Articles by Rachel Nuwer from Smithsonian Magazine

Sea Cows Used To Walk on Land in Africa And Jamaica

Until now, paleontologists have drawn a blank on the evolutionary link between the manatee's African and Jamaican relatives

January 18, 2013

That bright little blob in the upper lefthand corner is North Dakota’s natural gas flares.

At Night, Giant Fields of Burning Natural Gas Make North Dakota Visibile From Space

Locals have a new nickname for their state. North Dakota: "Kuwait on the Prairie"

January 18, 2013

Dear Abby, America’s Favorite Advice Columnist, Dies at 94

Nearly 60 years ago, Pauline Phillips became Dear Abby, and her advice has since been read by tens of millions

January 17, 2013

Giant Sinkhole Is Swallowing Up a Louisiana Bayou Community

Mining activities likely opened up this apparent pit to hell, forcing residents to evacuate and spewing toxins into the environment

January 16, 2013

Horse Meat Turned Up in Irish And British Burger Meat

Hamburger meat is never the healthiest option, but it does come with a few basic assumption—like that it's made from cows

January 16, 2013

Chimps Have an Innate Sense of Fairness

Human ideals about fairness may not be so human after all

January 16, 2013

To Understand the Largest Structure Ever Found, We Need to Rethink the Basic Principles of the Universe

These 73 quasars—massive, extremely remote celestial objects—stretch for about 4 billion light years

January 16, 2013

Did ancient Australians witness a similar scene?

Indians Made It to Australia More Than 4,000 Years Before the British

January 15, 2013

Romans Did All Sorts of Weird Things in The Public Baths—Like Getting Their Teeth Cleaned

For ancient Romans enjoying a day at the bathhouse, the list of items lost to drains includes jewelry, scalpels, teeth, needles and plates

January 14, 2013

Monopoly Tokens Are Being Updated, And Your Favorite One Could Get the Ax

On February 5, players may have a Monopoly identity crisis as one of the classic Monopoly pieces is sent to jail for good

January 14, 2013

Cardboard Cockroach Is the Fastest, Creepiest Robot in the World

The cardboard cockroach can sprint up to 7 miles per hour on its spindly little legs, using them much as an actual cockroach does

January 14, 2013

Each year, around 5,300 Golden Warblers – a threatened species – die from collisions with communication towers.

Communication Towers Are Death Traps for Threatened Bird Species

Nearly 7 million North American birds - including 13 threatened species - lose their lives through tower collisions each year

January 14, 2013

A female H. floresiensis recreation from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Flores Hobbits Were Sort of Like Humans, Sort of Like Chimps, Sort of Like Tolkien’s Fantasy Beings

Archaeologists are slowly bringing "the Hobbit Human" to light as new bones turn up

January 11, 2013

Mouse Moms Force Mouse Dads To Care for Their Kids

Female mice have tricks for encouraging the otherwise absentee father of their offspring to care and get involved in child-tending

January 11, 2013

Stop Judging Jack Lew’s ‘Ridiculous’ Signature

Above, you can see signature of Jacob J. Lew, reportedly the top candidate to be the country’s new Treasury secretary. This scribble—a slinky? a bit of fuzz? a doodle of a caterpillar?—may be printed on every single new dollar bill. The signature is causing no shortage of judgment from media outlets like The New York Times [...]

January 10, 2013