Science

Forensic Test Reveals a Mummy's Travels Before Death

A ground-breaking scientific technique is tracing the life of one of the bog bodies of Northern Europe

Pavel will be on hand for viewing at the Great Cats habitat, rotating with the Zoo's Sumatran tiger and African lions.

Say Hello to Pavel, the National Zoo's Latest Addition, an Amur Tiger

For the first time since 1948, a 10-year-old male Siberian big cat graces the D.C. menagerie

Low oxygen caused the death of these corals and others in Bocas del Toro, Panama. The dead crabs pictured also succumbed to the loss of dissolved oxygen.

Why Our Oceans Are Starting to Suffocate

A new paper links global warming to diminished oxygen concentrations at sea

A scientific illustration of the Upward Sun River camp in what is now Interior Alaska.

New Research

Genetics Rewrites the History of Early America—And, Maybe, the Field of Archaeology

The genome of an infant from Upward Sun River, Alaska offers tantalizing insight into the story of human migration

An African lion enjoying an afternoon snack in the falling snow of 2012 at the National Zoo.

How Zoo Animals Stay Safe and Warm in the Arctic Blast

From flamingo 'hot tubs' to heated termite mounds, zoos have plenty of tricks to keep creatures safe when the forecast freezes over

Gladiator Teeth Reveal Signs of Infant Malnourishment

By all accounts, Roman gladiators were the rock stars of their day, performing in a packed coliseum to a crowd of thousands

This cartoon from Harper's Weekly depicts how opiates were used in the 19th century to help babies cope with teething.

Inside the Story of America’s 19th-Century Opiate Addiction

Doctors then, as now, overprescribed the painkiller to patients in need, and then, as now, government policy had a distinct bias

The Freer Buddha undergoes a CT scan at the National Museum of Natural History. "He wouldn't relax his legs," Donna Strahan recalls with a laugh.

How Science is Peeling Back the Layers of Ancient Lacquer Sculptures

These rare Buddhist artworks were found to contain traces of bone and blood

Hours after witnessing the first Earthrise, Jim Lovell told mission control: “The Earth from here is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.”

1968: The Year That Shattered America

Who Took the Legendary Earthrise Photo From Apollo 8?

The mission returned to Earth with one of the most famous images in history

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Future of Energy

Future of Energy

Bold new ideas to meet the world's burgeoning need for power

In the nothingness of space, sound waves have no medium by which to travel.

Science in the Movies

The Science of Silence in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

The soundless lightspeed attack that baffled some fans was actually the film's most scientifically accurate moment

The Next Pandemic

When a Medical “Cure” Makes Things Much, Much Worse

In 1960s Japan, a bizarre outbreak of hairy green tongues failed to set off alarms around the world

The book was published so hastily the fuse bomb pictured on the cover was “ticking.”

1968: The Year That Shattered America

The Book That Incited a Worldwide Fear of Overpopulation

'The Population Bomb' made dire predictions—and triggered a wave of repression around the world

Coast guard officers in Costa Rica say they’re understaffed and overwhelmed. “We’re just order,” says Colonel Miguel Madrigal. “Not the law.”

An Unexpected Victim of Costa Rica's Drug Trade: Fish

The archipelago was once synonymous with tourism, sustainability and biodiversity. Now collapsing fisheries have led to turmoil

Scientists Recreate a Stone Age Cremation

A scientist recreates a Stone Age funeral pyre using nothing but resources from that era. The makeshift pyre achieves same temperatures as a crematorium

Each chapter progresses from the very small to the very big.

Learn to Speak the Language of the Universe With This Mindblowing New Book

<i>Magnitude</i> helps you imagine the outer limits of time, speed and distance—without breaking your brain

This 2,400-Year-Old Corpse Is in Remarkable Condition

A murdered corpse in a remote wetland in Denmark is found to be over 2,400 years old

This Mass Grave Discovery Could Alter Roman History

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that a mass grave discovered in the north of England is a gladiator cemetery

A Polar Bear Released Back Into the Wild by Helicopter

A marauding polar bear is about to be returned to the the wild, as far away as possible from the town of Churchill

The stunning image that opens the Siphonophorae chapter in The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel. Each gelatinous siphonophore is actually a group of colonial organisms all living and working together. To grow, they clone themselves—each new minion specialized for a specific function.

Art Meets Science

This 19th-Century Illustrator Found Beauty in the Slimiest of Sea Creatures

A new book chronicles Ernst Haeckel's life and his gorgeous renderings of wild things—scales, spikes, tentacles and all

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