Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Health

Your vending machine is judging you.

New Research

Brief Vending Machine Delay Helps People Make Better Snack Choices

When a vending machine withheld junky snacks for 25 seconds, people were slightly more likely to choose a healthier option

Baby in Pip & Grow's Smitten box

The Finnish Baby Box Is Becoming Popular Around the World

But does a cardboard bassinet actually reduce infant mortality?

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden think that a helmet called the Strokefinder could quickly diagnose intracranial bleeding.

A Microwave Helmet May Help Diagnose Traumatic Brain Injury

Doctors find that a stroke-detection technology could be useful in screening for intracranial bleeding

New Research

New Device Allows Paralyzed Man to Move His Arm With His Mind

The brain implant bypasses the patient’s injured spinal cord, allowing him to eat and drink on his own

There are ways to treat heroin addiction—but they remain controversial.

New Research

U.S. Heroin Use Has Risen Dramatically Since 2001

White males under 45 are most likely to report using the drug

Ovarian cells did their thing in a dish for researchers who used microfluidics and chips to recreate a female menstrual cycle.

New Research

Your Monthly Menstrual Cycle, Reenacted on a Microchip

Bodies are complicated, but they’re no match for persistent bioengineers

Israeli company Intuition Robotics developed a talking device named ElliQ, now being tested by older adults.

How Will Artificial Intelligence Help the Aging?

The key, researchers say, is finding the right roles for machines

New Research

Researchers Turn Spinach Leaves Into Beating Heart Tissues

These living leaves could eventually become patches for the human heart

These are actually tadpoles.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Now You Can Measure Male Fertility With a Smartphone App

A new device helps men monitor their sperm count from the comfort of their own home

Commuters in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam use makeshift face masks to protect them from smog. Doctors are warning that climate change will affect human health, in part by increasing air pollution.

Trending Today

Doctors Warn That Climate Change Makes People Sick

Medical associations join forces to sound the alarm on climate change and human health

Itchy and scratchy: When they see their peers scratching away, mice get the urge to itch.

New Research

Why Is Itching So Contagious?

Scientists figure out how compulsive scratching spreads in mice, and maybe humans

Paleo diet? Not so much. Thanks to Neanderthal dental plaque, researchers are getting a much better idea of what our ancestors actually dined on.

New Research

Scientists Delve Into Neanderthal Dental Plaque to Understand How They Lived and Ate

The plaque that coated Neanderthal teeth is shedding new light on how our ancestors ate, self-medicated and interacted with humans

For years, boys at Fernald State School were subjected to experiments using radioactive tracers in oatmeal.

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Radioactive Oatmeal Go Down

When MIT and Quaker Oats paired up to conduct experiments on unsuspecting young boys

A child stands in the Côte d’Ivoire charcoal yard where his mother works.

Trending Today

WHO Warns That Pollution Is Killing Millions of Children

New reports say that one in four deaths of young people under the age of five can be attributed to the environment

Tanning Beds Cause $343 Million in Medical Bills a Year

A new study has calculated the steep cost of a not-so-healthy glow

One surprising group is getting colon cancer at rates not seen since the 1890s.

New Research

New Study Shows Sharp Rise in Colorectal Cancers Among Young Adults

Its authors are not sure why the cancers have risen so much—only that they’re increasing every year

Researchers have found that when our minds wander, our moods tend to suffer.

Why Mind Wandering Can Be So Miserable, According to Happiness Experts

We still don’t know why our minds seem so determined to exit the present moment, but researchers have a few ideas

Children have been crippled by land mines in Cambodia.

The Historic Innovation of Land Mines—And Why We’ve Struggled to Get Rid of Them

A number of researchers are developing tools to defuse or detonate land mines without harming civilians

Seagrass grows near a village in the Spermonde Archipelago in Indonesia. Researchers there recently discovered that coastal areas with seagrass have less bacteria than grassless areas.

New Research

Seagrasses Reduce Bacteria in Polluted Waters

A new study suggests the mesmerizing fields could be important for the health of humans and sea creatures alike

Page 65 of 121