Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Water

Trending Today

India Inches Closer to Creating World’s Largest River Network

The plan to interlink rivers would connect up to 30 rivers via 30 canals and 3,000 dams

This vertically exaggerated view shows scalloped depressions in a part of Mars where such textures prompted researchers to check for buried ice, using ground-penetrating radar aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They found about as much frozen water as the volume of Lake Superior.

New Research

This Massive Martian Field of Ice Could Fill Lake Superior

The frosty deposit could be a lifeline for future human explorers on the Red Planet

This whale is on is own sightseeing tour.

Cool Finds

New York’s Upper West Side Has Its Own Whale

The mammal is on what seems to be an epic tour of Manhattan

Australia may look peaceful from space, but it is anything but static.

New Research

Australia Moves Millimeters In Tune With the Seasons

A new study shows how far-off weather patterns affect the continent down under

Marc Edwards and LeeAnne Walters

Without These Whistleblowers, We May Never Have Known the Full Extent of the Flint Water Crisis

A concerned mother and a renowned scientist spearheaded the investigation that exposed the dangers lurking in the water supply of the Michigan city

University of California, Irvine chemist Shane Ardo is working to develop special plastic membranes and dyes that would enable a container to desalinate seawater.

Future of Energy

A Mission To Invent a Bottle That Takes the Salt Out of Saltwater

Scientists are exploring the potential of creating plastic containers that, with a little sun power, could desalinate seawater

The historic St. Anne's Well after it was rediscovered and excavated.

Cool Finds

A “Cursed” English Well Has Been Rediscovered

An old photograph led archaeologists to the long-lost well

Cool Finds

A Fish Prized Among King Henry’s III’s Court Could Soon Swim Back Into British Waters

Fish passes will allow shad to finally return to their historic spawning grounds

For nearly a decade, scuba divers have been going to the Finger Lakes to carve pumpkins underwater.

Underwater Pumpkin Carving Among the Wrecks in New York’s Finger Lakes

Just in time for Halloween, scuba divers test their Jack-o-lantern-making skills

Dry conditions have dulled fall's gorgeous New England show.

Trending Today

Dragged-Out Drought May Make for Fainter Fall Foliage

Parched conditions in New England equal milder colors

The coffee foam

The Innovative Spirit fy17

How to Clean Water With Old Coffee Grounds

Italian researchers have figured out how to turn spent coffee grounds into a foam that can remove heavy metals from water

Second Place Winner: Cetacea, designed by Keegan Oneal, Sean Link, Caitlin Vanhauer and Colin Poranski at the University of Oregon

Future of Energy

These Wild Sculptures Actually Generate Green Energy

The winning designs of the LAGI 2016 competition range from giant sailboat sculptures that harvest fog to floating gardens that harness wave power

Kure Atoll, the northernmost reef in the Hawaiian archipelago, hosts mesophotic reefs with the most species unique to a specific location found in any marine ecosystem on Earth.

New Research

Here’s What Scientists Found in Hawaii’s Mysterious “Twilight Zone”

Deep coral reefs reveal their secrets in a study two decades in the making

A reservoir on the Snake River in Washington state

Future of Energy

Whoops—Dams and Reservoirs Release Tons of Greenhouse Gases

New study shows reservoirs are actually a major source of carbon emissions

This composite image shows suspected plumes of water vapor erupting at the 7 o’clock position off of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

New Research

Evidence Stacks Up for Icy Geysers Erupting on Europa

Possible water plumes could give researchers a way to study Jupiter’s moon without drilling

New Research

Watch Acoustic Holograms Create Complex Shapes and Levitate Droplets

These mesmarizing effects are created using only a plastic 3-D printed plate and speaker

River tracing is a popular way to experience the great outdoors in Taiwan.

Trace a Watery Path Through Taiwan’s Lush Landscape

There’s a reason river tracing has become the country’s newest adventure craze

The Boston Light still shines brightly at night in Boston Harbor.

Cool Finds

The Oldest Lighthouse in the United States Just Celebrated 300 Years of Service

The Boston Light still welcomes sailors to Boston Harbor

A Fresnel lens from the Boon Island Lighthouse off of southern Maine.

Cool Finds

The U.S. Government Is Suing for a Set of Lighthouse Lenses

The lenses could be worth up to $600,000

A rendering of the 10-ton block of ice.

Cool Finds

Watch a 10-Ton Ice Cube Melt on a Seattle Square

It’s a different kind of block party

Page 34 of 43