Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Plants

The bigger the tomato, the blander the taste.

New Research

The Quest to Return Tomatoes to Their Full-Flavored Glory

We’ve bred the original tomato taste out of existence. Now geneticists are asking: Can we put it back?

Smithsonian Gardeners created a beautiful overwintering habitat for bugs in the Ripley Garden.

How to Create an Insect Habitat in Your Garden

A Smithsonian gardener offers tips for sheltering the insects during the frosty winter months

This aerial view shoes the weird wonder of "fairy circles" in the Namibian desert.

New Research

Dueling Theories on the Cause of “Fairy Circles” Could Both Be Right

New research brings together competing concepts to describe how the mysterious features form

The new fossil groundcherry Physalis infinemundi from Laguna del Hunco in Patagonia, Argentina, 52 million years old. This specimen displays the characteristic papery, lobed husk and details of the venation.

New Research

Researchers Uncover Fossils of 52-Million-Year-Old Tomatillos

The pair of ancient fruits suggest that the nightshade group to which they belong is much older than scientists once thought

Cool Finds

The Fight to Save Thousands of Heirloom Apple Trees

There’s more to apples than the supermarket selection may suggest

How do you know when urine too deep?

New Research

Once a Year, Scientific Journals Try to Be Funny. Not Everyone Gets the Joke

Holiday editions add a much-needed dose of humor to boring journal-ese. But is entertaining readers worth the risk of misleading them?

A 5,310-year-old corn cob.

New Research

Lend Me Your Ears: A Tale of Evolution From a 5,310-Year-Old Corn Cob

Corn has come a long way since its grassy beginnings

Simple, yet effective.

Why Public Health Researchers Are Looking to Urban Trees

A global study finds they can help cool cities and reduce air pollution—for less money than high-tech answers

New Research

Spinach: The Superfood That Could Help Detect Bombs

Now more than Popeye’s favorite food, carbon nanotubes are turning the leafy green into a bomb detector

In search of distinctly American beer hops.

Wacky, Wonderful, Wild Hops Could Transform the Watered-Down Beer Industry

The diversity of hops reflects a diversity of tastes and traditions that are part of an extraordinary evolution in beer

These flowers may look beautiful, but in the imagination of Tamiko Thiel, they've turned hostile due to climate change.

Cool Finds

Augmented Reality Art Imagines What Could Be Seattle’s Weird, Bleak Future

Artist envisions mutant flowers and drone-like seaweed that may one day take over a post-climate change Seattle

Biddulph Grange Garden, Staffordshire‬

Step Inside 12 of England’s Most Beautiful Gardens

Researcher release bumblebees in a greenhouse at the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens

New Research

This Deadly Plant Virus Attracts Bees

The cucumber mosaic virus alters the scent of tomato plants to attract more bees to their ailing hosts

New Research

Research Reveals How and Why Sunflowers Turn Their Golden Heads

A new study shows sunflowers have an internal clock and face east to keep bees and other insects happy

These shaggy icons may be long gone by next century due to climate change.

Trending Today

California’s Joshua Trees Are Under Threat

Climate change could decimate the iconic tree for future generations

Yum.

Trending Today

Skip the Stench: Watch Three Massive Corpse Flowers Bloom Online

These tropical flowers only bloom once every four to five years

Illustration of a Velafrons, a hadrosaur whose name means "sailed forehead."

Chew on This: Powerful Jaws Fueled a Jurassic Herbivore Boom

Teeth, not flowers, might be the key to the duckbills’ success

The Mertz Library hosts one of the world's largest collections of material about plants.

Cool Finds

Go Inside New York’s Nearly Secret Botanical Library

It’s a gardener’s fragrant fantasy

A squash seedling (though not one of the ancient squash)

Cool Finds

An Ancient Squash Dodges Extinction Thanks to the Efforts of Native Americans

Indigenous people carefully tended an ancient squash for thousands of years and now the seeds are seeing a resurgence in popularity

Enlightened Hawaiian chiefs as far back as the 14th century instituted what is called the moku-ahupua‘a system of management throughout the islands.

Finding Lessons on Culture and Conservation at the End of the Road in Kauai

In the remote, tropical paradise called Ha‘ena, the community is reasserting Native Hawaiian stewardship of the land and sea

Page 25 of 38