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Environment

The hole in the grate below the pressure vessel in reactor 2, possibly caused by melted nuclear material

Trending Today

Scientists Measure Highest Radiation Levels Yet Inside Fukushima’s Damaged Reactors

The latest measurements are over seven times the previously measured high—enough to fry a robot in two hours

New Research

Science Is Falling Woefully Behind in Testing New Chemicals

Over 10 million new chemicals are synthesized each year, but with little funding science can’t keep up

Rachel Carson in 1962.

Rachel Carson Wrote Silent Spring (Partly) Because of the Author of Stuart Little

The book was a turning point for the environmental movement

Deforestation threatens natural world heritage sites.

New Research

Humans Threaten Over 100 Precious Natural Heritage Sites

Forest loss and humans’ footprint are endangering the very sites humans want to preserve

An illustration of Australia's past megafauna.

New Research

Changing Climate, Not Humans, Killed Australia’s Massive Mammals

But that mass extinction could help us predict what today’s human-wrought climate change may bring

The Javan myna is critically endangered in its natural Indonesian habitat, but exploding populations in Singapore have made it a nuisance there.

New Research

How Escaped Exotic Pet Birds Could Help Save Threatened Species

Though usually seen as a threat to local populations, these escapees could also help in the recovery of creatures in trouble

Spent shell casings pile up as a soldier fires his weapon during a U.S. Army weapons qualification.

Cool Finds

Department of Defense Calls for Biodegradable, Seed-Planting Ammo

These seed bombs could make Army training easier on the environment

Ocean Legacy has a task not even Sisyphean would envy: picking up, sorting and recycling the vast amount of plastic that ends up on our shores.

Future of Conservation

Turning Ocean Garbage Into Gold

From the common plastic water bottle to the shoes of tsunami victims, one recycling organization tries to find a home for all ocean refuse

Leah Desrochers, a former employee of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, holds a stranded Kemp's ridley sea turtle.

Why Are Endangered Sea Turtles Showing Up Cold and Seemingly Lifeless on Northeastern Shores?

In the past three decades, scientists have confronted a worsening epidemic of stranded Kemp’s ridley sea turtles

In Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, America's most beloved native insect faces threats from illegal loggers and avocado growers.

New Research

The Best Way to Protect the World’s Forests? Keep People in Them

Instead of kicking indigenous groups out, let them continue to manage these lands effectively, argues a new report

This year's science left us speechless and maybe a tiny bit more knowledgeable.

The Top 9 Baffling, Humbling, Mind-Blowing Science Stories of 2016

From gravity’s song to the evolutionary secrets of dogs, this year unlocked a treasure trove of scientific discovery

New Research

France Is Paving More Than 600 Miles of Road With Solar Panels

In five years, France hopes the panels will supply power to 5 million people

A bonfire of elephant ivory burns in Kenya's Nairobi National Park in July 1989.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Wondering What a Bonfire Does to Your Lungs? We Answer Your Burning Questions

Setting large piles of stuff aflame can have significant environmental and human health impacts

Swabbing the toads to sample their microbiomes.

Meet the Colorful New Weapon Scientists Are Using to Save Toads From a Devastating Fungus

Researchers are supplementing the amphibians’ natural microbiomes with a fluorescent fungus-fighter they’ve dubbed “Purple Rain”

Electronic waste, shown here, is just part of the "technosphere," which comprises the totality of the stuff humans produce.

Age of Humans

Humans Have Bogged Down the Earth with 30 Trillion Metric Tons of Stuff, Study Finds

The authors say this is more proof that we are living in an Age of Humans—but not all scientists agree

"Dude, I thought he said he'd be here at 4."

New Research

How Cheetahs “Spot” Each Other

Cheetah meetups: In a novel study, researchers show that roaming cheetahs likely use their noses to seek each other out after weeks apart

Canada

The Town That Polar Bears Built

Get to know the four-legged residents of Churchill, Canada

A California Startup Is Using Ashes to Protect Forests

Better Place Forests is accepting reservations from those who wish to have their remains scattered in a redwood forest in northern California

A sinkhole recently discovered in northwestern China.

Cool Finds

Massive Cluster of Sinkholes Found Deep in China’s Mountainous Northwest

The network of pockmarks is packed with old-growth forests and giant flying squirrels

With its peace accords up in the air, the Colombia's diverse ecosystems face an uncertain future. Shown here: the valley of Cocora near Salento, Colombia.

How Colombia’s Failed Peace Treaty Could Wreak Havoc on Its Diversity-Rich Ecosystems

A potential influx of legal and illegal mining leaves the country’s megadiverse landscapes—and the communities who depend on them—in jeopardy

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