.5-inch-long Mollisquama mississippiensis—one of only two pocket shark specimens known to science—also glows in the dark

Future of Space Exploration

Astronomers Make Massive Discovery on the Far Side of the Moon

The heavy core of a giant asteroid may be buried beneath the moon’s South Pole-Aitken basin

Another newly described species, "Litoria vivissimia," has a similarly pointed nose

New Research

Meet the Newly Described Long-Nosed Pinocchio Frog

The tree frog’s nose alternately sticks out straight or droops downward—much like a certain fictional wooden puppet

Claude Monet [1840-1926], Wisteria, 1917-1920

Hidden Water Lily Found Beneath Monet Painting

The artist may have covered up the artwork while experimenting with a new floral subject: wisteria

Page 13 of 25