Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

New Research

Detail from Christ Carrying the Cross, a work newly attributed to Greek painter El Greco

Is This Religious Scene a Long-Overlooked El Greco Painting?

A team of Spanish scholars spent two years assessing the small-scale depiction of Christ carrying the cross

Dolphins can tolerate freshwater for short periods of time, but they developed painful lesions after the storms as a result of prolonged exposure.

Fatal Skin Disease Outbreak in Dolphins Linked to Climate Change–Fueled Storm Surges

When the porpoises are exposed to freshwater after extreme weather, they develop grisly lesions that can lead to their deaths

A newly described python species named Messelopython freyi. The 47-million-year-old specimen is the world’s oldest known fossil record of a python.

New Research

Oldest-Ever Python Fossil Found in Europe

The 47-million-year-old snake pushes the evolutionary origins of the group back some 20 million years

An octopus in the Red Sea engaged in a collaborative hunt with several fish.

New Research

Watch Octopuses Sucker-Punch Fish

Researchers caught the eight-armed sea creatures in the Red Sea slugging fish during collaborative hunts

There have been other ancient wolf remains found in places like Siberia, but finding a well-preserved specimen in Yukon is rare since the ground has to be permanently frozen and the animal must be buried quickly.

A 57,000-Year-Old Mummified Wolf Pup Was Discovered Frozen in Yukon Permafrost

The specimen sheds light on how different gray wolf populations migrated through North America

Researchers identified the black substance as a mixture of burnt rubber, oil and feces.

Black Smudge on Diary Page Reveals 1907 Arctic Expedition’s Tragic End

New analysis suggests explorer Jørgen Brønlund spent his final hours trying—and failing—to light a petroleum burner

Though several animal species like chimps, crows and elephants have been documented using tools, it's pretty rare in the insect world.

New Research

To Compete With the Big Guys, Tiny Crickets Fashion Leafy Megaphones to Blast Their Mating Calls

Using leaves can make male crickets’ calls three times louder, upping their chances of attracting a female

The researchers planted some peppers alone in pots, and others about four inches away from a second plant.

New Research

How Pepper Plants Pick the Perfect Path for Putting Down Roots

Two plants in the same pot must find a way to share the water and nutrients in the soil

A team of scientists hand-raised eight ravens and tested their cognitive abilities every four months since they hatched.

Four-Month-Old Ravens Rival Adult Great Apes in a Battle of the Brains

In a series of cognitive tests, the corvids surprised scientists with their ability to interact with each other and with the world around them

Tasmanian devils nip at each other's faces while eating carcasses and during mating season, providing opportunities for infectious face cancer to spread.

New Research

Study Offers Hope for Tasmanian Devils, Once Thought Doomed by Infectious Cancer

In the late 1990s, one affected devil infected an average of 3.5 others, but now each only infects about one

Arctic ground squirrels are such adept hibernators that they can remain in their slumber for up to eight months by slowing their metabolic system down so greatly that they only need to breathe once per minute.

What Hibernating Squirrels Can Teach Astronauts About Preventing Muscle Loss

The Arctic ground squirrel recycles nutrients in its body, allowing it to slumber for up to eight months and wake up unscathed

Concrete, a building block of our cities and towns, accounted for the most mass, followed by steel, gravel, brick and asphalt.

Human-Made Materials Now Weigh More Than All Life on Earth Combined

People produce 30 billion tons of material annually, making our built environment heavier than the planet’s biomass

A small hike in the water temperature triggers corals to dispel the algae, causing them to bleach and turn a ghostly shade of white.

Some Corals Can Survive Through Relentless Heat Waves, Surprising Scientists

The organisms can recover during a heat wave instead of afterwards, and scientists call it a ‘game changer’ for conservation of the species

The portal currently features 613,458 entries documenting the people, events and places involved in the transatlantic slave trade.

Who Were America’s Enslaved? A New Database Humanizes the Names Behind the Numbers

The public website draws connections between existing datasets to piece together fragmentary narratives

Asian honey bees applying animal feces at the entrance of their hives to ward off attacks from hornets.

New Research

Asian Bees Plaster Hives With Feces to Defend Against Hornet Attacks

Researchers say the surprising behavior could constitute tool use, which would be a first for honey bees

About two dozen dogs were removed from the study because they were too excited and couldn't provide clear data.

New Research

Dogs Can’t Tell the Difference Between Similar-Sounding Words

Sit, sat or set? It’s all the same to Fido as long as you give him a treat

Johns Hopkins, founder of the Baltimore university that bears his name, enslaved at least four unnamed men in 1850. Pictured behind Hopkins is the 1850 "slave schedule" with his name (#33, circled in blue) and the enslaved individuals' ages.

New Research

Long Heralded as an Abolitionist, Johns Hopkins Enslaved People, Records Show

The Baltimore university that bears his name announced new research that “shattered” perceptions of the Quaker entrepreneur

The world's highest-altitude peak is called Sagarmatha in Nepal and Chomolungma in Tibet.

Is Mount Everest Really Two Feet Taller?

The new height measurement comes from an updated survey and decades of slow tectonic movement, not a sudden growth spurt

The spectacled tyrant (Hymenops perspicillatus) inhabits harsh, dry deserts, which new research suggests tend to produce new species at a higher rate than lush, biodiverse places like the Amazon.

New Research

Earth’s Harshest Ecosystems May Birth New Species Fastest

A genetic study of nearly 1,300 different birds suggests places with fewer species spit out new ones more frequently than biodiversity hotspots

Researchers recorded 38 instances of pandas covering themselves in horse manure between June 2016 and June 2017.

New Research

In Winter, Pandas Love to Roll in Horse Poop

To deal with crappy weather, the black-and-white bears may be slathering themselves in feces to stay warm

Page 109 of 305