Hawaii

An aerial photo taken at 7:15 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time on Monday shows the northeast rift zone eruption of Mauna Loa. 

Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Volcano Gushes Lava, Threatening Major Highway

The world’s largest active volcano is erupting for the first time since 1984

The first juvenile collector urchin (Tripneustes gratilla) raised from a cryopreserved embryo.

A Graduate Student’s Research Could Help Stop the Spread of Invasive Seaweed in Hawai'i

For the first time, using cryopreservation to freeze sea urchin embryos may help restore coral reefs

Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu

Hawaii Closes Its Last Coal-Fired Power Plant

The state plans to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2045

The so-called frogmen swam into enemy beaches unarmed, wearing only swim trunks, dive masks and fins.

Untold Stories of American History

The Stealth Swimmers Whose WWII Scouting Laid the Groundwork for the Navy SEALs

The Underwater Demolition Teams cleared coastal defenses and surveyed enemy beaches ahead of Allied landings

Waves at Pōhue Bay

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Is Expanding by 16,000 Acres

The National Park Service is taking over stewardship of Pōhue Bay, an area full of cultural sites and endangered animals

An alkaline hydrolysis machine at White Rose Aqua Cremation in Escondido, California

Could Water Cremation Become the New American Way of Death?

A sustainable option for what to do with our remains is trickling into popular consciousness

Recreational fishers have discovered a new way to scout for fish and cast a line.

Is Fishing With a Drone the Way of the Future?

Not everyone is on board. The technology is dividing the fishing community and drawing the ire of some politicians and scientists

Created in 1979, the wax sculpture was used as the model for different editions of Dalí works in platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

Cool Finds

Long-Lost Dalí Sculpture Could Be Worth $20 Million

For four decades, the rare was artwork was thought to be missing

Alice Ball was just 23 years old when she developed a method of making chaulmoogra oil—an early treatment for leprosy—more easily injectable.

Women Who Shaped History

The Trailblazing Black Woman Chemist Who Discovered a Treatment for Leprosy

After Alice Ball's death in 1916 at age 24, a white man took credit for her research

A typical Making the Road trip to South Africa includes a visit to Soweto, a township outside of Johannesburg that was the site of anti-apartheid organizing and violence for years.

Tourism Gets a Refresh in the Hands of Activists Seeking to Decolonize the Industry

Operators practicing 'solidarity tourism' push back against travel that can be environmentally and socially destructive

The Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin houses some 5,500 skulls collected by Austrian anthropologist Felix von Luschan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On Friday, February 11, the German museum returned 32 skulls from the collection to a Hawaiian delegation.

Germany, Austria Repatriate Dozens of Human Skulls to Hawaii

Earlier this month, a Hawaiian delegation retrieved 58 sets of ancestral remains from five European museums

Of a total crew of 864 men, 429 were killed on the USS Oklahoma, sunk at Pearl Harbor 80 years ago. New DNA testing has allowed scientists to identify 90 percent of the remains in the last few years.

Eighty Years After Pearl Harbor, New DNA Tech Helps Identify Victims of the Attack

Researchers say they have now identified over 90 percent of the remains of those killed aboard the USS Oklahoma

The capsized hull of the U.S.S. Oklahoma (right) is visible next to the U.S.S. Maryland.

The Story Behind Pearl Harbor's Most Successful Rescue Mission

Eighty years ago, civilian Julio DeCastro and his colleagues at the Hawaii base's naval yard saved 32 sailors trapped inside the U.S.S. "Oklahoma"

Kīlauea has an elevation of 4,009 feet and a magma system that reaches 37 miles below the ground. The volcano is the youngest and most active on the Hawaiian Islands.  

Kīlauea Spews Magma and Golden Strings of Volcanic Glass on Hawaii's Big Island

Most recently, the volcano had a series of small eruptions that began in December 2020 and lasted five months straight

A view of the Aghileen Pinnacles & Pavlof Volcano from the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

Three Volcanoes Are Erupting Simultaneously in Alaska

Scientists continue to monitor activity in Aleutians, other U.S. sites

A seabird known as the white tern or Manu-o-Kū has surprised birders by taking up residence in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

Future of Conservation

Meet the White Tern, a Seabird Surprisingly Thriving in a Big City

The bird—also known as Manu-o-Kū—has excited ornithologists, its population growing within Honolulu, the busiest of Hawai'i's urban landscapes

Hawai'i's location in the subtropical Pacific makes it susceptible to northeast trade winds that bring infrequent rain showers with clear skies in-between that create optimal rainbow viewing conditions.

Hawai'i Is Officially the Best Place on Earth to See Rainbows, According to Science

The geographic location and topography of the islands create beautiful views

'Oumuamua is shaped less like a cigar, as was originally proposed, and more like a pancake, according to recent research.

New Research

New Theory Suggests 'Oumuamua Is a Nitrogen Ice Pancake

When the interstellar visitor swept around the sun, it got a speed boost, probably because some of the ice vaporized

Wisdom, a 70-year-old Laysan albatross, and one of her chicks from years past.

Oldest Known Wild Bird Hatches Chick at Age 70

Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, was first banded by scientists on a remote North Pacific atoll in 1956

By studying recent mass extinctions on islands like Hawaii, Dr. Helen James is painting a picture of bird biodiversity today. Her research involves digging up fossils in caves to study bygone species, like the Kioea.

Smithsonian Voices

Meet One of the Curators Behind the Smithsonian's 640,000 Birds

Helen James' work on avian extinction helps in understanding how bird species today respond to threats like human encroachment and environmental change

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