Ben Panko

Ben Panko is a staff writer for Smithsonian.com

Chinese researchers have harnessed the power of deep learning to help doctors identify this rare disease.

Can Eagle-Eyed Artificial Intelligence Help Prevent Children From Going Blind?

Deep learning pinpoints cataracts more accurately than humans, and could help prevent this form of vision loss in children

Who in society gets to be viewed as "brilliant"?

By Age Six, Girls Have Already Stopped Thinking of Their Gender as 'Brilliant'

The're more likely to assume that someone who is 'very, very smart' is male, new research finds

A gecko uses millions of tiny hairs to cling powerfully to surfaces. A new device exploits this adaptation by using ultraviolet light as a switch.

Scientists Can Turn This Gecko-Inspired Gripping Device On or Off With the Flick of a Light

The mighty lizard inspires yet another innovation that could prove a boon to robotics and manufacturing

Two thylacines at the Smithsonian National Zoo around 1905. A thylacine brain from the Smithsonian Institution was scanned as part of a study to learn more about the extinct marsupial, but it is unclear whether that brain belonged to one of the animals pictured.

How Scientists Reconstructed the Brain of a Long-Extinct Beast

This dog-like marsupial went extinct 80 years ago, but its preserved brains help us glean how its mind worked

The doormouse hibernates to conserve resources in harsh conditions. Similarly, scientists envision humans hibernating to endure long-distance space travel.

Can Humans Ever Harness the Power of Hibernation?

Scientists want to know if astronauts can hibernate during long spaceflights. First, they need to understand what hibernation is

Macaques and humans seem to share the strength of knowing the limits of what they know.

A Wise Monkey Knows How Little He Knows

Japanese scientists find that macaque monkeys, like humans, know the limits of their own memory

Standing water in urban areas is ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes that can spread dengue and other tropical diseases.

To Fight Deadly Dengue Fever in Humans, Create Dengue-Resistant Mosquitoes

How manipulating the immune systems of mosquitoes can halt the spread of dengue virus

If only the three blind mice had enjoyed access to 21st century retinal transplant technology.

These Blind Mice Just Got a Vision Boost Thanks to a New Transplant Technique. Could Blind Humans Be Next?

Transplanting an entire piece of retinal tissue into the eyes of blind mice appears to work better than just transplanting cells

Anna's hummingbirds have brains uniquely adapted for hovering precisely while feeding.

For Hummingbirds, the World Moves as Fast as They Do

New research shows how the hummingbird brain allows them to hover and fly precisely

The journals that scientists consider most prestigious are often in English.

English Is the Language of Science. That Isn't Always a Good Thing

How a bias toward English-language science can result in preventable crises, duplicated efforts and lost knowledge

This year's science left us speechless and maybe a tiny bit more knowledgeable.

The Top 9 Baffling, Humbling, Mind-Blowing Science Stories of 2016

From gravity's song to the evolutionary secrets of dogs, this year unlocked a treasure trove of scientific discovery

Dyslexia affects up to 17 percent of American schoolchildren. Researchers now believe it may be caused by difficulty in the brain rewiring itself.

Dyslexia May Be the Brain Struggling to Adapt

The learning disorder may be less a problem with language processing, and more a problem with the brain rewiring itself

Hamblin's new book uses illustrations to help explain how the human body works—and sometimes doesn't work.

The Millennial’s Doctor Releases a Handbook on Bodies

Radiologist and <em>Atlantic</em> editor James Hamblin provides the answers we'd hear "If Our Bodies Could Talk"

Violence can spread like an epidemic among impressionable teenagers, according to new research.

Violence Among Teens Can Spread Like a Disease, Study Finds

Surveys of thousands of American teens add evidence to the theory that violence spreads in communities like a contagion

How do you know when urine too deep?

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 bonfire of elephant ivory burns in Kenya's Nairobi National Park in July 1989.

Wondering What a Bonfire Does to Your Lungs? We Answer Your Burning Questions

Setting large piles of stuff aflame can have significant environmental and human health impacts

The better to infect you with, my dear...

For Viruses, the Best Way to Infect Baby Is Through Mama

Some viruses might take it easier on women—to get to their children

To speak, perchance to think? A long-tailed macaque opens wide in Bali, Indonesia.

What's Really Keeping Monkeys From Speaking Their Minds? Their Minds

When it comes to language, primates have all the right vocal equipment. They just lack the brains

John Glenn, standing top right, looks at a model of the ship that took him to space with other astronauts from the Mercury space program in an undated photograph.

For a Larger-Than-Life Space Icon, John Glenn Was Remarkably Down-to-Earth

Friends and colleagues recall his abiding love for Smithsonian’s work, the history of spaceflight and peanut butter buckeyes

Electronic waste, shown here, is just part of the "technosphere," which comprises the totality of the stuff humans produce.

Humans Have Bogged Down the Earth with 30 Trillion Metric Tons of Stuff, Study Finds

The authors say this is more proof that we are living in an Age of Humans—but not all scientists agree

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