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Innovations

Nanoflowers, which look white, can help healthy cells, colored yellow, deliver mitochondria, colored red, to nearby cells. 

A New Way to Boost the Powerhouses of the Cell Might Combat Aging and Degenerative Diseases, Lab Study Suggests

Creating mini mitochondria factories helped recharge damaged cells in a dish, providing proof-of-concept work that could pave the way to new regenerative medicine therapies

A rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) in Hluhluwe, South Africa, performs a threat display. These snakes tend to live on the edges of human communities.

The High-Stakes Quest to Make Snakebites Survivable Took Leaps Forward This Year, With Promising New Avenues to Safer Antivenoms

A wave of fresh science is challenging a century-old treatment and offering hope to the people snakebites harm most—often far from hospitals and help

A 1984 front-loading Betamax video recorder

This Revolutionary but Largely Forgotten Video Recorder Debuted 50 Years Ago. Devoted Fans Say the Machine Had the Best Quality of Its Time

Tech lovers continue to tout the superior resolution of Sony’s Betamax—even though it became obsolete after VHS overtook it

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best books about science in 2025 include Replaceable You, Dinner With King Tut and North to the Future.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Science Books of 2025

From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year

A digital illustration of an HIV-infected T cell. Once infected, the immune cell is hijacked by the virus to produce and release many new viral particles before dying. As more T cells are destroyed, the immune system is progressively weakened.

New Trials Hint That ‘Functional Cure’ for HIV May Be Within Reach, Helping Some Patients Achieve Lasting Remission

People infected with HIV must take antiretroviral drugs for life. But engineered antibodies appeared to suppress the virus for certain participants in recent trials in Africa and Europe

Students learn anatomy from an Asclepius AI Table, which merges interactive elements and artificial intelligence.

Medical Students Are Learning Anatomy From Digital Cadavers. Can Technology Ever Replace Real Human Bodies?

From interactive diagrams to A.I. assistants, virtual tools are beginning to supplant physical dissections in some classrooms

Researchers have developed a promising new antivenom effective against more than a dozen venemous snake species, according to trials in mice.

Researchers Create a New Antivenom That Can Combat Bites From 17 Snake Species, Trials in Mice Suggest

Snakebites are among the deadliest neglected tropical diseases, and scientists have long been searching for more effective ways to prevent their devastating effects

Tim Andrews and his wife leave the hospital after he received the pig kidney transplant about nine months ago.

Pig Kidney Transplant Removed From Patient After a Record-Breaking 271 Days

Tim Andrews was the fourth patient in the United States to receive a pig kidney transplant. He will now return to dialysis and wait for a kidney from a human donor

Horseshoe crabs evolved 445 million years ago and have been around for 1,500 times longer than Homo sapiens. It was not until the 20th century, however, that scientists discovered life-saving properties in their blood.

Horseshoe Crab Blood Has Long Helped Us Make Safe Medicines. Now, Alternatives That Spare the Ancient Creatures Might Be Breaking Through

An enzyme in the blue blood has been key to testing vaccines since the 1980s, raising concerns for the crabs’ population. But regulatory approval and new data are signaling the tide may be turning

Participants received retinal implants that restored some of their vision. 

Electronic Eye Implant Restored Vision in Patients With Age-Related Macular Degeneration

The device could be a boon for millions with vision loss from advancing age

An aerial view of Altadena on March 11, 2025, shows surviving trees and new greenery amid homes destroyed in the Eaton Fire.

After the L.A. Fires, Locals Turn to Native Plants to Help Shield Homes From Flames and Clean Contaminated Soil

Scientists and community members in Altadena are testing ways that California species can assist efforts to rebuild

Hematoids can shed light on blood formation during early human development.

Researchers Created Structures That Produced Blood Cells in the Lab—With a Process That Mimics Real Human Embryos

The advance could carry significant implications for studying blood diseases and early human development

The mold growing on batches of Bayley Hazen Blue cheese changed from green to white between 2016 and the present day.

Scientists Watch Fungi Evolve in Real Time, Thanks to a Marriage Proposal in a Cheese Cave

A new study pinpoints a disruption in a gene that made a beloved blue cheese’s rind go from green to white

An egg with a human skin cell nucleus before fertilization

Scientists Made Functional Human Eggs With Skin Cells in ‘Proof of Concept’ for Advancing Fertility

The research could open up avenues for fertility treatments after additional refinement and trials, but it also raises ethical concerns

Members of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry hold a model of a metal-organic framework during the 2025 prize announcement in Stockholm on October 8.

Architects of a New Kind of Molecular Structure Win Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Metal-organic frameworks can store huge amounts of gas in a tiny space—enabling advances that could help humans fight climate change and tackle other challenges

The bridge opened on September 28, 2025.

The Highest Bridge in the World Just Opened in China at More Than 2,000 Feet Above the Ground

The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in Guizhou broke the record previously held by the nearby Beipanjiang Bridge

 Maria Branyas Morera on her 117th birthday

Scientists Studied the Genes of a Woman Who Lived 117 Years. Here’s What They Learned

Maria Branyas Morera, formerly the world’s oldest person, allowed researchers to take a detailed look at her biology before she died last year

1964 Chevy Impala lowrider, “Gypsy Rose”

How Lowrider Culture Turned Custom Cars Into Colorful, Stunning Works of Art

A Smithsonian traveling exhibition maps the family ties and ingenuity behind lowriders—from post-World War II Chicano pride on boulevards to global car shows

The three missions launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket the morning of September 24.

‘Ultimate Cosmic Carpool’ Sends Three New Missions to Monitor Space Weather and the Protective Bubble Around Our Solar System

The spacecraft will map the boundaries of the heliosphere, study how Earth’s outer atmosphere reacts to solar activity and provide continuous monitoring of space weather

Scientists are considering what limits to potentially place on mirror-image cell research.

Scientists Weigh the Risks of ‘Mirror Life,’ Synthetic Molecules With a Reverse Version of Life’s Building Blocks

Though mirror biology might lead to improved drugs and other innovations, scientists have warned against potentially devastating consequences of this research

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