Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

New Research

The marble bust on display inside the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls in Rome

Why Are So Many People Claiming They’ve Discovered Long-Lost Michelangelos?

One researcher wrote a 600-page report attributing an obscure painting to the artist. Another argued that he’d sculpted a marble bust on display in a Roman church

An 1894 film of a falling cat

How Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet? Researchers Examined Feline Spines to Find Out

Scientists determined that the upper part of a cat’s spine is more flexible than the lower part

An artist's conception of a magnetar surrounded by a wobbly accretion disk

Astronomers Witnessed the Birth of a Magnetar for the First Time. It Explains the Mysterious Flickering of an Ultrabright Supernova

New research suggests that the highly magnetized remnants of stars are responsible for powering some of the universe’s most brilliant supernova explosions

A pottery vessel analyzed for the study

New Research

Scientists Discover Microscopic Traces of Leaves, Seeds and Toxic Berries on Pots Used by Stone Age Cooks Thousands of Years Ago

Hunter-gatherers in Europe carefully selected ingredients and cooked complex foods, often pairing fish with specific plants, according to a new study

The fire-loving fungus Geopyxis, seen here in 2022, after California’s Caldor Fire, has distinctive brown cups with white rims.

These Charcoal-Eating Fungi Flourish After Fires. Uncovering Their Genetic Secrets Could Help Rebuild Burned Ecosystems

Mycologists cultivated fungi they found in post-wildfire landscapes to understand the evolutionary traits behind their ability to thrive in the wake of flames

The illustration depicts the scribe Ramose and a jackal figure that may represent the god Wepwawet.

Cool Finds

The Egyptians Used an Ancient Version of Wite-Out to Correct Their Mistakes on This Papyrus Scroll 3,300 Years Ago

An ancient artist applied a white substance to an illustration of a jackal, slimming down its appearance, according to researchers at the Fitzwilliam Museum in England

None

There's More to That

Venomous Snakes Represent a Serious Public Health Problem. Scientists Are Biting Back With a Groundbreaking Antidote

Researchers around the world are attempting to create a safer and more effective treatment in hopes of saving hundreds of thousands of lives

Common eastern bumblebee queens use underwater breathing and anaerobic metabolism to survive when submerged.

Bumblebee Queens Breathe Underwater to Survive Drowning, Revealing How They Can Live Submerged for a Week

After scientists accidentally discovered that the common eastern bumblebee can withstand flood conditions, they wanted to investigate what makes that super-ability possible

An artistic representation of Sonselasuchus cedrus, which may have lived in the forests in what is now Arizona around 215 million years ago

This Ancient Reptile Started Life on All Fours. As It Grew, It Stood Upright and Started Walking on Two Legs Instead

Scientists have identified a strange early crocodile relative that may have looked somewhat like a flightless bird

Lead author Matt von Konrat studying moss found with reburied human remains.

How a Tiny Clump of Moss Helped the FBI Solve a Grave-Robbing Case

Cemetery workers argued that the crimes happened before their employment. But a buried bit of moss told a different story

A 2,000-year-old inscription by Cikai Korran

Cool Finds

This Traveler From India Graffitied His Name on Five Ancient Tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings 2,000 Years Ago

Researchers have discovered 30 inscriptions written in Indian languages, which provide new evidence that visitors from India spent time in Egypt between the first and third centuries C.E.

Little Foot's skull was distorted and damaged, so researchers spent years digitally reassembling the bones to understand what the individual's face might have looked like 3.67 million years ago.

New Research

See How Scientists Reconstructed the Face of Little Foot, a Human Ancestor Who Lived 3.67 Million Years Ago

For the first time, researchers have digitally reconstructed the facial fragments of the individual, who belonged to the Australopithecus genus

Researchers investigated 112 decorated ostrich eggshell fragments discovered at three sites—two in South Africa and one in Namibia.

New Research

These Intricately Decorated Ostrich Eggshells Suggest Our Ancestors May Have Understood Basic Geometry 60,000 Years Ago

The lines, right angles and other mysterious designs required careful planning and robust cognitive abilities, according to a new study

The pygmy long-fingered possum uses its specialized ears and long digits to hunt for grubs in rotting wood.

Scientists Thought These Marsupials Went Extinct 6,000 Years Ago. They Just Found the Animals Alive

The pygmy long-fingered possum and the ring-tailed glider are rare examples of “Lazarus species”

New images of Uranus show the planet in blue, the upper atmosphere in red, auroras in lighter red spots and rings in white.

Take a Look at Uranus’ Weird, Lopsided Upper Atmosphere Bespeckled with Auroras

A new 3D map of gas surrounding the planet will help researchers better understand the strange world

Researchers dubbed one experiment involving a roughly one-foot-tall crystal "The Monolith" in honor of Stanley Kubrick's iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Chimps Seem to Love Crystals. Their Attraction Might Help Explain Humans’ Obsession With the Shimmering Stones

Hominins have been collecting calcite and quartz for at least 780,000 years. A new study hints at why

Some scientists suspect that microorganisms can hop between planets by jumping aboard debris kicked up by asteroid strikes.

Could Life on Earth Have Descended From Microbes That Traveled From Mars Long Ago?

Scientists demonstrated that an Earthly extremophile might withstand being ejected from the Red Planet on debris spewed into space due to an asteroid strike

Anopheles mosquitoes are major malaria vectors.

Mosquitoes Have Been Biting Humans for More Than One Million Years

A new study suggests that the deadly insects evolved their taste for human blood much earlier than previously thought, around when Homo erectus migrated into Southeast Asia

Mature adults have just one verticle stripe behind their eyes.

These Clownfish Lose Their Baby Stripes in Response to Peer Pressure, New Research Suggests

Tomato clownfish perform a dramatic underwater wardrobe change based on the social dynamics of their environment

The physics behind shoe squeaks is surprisingly complex. 

Why Do Basketball Players’ Shoes Squeak on the Court? Here’s the Physics Behind the Iconic, High-Pitched Sounds

The screeches come from wave-like deformations of sneakers’ flexible soles

Page 8 of 296