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Nature

Juvenile sunflower sea stars at the Sunflower Star Laboratory in Moss Landing, California. At this phase, each is less than an inch wide, but they can grow to be more than three feet across as adults.

A Deadly Pathogen Decimated Sunflower Sea Stars. Look Inside the Lab Working to Bring Them Back by Freezing and Thawing Their Larvae

For the first time, scientists have cryopreserved and revived the larvae of a sea star species. The breakthrough, made with the giant pink star, gives hope the technique could be repeated to save the imperiled predator

Smithsonian magazine's picks for best photography books of 2025 include Birds of a Feather, Blue Sun and Trembling Earth.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Photography Books of 2025

Our favorite titles this year invite readers to take in the beauty of nature and our cultural rituals

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 population of black-and-white ruffed lemurs on Madagascar is experiencing changes in the cadence of its breeding, researchers say.

Lemurs Are Having a Mysterious ‘Baby Boom’ in Madagascar. Here’s Why That Might Not Be a Good Thing

Researchers are investigating a sudden spike in pregnancies in one black-and-white ruffed lemur population that might signal environmental stress to the mammals

Gloria Acevedo, a diver with the Sirenas de Oriente in Mexico, removes a fishing line from coral near Cozumel Island.

‘Ghost Gear,’ or Abandoned Fishing Equipment, Is Haunting the Oceans. Here’s How Conservationists Are Fighting Back

Discarded nets, lines and traps are a hazard to marine life and ecosystems around the world, but pioneering programs are tackling the problem creatively through education, prevention, ocean cleanups and recycling

Navigating based on natural signs, writes Tristan Gooley, “sharpens our powers of observation, deduction and prediction.”

It’s Almost Impossible for Tristan Gooley to Get Lost. That’s One Reason He Has Millions of Followers

The British adventurer has crossed the Atlantic solo in a plane and a boat. Now he reads tree leaves, puddles and moss to get his bearings

A close-up of a gum leaf skeletonizer caterpillar, also known as a "Mad Hatterpillar" because of its distinctive stacked head capsules, left behind with every molt. The photo won the invertebrate behavior category.

See 15 Wondrous Winning Images From the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards

The eye-catching wildlife photos highlight both the beauty and the harsh realities of nature

The earwig’s delicate, paper-thin wings open to more than ten times their folded size, thanks to its origami-like creases.

Studying Clever Creases in Nature May Inspire Foldable Structures for Drones and Robots

Engineers are turning to animal origami, from insects that tuck away wings to a protist with an accordion-like neck, for design help

Jane Goodall visiting a chimpanzee rescue center in 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda

Jane Goodall, Legendary Primatologist and Anthropologist, Dies at 91

She was considered the world’s leading expert on chimpanzees and was renowned for her global conservation efforts

An 1844 illustration of mink

The Life, Loss and Lore of the Sea Mink

It might be among the first mammals to go extinct in North America after colonization. But can scientists prove it was even a distinct species?

Scientists scavenge the docks of Manhattan’s Hudson River Park in pursuit of boluses—masses of undigestible materials expelled by gulls.

Gulls’ Spit-Up Gunk Can Help Ecologists Understand Human Pollution

Researchers and student volunteers pick up what seabirds throw up, then examine it for clues about our impact on the environment

Amazon data centers sit next to houses in Loudoun County.

A.I. Is on the Rise, and So Is the Environmental Impact of the Data Centers That Drive It

The demand for data centers is growing faster than our ability to mitigate their skyrocketing economic and environmental costs

Nestled in Kyoto, Kiyomizu-dera is a historic Buddhist temple with a rich history spanning around 1,250 years.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 15 Gorgeous Photographs Illustrate the Ancient Beauty of Japan

From tranquil temples to the bright lights of Tokyo, look at images that capture the “Land of the Rising Sun”

A historian inspects oysters from a reef on the Nansemond River, in Virginia.

Can Scientists Help Oysters Thrive Again?

Dredging and pollution devastated the once-bountiful reefs. Careful science may help bring them back

The orca known as “Old Thom” swims in front of researchers in the Bay of Fundy.

The Curious Case of ‘Old Thom,’ an Orca Traveling Alone in the North Atlantic

Sightings of the marine mammal captivate the public and baffle scientists

The slice was taken from an area of the trunk roughly three feet above the ground.

New Research

By Counting Growth Rings, Researchers Solve the Mystery of the Sycamore Gap Tree’s Age

A new analysis shows that the historic tree was at least 100 to 120 years old in September 2023, when two men illegally chopped it down

Inmate Willie H. feeds juvenile robins that are being rehabilitated in prison.

In Prisons Across Ohio, These Inmates Are Finding Meaning by Saving Orphaned and Injured Animals

The Ohio Wildlife Center’s hospital sends critters to five facilities for care before eventual release

Ned (right) likely won't be able to reproduce unless another left-coiling snail is found.

A Rare, Left-Coiling Snail Needs Help Finding a Mate. New Zealanders Are Looking for Its 1-in-40,000 Match

Known as Ned, the creature needs a fellow left-coiling garden snail to reproduce—but the species almost always has shells that coil on their right side

The domestication of some species of bumblebee has had unintended consequences.

A Deep Look Into the Wild and Not-So-Wild World of Bumblebees

Over the past several decades the lives of the domesticated and native pollinators have increasingly overlapped

Animal life seemed to explode into a wide variety of new forms in the Cambrian period.

What Led Life to Flourish Roughly 520 Million Years Ago?

Changes to the world’s oceans and the rise of certain predators may have driven diversification

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