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Plants

Researchers used these five replica clay pipes to "smoke" tobacco and other native plants.

Early Residents of the Pacific Northwest Smoked Smooth Sumac

Researchers used a new technique to detect the chemical fingerprints of specific plant species in a 1,400-year-old pipe’s residue

Following the Monday performance, the Barcelona opera house donated its 2,292 houseplants to local health care workers.

Covid-19

Audience of Plants Roots for Barcelona Opera House on Opening Night

The leafy crowd enjoyed a string quartet’s performance of Puccini’s “Crisantemi”

Monitor local animal populations, identify plants, transcribe women astronomers' notes, bird-watch and more.

Education During Coronavirus

Seventy-Five Scientific Research Projects You Can Contribute to Online

From astrophysicists to entomologists, many researchers need the help of citizen scientists to sift through immense data collections

Glacier mice are balls of moss found in parts of Alaska and Iceland.

New Research

Herds of Moss Balls Mysteriously Roam the Arctic Together

The moss isn’t propelled by a slope, the wind, or the sun, but the group moves in sync

A new study has mapped green algae blooms, like the one pictured here, on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Algae Blooms Turn Antarctica’s Ice Green

Scientists predict that the organisms’ presence will increase as global temperatures increase

Through the Manta Trust's adoption program, donors can choose to adopt any one of a number of frequently sighted manta rays in the Maldives.

Virtual Travel

Ten Animals and Plants Around the World That You Can (Virtually) Adopt

While COVID-19 stymies travel, help conserve those things—from cacti to manta rays—that will beckon you later

Folium was used to illustrate illuminated manuscripts—and color the rind of a popular Dutch cheese.

Art Meets Science

Researchers Follow a 15th-Century Recipe to Recreate Medieval Blue Ink

The purplish-blue pigment, derived from a Portuguese fruit, fell out of use by the 19th century

Farm workers loading apples onto a truck in an orchard, circa 1965.

Cool Finds

Ten Apple Varieties Once Thought Extinct Rediscovered in Pacific Northwest

The “lost” apples will help restore genetic, culinary diversity to a crop North America once produced in astonishing variety

Delicate blossoms might get knocked down, but they get up again.

New Research

How Flowers Marvelously Evolved Resilience

Blossoms contort and twist back into optimal pollination position after getting bumped and battered

Arches made of yellow orchids as seen at the New York Botanical Garden.

Virtual Travel

Watch These Six Flower Bloom Events From Your Couch

Tulips, cherry blossoms and orchids supply a ray of hope during self-isolation

The tobacco mosaic virus seen under 160,000× magnification

Covid-19

How a Few Sick Tobacco Plants Led Scientists to Unravel the Truth About Viruses

With the COVID-19 coronavirus causing a global pandemic, a look back at the scientists who figured out viruses and their relationship to disease

Just in time for this year's bloom, Smithsonian Books presents a delightful new offering Cherry Blossoms: Sakura Collections from the Library of Congress.

Not All Cherry Blossoms Are the Same

View these vivid illustrations by Japanese artist Kōkichi Tsunoi of the varieties of trees presented to the United States in 1912

The blue-throated barbet, illustrated here in 1871, is native to southern Asia.

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download 150,000 Free Illustrations of the Natural World

The artworks, collected by the open-access Biodiversity Heritage Library, range from animal sketches to historical diagrams and botanical studies

Subtle changes in genetics can have major effects on how leaves grow into a wide variety of shapes.

Deciphering the Weird, Wonderful Genetic Diversity of Leaf Shapes

Researchers craft a new model for plant development after studying the genetics of carnivorous plants’ cup-shaped traps

Ginkgo trees, which produce characteristic fan-shaped leaves, can live for thousands of years.

New Research

A Genetic Elixir of Life Helps Millennia-Old Ginkgo Trees Escape Death

These trees have developed an army of molecular weapons to stay healthy in old age

Photosynthetic bacteria in the concrete make it bright green until it dries and turns brown.

New Research

Scientists Design Bacteria-Based Living Concrete

Its designers hope that it could help with construction in deserts or even on Mars

Engineered with genes that boost its beta-carotene content, golden rice (top) comes with a yellowish hue that makes it stand out from typical white rice (bottom)

Golden Rice Approved as Safe for Consumption in the Philippines

The genetically modified crop could help combat the country’s vitamin A deficiency

These gene-edited tomatoes grow in grape-like clusters, rather than on long vines.

Gene-Edited Tomatoes Grow in Bunches Like Grapes, Making Them Ideal for Urban Farming

Growing food in urban environments could have important implications for sustainability—if we can produce crops that thrive in tight spaces

An aerial view of a fossil of Archaeopteris, a 385-million-year-old tree with surprisingly modern-looking roots.

The World’s Oldest Forest Has 385-Million-Year-Old Tree Roots

A trove of arboreal fossils pushes back the origin of modern forests and sophisticated tree roots

New Research

Yellowstone Bison Engineer an Endless Spring to Suit Their Grazing Needs

The cycle of grazing and fertilizing prolongs spring-like vegetation in grasslands and makes green-up more intense in following years

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