Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Reproduction

New Research

Women Who Are Stressed Out Have More Difficulty Getting Pregnant

This is the first time that scientists have proven that there is a relationship between stress and becoming pregnant

Wisdom the Albatross with her newest chick.

Cool Finds

Wisdom the Albatross, the World’s Oldest Known Wild Bird, Has Yet Another Baby

Wisdom is 63, and this is thought to be her 35th-or-so chick

New Research

In the Animal Kingdom, Deadbeat Dads Breed Bigger Babies

Female reproductive strategies vary with paternal investment

In Selfmade, microbiologist Christina Agapakis and scent artist Sissel Tolaas made cheese from bacteria collected from people's mouths and toes.

Art Meets Science

Cheese Made From Bacteria Between Your Toes and Other Bizarre Bio Art

With groundbreaking (and controversial) projects, artists are starting a conversation about the future of synthetic biology

Pregnancy feels several months too long? A 3D printed fetus can give you a glimpse of how it is to actually hold your child.

Tech Watch

Expecting? Cradle Your 3D Printed Fetus In The Meantime

A startup offers to create a life-like replica of your gestating child from ultrasound images

What Can Rodents Tell Us About Why Humans Love?

A relative of the mouse may hold the key to understanding why human beings are one of the few mammals that seek lifelong mates

Ancient Reptiles Kept Switching Between Laying Eggs And Giving Birth to Live Babies

Colder temperatures seem key to triggering the switch to live births

Some scientists think that our compatibility genes—the same genes that determine whether an organ transplant will take—play a role in sexual attraction.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

We Know Your Genes Can Influence Your Health, But Can They Also Influence Who You Love?

The same genes that dictate whether or not you can accept an organ transplant may guide your choice in a romantic partner

To prevent young birds from imprinting on humans, flock manager Jane Chandler dons a white gown and a mask. She uses a puppet to teach them survival skills.

A Call to Save the Whooping Crane

Smithsonian researchers join an international effort to bring the five-foot-tall bird back from the brink of extinction

On the R.A. Brown Ranch, fifth-generation ranger Donnell Brown can't help thinking about the potential he had created through decades' worth of work.

Breeding the Perfect Bull

A Texas cattleman used genetic science to breed his masterpiece – a near-perfect Red Angus bull. Then nature took its course

"If we don't do something," says Knowlton, who has earned the nickname Dr. Doom, "we could lose all corals by 2050."

A Coral Reef’s Mass Spawning

Understanding how corals reproduce is critical to their survival; Smithsonian’s Nancy Knowlton investigates the annual event

Soldier beetles mate on a bed of flowers.

The Curious Do’s and Don’ts of Insect Dating Behavior

Bugs tap, dance and buzz to attract their mates—and some get eaten

None

Return of the Beasts

Elephant seals descend on California beaches for breeding season

National Zoo researchers (with Ume) are experimenting with cheetah fertility.

Breeding Cheetahs

None

Big Love

In a mating ritual, male humpback whales leap, splash and fight. But researchers ask: just what does a female whale want?

In the past decade or so, over 95 percent of India's vultures have died.

Soaring Hopes

The first two Asian vultures breed in captivity

The product of a ten-year Sino-American conservation effort, the cub may help scientists reestablish the endangered giant pandas in the wild, where about 1,600 are believed to exist.

Learning from Tai Shan

The giant panda born at Washington, D.C.’s National Zoo has charmed animal lovers. Now he’s teaching scientists more than they had expected

Page 13 of 13