From the busy cities to ocean waters, our need to illuminate the world has had some strange and tragic consequences
Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries
See photographs of the beautiful natural wonders from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest
Renaissance paintings, medieval archives, cloistered orchards—how one Italian scientist is uncovering secrets that could help combat a growing agricultural crisis
Eight years into living in Longyearbyen, on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, I embrace the seasonal plunge into total darkness
An ecologist’s long walks and detailed observations allowed him to chronicle the shifts in an iconic habitat and grow a once-overlooked branch of science
On the island of Laeso in Denmark, one man is reviving the lost art of eelgrass thatching and, in doing so, bringing attention to a plant that has great potential
Researchers suspect the marine mammals may have been communicating across the vast distance
Cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula are time capsules preserving remnants of Maya culture and fossils of extinct megafauna
New studies suggest smoke from western megafires may be damaging bird health and leading to strange behavior
Computer scientist and meteorologist Amy McGovern has studied the technology for two decades, and she weighs in with some answers
Researchers show the average surface temperature on our planet has shifted between 51.8 to 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit
From Alaska to Peru and the Himalayas, glacial lakes are suddenly breaking free and causing deaths and millions of dollars in damages
Think twice before stepping on that crunchy top layer of soil. It may be a vital ecosystem that you can help protect
Climate change, corporate money, soaring demand—can Mexico’s local agave growers find a viable path for a beloved beverage?
By building a broad coalition of partners across the political spectrum, the Florida metropolis is doing all that it can to keep the city cool
Serbian scientist Milutin Milanković changed our understanding of Earth’s climate—and did a key part of his work while detained by Austro-Hungarian forces
A massive project prompted by the wildly destructive Hurricane Ike offers a solutions-based preview of our climate future
The very hungry, spiky custodians gobble up the algae that smother coral reefs
Seventeen-year-old Gyeongyun Lily Min is hopeful it can someday, after testing the concept on a scale model of an NBA stadium
The first jungles dense with flowering plants only formed after an asteroid impact wiped out the giant creatures
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