Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

New Research

An artist's illustration of juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, which were more fleet-footed than their adult counterparts

Teenage T. Rex Fossils Reveal Haphazard Growth Spurts

A new study reaffirms that two debated dinosaur fossils named Jane and Petey weren’t a separate species

Researchers now have video evidence that Atlantic puffins can use sticks as tools to scratch their backs.

In a First, Scientists Film a Puffin Scratching Itself With a Stick

Behold the first evidence of tool use in seabirds

How many sheep?

Dogs’ Brains Naturally Process Numbers, Just Like Ours

Scientists stuck 11 dogs in fMRI scanners to see if their brains had a knack for quantity

Dead mussels along the Clinch River.

Trending Today

Scientists Don’t Know Why Freshwater Mussels Are Dying Across North America

Mussel species are dying en mass in rivers across the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and South—likely from unidentified pathogens

No need to flee for this nasty little critter.

Some Moths Taste So Bad That They Don’t Bother Fleeing From Bats

A new study offers an explanation as to why some moth species fly erratically in the face of danger, while others do not

An endangered White's seahorse.

Trending Today

Undersea ‘Hotels’ Deployed to Help Sydney’s Endangered Seahorses

Captive breeding and microhabitats may help restore White’s seahorse whose population plummeted 90 percent in the last decade

Despite similarities, doctors do not advise consuming fish antibiotics, which are unregulated.

Why Are Americans Taking Fish Antibiotics?

A new study investigated the online fish antibiotic market—and found that some humans seem to be ingesting them

The Elgin cast, seen on right, reveals sculptural details lost today.

New Research

3-D Imaging Reveals Toll of Parthenon Marbles’ Deterioration

A new study of 19th-century plaster casts of the controversial sculptures highlight details lost over the past 200 years

This turtle was rescued from Cape Cod's frigid waters in November.

Why Do ‘Cold-Shocked’ Sea Turtles Keep Washing Up Onto Cape Cod?

A new study pinpoints some of the factors that may lead to regular strandings of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle

The capsule dissolves into a star-shaped device that slowly releases the hormone levonorgestrel over the course of a month.

Once-a-Month Birth Control Pill Seems to Have Worked in Pigs. Are People Next?

Scientists used a device that sits in the stomach and slowly releases hormones into the body

Cool Finds

Was This 18,000-Year-Old Puppy Frozen in Siberian Permafrost the Ancestor of Wolves, Dogs or Both?

DNA tests on the well-preserved remains can’t determine whether the little canine was wild or domestic

An image from Birds of America by John James Audubon depicting the Great Auk.

Humans May Be Solely to Blame for the Great Auk’s Extinction

A new study suggests that the flightless birds were not declining due to environmental changes when humans began to hunt them in large numbers

Jupiter and its Great Red Spot as seen by the Hubble Telescope on June 27, 2019.

New Research

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot May Not Be Dying Out Just Yet

Earlier this year, the spot appeared to be losing big chunks, but new research suggests it was gobbling up a smaller storm

Iman died of cancer on November 23 at a sanctuary in Borneo.

Sumatran Rhinos Are Now Extinct in Malaysia

Iman, a 25-year-old female and the last Sumatran rhino in the country, died on Saturday

Via Getty: "A group of young women in traditional costumes play Galician music with bagpipes, tambourines and drum in the historic center during the San Froilan festivities on October 6, 2019 in Lugo, Galicia, Spain."

Scientists Show Humans May Share a ‘Musical Grammar’

Across 60 cultures, songs sung in similar social contexts have shared musical features

Why did this cheeky snake have two hind legs?

New Fossils Unlock Evolutionary Secrets of Two-Legged Snakes

Scientists have known about the ancient snake group Najash for years, but were not able to gain a thorough understanding of its skull until now

This carving is the first Nazca Line to be identified by artificial intelligence.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Identify 143 New Nazca Lines

The trove of newly documented geoglyphs includes a humanoid figure identified by artificial intelligence

The study involved 104 Labrador retrievers between four weeks and 16 years old.

New Research

Calculate Your Dog’s Age With This New, Improved Formula

A study of the epigenetic clock in Labradors shows calculating a dog’s age is much more complicated than just multiplying by seven

New Research

Scientists Now Know Where the Largest Ape to Ever Exist Sits in Primate Family Tree

Proteins from a 1.9 million-year-old molar show that the 10-foot-tall ‘Gigantopithecus’ is a distant relative to modern orangutans

New Research

Birds Sniff Each Other’s Bacteria to Help Choose a Mate

A new study finds the microbiome in a bird’s preen oil determines its scent, which can impact its reproductive success

Page 117 of 301