Articles

How to Regulate the Incredible Promise and Profound Power of Gene Drive Technology

An evolutionary ecologist argues that cutting-edge genetic research that could lead to species extinction should be handled with care

July 28, 2016

Photo Contest Featured Photographer

From Playboy to Polar Bears: A Fashion Photographer’s Journey to Document Climate Science in Northernmost Alaska

Florencia Mazza Ramsay traveled to Barrow, the northernmost town in the United States, to document life and research on the front lines of climate change

July 28, 2016

How Do Smithsonian Curators Decide What to Collect at the Political Conventions?

For Smithsonian’s Lisa Kathleen Graddy and Jon Grinspan, it’s trying to guess what people of the future will want to know about 2016

July 27, 2016

Watch: Hammerhead vs. Stingray

A hammerhead shark locates a stingray hiding beneath the ocean floor. Unnerved, the stingray makes a dash for freedom—but is it too late?

July 27, 2016

The Future of Libraries

Besides lending books, the local institutions are training young journalists, renting garden plots and more

July 27, 2016

Sarah Winnemucca Devoted Her Life to Protecting Native Americans in the Face of an Expanding United States

The 19th-century visionary often found herself stuck between two cultures

July 27, 2016

History of Now

The Only Time a Major Party Embraced a Third-Party Candidate for President

Horace Greeley was the choice of the splinter grip named the Liberal Republican Party and that of the Democrats

July 26, 2016

Meet the Man Who Dropped a Boulder on a Chrysler

Ex-pat rebel sculptor Jimmie Durham's funny work is celebrated in the capital of the country he left

July 26, 2016

Is Donald Harvey the Most Prolific Serial Killer in America?

Donald Harvey, a mild-mannered hospital worker, called himself the "Angel of Death"

July 26, 2016

All the Extremely Absurd Ways People Are Fighting Zika at the Rio Olympics

Donning facial masks, wearing Zika-proof uniforms and freezing sperm: Does any of this stuff actually work?

July 26, 2016

Meet SwagBot, the Robot Cowboy That Can Herd and Monitor Cattle On Its Own

University of Sydney engineers have developed a four-wheeled robot to keep tabs on massive farms in Australia's outback

July 26, 2016

Forced Closer to Humans, Crocodiles Face Their Greatest Existential Threat

These armored reptiles have long been considered indestructible, but new threats are shifting the equation

July 26, 2016

The Secret Meaning of Food in Art

Discover 17th-century drinking games and coded political messages in this unique food tour of the Metropolitan Museum's art collection

July 26, 2016

Future of Energy

This Dutch Startup Is Making Bricks From Industrial Waste

StoneCycling turns ceramic tiles and toilets, discarded glass and insulation into new, eco-friendly building materials

July 26, 2016

How Miraculous Microbes Help Us Evolve Better, Faster, Stronger

Invisible yet crucial, our microbial partners add a gene-swapping plot twist to evolutionary theory

July 26, 2016

Art Meets Science

Can the Art of Divination Help People Cope With Climate Anxiety?

A Brooklyn-based artist strives to create emotional connections with the looming threat of climate change.

July 25, 2016

Journey to the Center of Earth

The Tiny World of Glacier Microbes Has an Outsized Impact on Global Climate

Microbes living on glaciers collectively cover an area the size of New Hampshire—and they could have a big influence on global climate

July 25, 2016

History of Now

The History of Women Presidents in Film

Why the science-fiction genre was the first to imagine a female commander-in-chief

July 25, 2016

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Alaska

What Is Eskimo Ice Cream?

Answer: Not your typical summer dessert

July 25, 2016

Does 'The Last Supper' Really Have a Hidden Meaning?

Could the painting actually contain a message from Leonardo?

July 24, 2016