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Evolution

The fossils, encased in rock and sediment, were collected from marine rocks that date to around six million years ago before the Isthmus of Panama formed and a seaway connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

New Species of Ancient Dolphin Shows How the Animals Moved From Seas to Rivers

The newly discovered fossil gives scientists a fresh glimpse into the evolution of ocean life

New Research

Putting Eyeballs on Billboards Might Help Stop Crime

The feeling of being watched makes human change their behavior, even if it comes from a poster.

"Flatties" might be more aptly nicknamed "fliers" for their ability to glide to safety should they lose their grip in tree canopies.

New Research

Gliding Spiders Found Falling From Tropical Trees

Flat-bodied spiders that live in the rainforest strike a Superman pose to take control of their free-falls

Engineers at Cambridge University created a robot that could build and improve on other robots, in an artificial form of natural selection.

New Research

Watch a Robot Evolve

It’s the mother of all robots

New Research

Humans Evolved to Be Moved by Art

New research shows that while people respond to art for very different reasons, the ability to be moved in the first place is universal

Corythomantis greeningi frogs carry potent venom in their pouts.

Ask Smithsonian

What’s the Difference Between Poisonous and Venomous Animals?

The first known venomous frogs, discovered in Brazil, raise some basic questions about toxic biology

Cool Finds

The Science Behind Dogs’ Goofy Greetings

Why do dogs go nuts when their owners get home? The answers lie in their DNA and brains

New Research

Bully or Bystander? It Could Be in the Genes

New study says bullying may be nature, not nurture

Elephants are complex communicators.

Age of Humans

How Elephants and Songbirds Are Helping Humans Communicate

In this Generation Anthropocene podcast, social animals show scientists how to trace our evolution and improve interactions

A mother rhino breastfeeding her baby

Cool Finds

Why Mammals Have a Monopoly On Milk

It all started with an egg

One series of photographs in particular is exciting for the unique perspective. It was taken from an angle no one had seen before. “In his camera lens you can see the back of Clarence Darrow, and you can see the face of William Jennings Bryan,” historian Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette says.

The Scopes Trial Redefined Science Journalism and Shaped It to What It Is Today

Ninety years ago a Tennessee man stood trial for teaching evolution, a Smithsonian archives collection offers a glimpse into the rich backstory

New research suggests hawkmoths, like the one pictured above, slow down their brain's ability to process light in order to see at night.

New Research

Hovering Hawkmoths Slow Down Their Brains to See in the Dark

The insects’ night vision appears to be finely tuned to the movement of their flower food sources

The attack on a female tourist should serve as a reminder that lions are not only wild animals, they're perceptive predators.

Yes, Lions Will Hunt Humans if Given the Chance

The tragic attack at a South AFrican park serves as a reminder that lions are predators and humans are prey

New Research

Chimpanzees Can Learn to Cook

Given a microwave-like tool, chimpanzees become chefs

An artistic reconstruction of the Regaliceratops peterhewsi, the newly discovered Triceratops cousin with a built-in crown.

New Research

The ‘Hellboy’ Dinosaur, a New Cousin of Triceratops, Is Fossil Royalty

The horned dinosaur wears a built-in crown and offers evidence of many more undiscovered species in North America

A jawbone from an ancient Taimyr wolf that lived about 35,000 years ago

New Research

Humans May Have Domesticated Dogs Tens of Thousands of Years Earlier Than Thought

Genetic analysis from an ancient wolf show just how complicated dog evolution was

Why Do Humans Have Chins?

The most distinctive human feature might be that bony protrusion that made Jay Leno famous

The ancestor of all living snakes, depicted on the prowl in the South American forests it likely inhabited 110 million years ago, likely possessed a pair of tiny hind limbs and hunted at night.

The Mother of All Snakes Looked Surprisingly Modern

New research indicates why the slithery beast’s body appears pretty much as it did 110 million years ago

A trap-jaw ant opens its massive mandibles.

New Research

Watch These Ants Hurl Themselves Out of Death Traps With Their Mouths

At least one trap-jaw ant species has coopted its exceptionally strong mandibles to escape its nemesis, the ferocious antlion

Here the experimental chick embryo (center) can be compared to a typical chicken about to hatch (left) and an alligator (right)

New Research

Researchers Create Chicken Embryos With Dinosaur-Like Faces

Researchers seeking to understand how birds got their beaks turned back the evolutionary clock just a tad

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