Articles

“Even the greatest things in the world need attention when they’re not as strong as they could be. It was a cry for freedom,” says Tommie Smith of his silent act at the 1968 Olympics.

Breaking Ground

What You Don’t Know About Olympian Tommie Smith’s Silent Gesture

The simple act of civil disobedience, thrusting a black-gloved fist in the air, produced shock waves across the nation

A 3D printed dish made with the lab's printer

3D Print Your Own Breakfast

A team of researchers at Columbia University has developed a 3D food printer capable of printing and cooking multiple ingredients at one time

An artist's rendering of Chicxulub, the asteroid believed to have wiped out large dinosaurs and reshaped parts of the world.

Journey to the Center of Earth

What Happened in the Seconds, Hours, Weeks After the Dino-Killing Asteroid Hit Earth?

The Cretaceous forecast: Tsunamis, a deadly heat pulse, and massive cooling.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft launched on March 6, 2009. Today, technology and international collaborations are democratizing the space race.

Space Hub

Opening the Space Race to the Entire World

A new era of collaboration and affordable technology has scientists across the globe sending spacecraft into outer space

Why Is This Lizard Doing Push-Ups?

Draco lizards have an interesting technique of performing upper body workouts to get the attention of their potential mates

If you're going to be riding a horse for a while, you're probably going to want to amble.

New Research

Today’s Smooth-Running Horses May Owe Their Genetics to the Vikings

Scientists have determined the likely origin for the "gaitkeeper" gene, which controls gaitedness in horses

Chuck Taylor All Star, circa 1957

The Innovative Spirit fy17

How Chuck Taylor Taught America How to Play Basketball

A shoe-in for the first ever basketball game in the Olympics, Converse All Stars have a long history both in and out of sport

Charlie Chaplin eats his shoe in The Gold Rush (1925).

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Alaska

Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush

Two decades after the Klondike Gold Rush, Chaplin recast the hardships of prospectors as comedy

Temperature-sensitive pikas store grass for winter munching.

Future of Conservation

How Climate Change Will Transform the National Parks’ Iconic Animals and Plants

Dramatic changes may force park managers to choose which species will live, and which will die

The San Andreas Fault, cause of countless big quakes.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Seismic Slowdowns Could Warn of Impending Earthquakes

An "earthquake machine" in the lab is helping scientists understand what goes on just before a quake

A condor, tagged with a transmitter for tracking, perches on California's coast.

Age of Humans

Mercury-Laden Sea Lion Carcasses Threaten California's Coastal Condors

The new findings put a wrench in conservation of one of the world's rarest birds

The Insanely Ambitious and Corrupt Plot to Grow L.A.

In 1898, the mayor of Los Angeles, Fred Eaton, came up with an audacious plan to drive up the value of local real estate

Sharks are a broad and diverse group of species, but in the public imagination we tend to treat them all the same.

Humans Have Promoted the Reef Shark to Apex Predator

How these diverse predators ended up getting all the credit

The Double Eagle Investigation

Years after all double eagles were supposedly destroyed, the Secret Service traces the reappearance of two of the rare coins back to a deal with a jeweler

What secrets do those lonely ice sheets hold?

Age of Humans

A Radioactive Cold War Military Base Will Soon Emerge From Greenland’s Melting Ice

They thought the frozen earth would keep it safely hidden. They were wrong

"The Hive" is on display at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in London, England, through the end of 2017.

Art Meets Science

This Sculpture Is Controlled by Live Honeybees

Artist Wolfgang Buttress collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to create a giant, metallic hive

The lone Lorax tree in Scripps Park, La Jolla.

Visit the Original Lorax Tree in Dr. Seuss's San Diego

Check out these Seuss-related sites in Theodore Geisel's adopted hometown

Death Valley: One of the Most Extreme Places on Earth

In 1913, temperatures in Death Valley reached a world-record high of 134 degrees Fahrenheit

Leopard territory in Southeast Asia has been reduced by 94 percent.

New Research

The Indochinese Leopard Is Down to Just a Few Lives

These threatened cats now occupy just 8 percent of their historic range in Cambodia, new population estimate finds

Paleontologist Paul Olsen of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is co-leading a project in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park to drill deep into rocks dating back more than 200 million years.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Defying Critics, Paleontologist Paul Olsen Looks for Hidden Answers Behind Mass Extinctions

From a childhood spent discovering fossils to tangling over questions of ancient life and death, this scientist constantly pushes the boundaries.

Page 405 of 1268