Human Behavior

Kevin Kelly worries devices like Apple's iPad, shown here with Smithsonian's first cover, nurtures action over contemplation.

Reading in a Whole New Way

As digital screens proliferate and people move from print to pixel, how will the act of reading change?

"New research will increasingly be driven by ... evolutionary theory," says Melvin Konner.

Melvin Konner on the Evolution of Childhood

The anthropologist and physician talks about how our understanding of child development will change

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An Unbelievable Accent

Memories are stored in a region of the brain called the hippocampus, shown in red in this computer illustration.

How Our Brains Make Memories

Surprising new research about the act of remembering may help people with post-traumatic stress disorder

The main plaza of Monte Albán, in the Oaxaca Valley. Building J

Bureaucracy Is Good?

Greg Miller earned his PhD in neuroscience at Stanford University. He writes about brains and behavior as a San Francisco-based correspondent for Science.

Greg Miller on “Making Memories”

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How Much of Your Tax Money Went to Science?

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Is Washington the Greenest City?

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Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty

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Inside the Minds of America's Young Scientists

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Reindeer Lack an Internal Clock

Ardi (right) lived in a forest in Africa. Her fossil skeleton shows that she walked upright and yet had an opposable toe, good for climbing trees.

The Human Family's Earliest Ancestors

Studies of hominid fossils, like 4.4-million-year-old "Ardi," are changing ideas about human origins

"Paleo-artist" John Gurche recreates the faces of our earliest ancestors, some of who have been extinct for millions of years.

A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces

John Gurche, a “paleo-artist,” has recreated strikingly realistic heads of our earliest human ancestors for a new exhibit

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Darwin Versus Lincoln: Who Won?

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Elementary School Teachers Pass on Math Fear to Girls

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that most Americans engage in moderate activity less than three times a week.

Are Americans Stuck to their Cubicles?

After a debilitating bicycle accident kept her inactive, Mary Collins toured the country studying Americans’ sedentary lifestyle

National Museum of Natural History

Five Things to Keep You Occupied Over the Holiday Weekend

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Ten Movies We Loved From the 2000s

Marine biology professor-turned-Hollywood filmmaker Randy Olson contends that people missed the message in his first two films because film is not their language.

Are Scientists or Moviemakers the Bigger Dodos?

Scientist-turned-filmmaker Randy Olson says that academics must be more like Hollywood in how they share their love for science

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The Impossibility of Avoiding Darwin on my Vacation

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