Science

Swabbing the toads to sample their microbiomes.

Meet the Colorful New Weapon Scientists Are Using to Save Toads From a Devastating Fungus

Researchers are supplementing the amphibians’ natural microbiomes with a fluorescent fungus-fighter they've dubbed "Purple Rain"

Besides exceptional facial hair, what could these two gentlemen have in common?

Think Big

The Hidden Connections Between Darwin and the Physicist Who Championed Entropy

These magnificently bearded men both introduced a dose of randomness and irreversibility into the universe

The better to infect you with, my dear...

New Research

For Viruses, the Best Way to Infect Baby Is Through Mama

Some viruses might take it easier on women—to get to their children

Margaret Harwood sits on the floor for this posed tableau taken on May 19, 1925. Harvia Wilson is at far left, sharing a table with Annie Cannon (too busy to look up) and Antonia Maury (left foreground). The woman at the drafting table is Cecilia Payne.

Women Who Shaped History

In "The Glass Universe," Dava Sobel Brings the Women 'Computers' of Harvard Observatory to Light

Women are at the center of a new book that delights not in isolated genius, but in collaboration and cooperation

How Chemicals Left Behind on Your Phone Could Identify You

Mass spectrometry is finding a new role in forensic science

To speak, perchance to think? A long-tailed macaque opens wide in Bali, Indonesia.

New Research

What's Really Keeping Monkeys From Speaking Their Minds? Their Minds

When it comes to language, primates have all the right vocal equipment. They just lack the brains

Don't worry, we've got you covered.

Ask Smithsonian

Trying Not to Get Sick? Science Says You're Probably Doing It Wrong

Cold and flu viruses transfer in very different ways than we think

John Glenn, standing top right, looks at a model of the ship that took him to space with other astronauts from the Mercury space program in an undated photograph.

For a Larger-Than-Life Space Icon, John Glenn Was Remarkably Down-to-Earth

Friends and colleagues recall his abiding love for Smithsonian’s work, the history of spaceflight and peanut butter buckeyes

This Devoted Mother Is Also a Cockroach

Female giant burrowing cockroaches look after their young for up to six months. In an eight-year lifespan, they can produce around 150 young

The Nobel Prize, named after the repentant creator of dynamite, has been awarded nearly every year since 1901.

What Does It Take to Win a Nobel Prize? Four Winners, in Their Own Words

Some answers: Messiness, ignorance and puzzles

There have been 38 facial transplants worldwide to date. Not all have survived.

Saving Face: How One Pioneering Surgeon Is Pushing the Limits of Facial Transplants

His reconstructed faces have tongues that taste and eyelids that blink. But will they withstand the test of time?

Electronic waste, shown here, is just part of the "technosphere," which comprises the totality of the stuff humans produce.

Age of Humans

Humans Have Bogged Down the Earth with 30 Trillion Metric Tons of Stuff, Study Finds

The authors say this is more proof that we are living in an Age of Humans—but not all scientists agree

Hippo Climbs Down a Steep Cliff...With Difficulty

A 15-foot male hippo carefully negotiates his enormous body down a sheer cliff. It's the shortest and most direct route to the water

John Glenn (1921-2016) by Henry C. Casselli, Jr., 1998

A Smithsonian Curator Remembers Astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn

The American hero died at the age of 95

Philanthropist David M. Rubenstein (left) in conversation with National Museum of Natural History Kirk Johnson.

The Natural History Museum's National Fossil Hall Is Getting a Full Facelift

Museum director Kirk Johnson gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the new dinosaur hall, home to the T-Rex

Half of All North American Shorebirds Use This Rest Stop

Bottoms is the nation's largest inland marsh, an area of over 60 square miles. It's also the favored resting spot of many species of migrating birds

Radiocarbon dating has been used to determine of the ages of ancient mummies, in some cases going back more than 9000 years.

Age of Humans

Thanks to Fossil Fuels, Carbon Dating Is in Jeopardy. One Scientist May Have an Easy Fix

If only there were such an easy fix for climate change

Surface water seasonality between October 2014 and October 2015 in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Dark blue indicates permanent surface water; light blue indicates seasonal surface water.

New Research

High-Resolution Satellite Images Capture Stunning View of Earth's Changing Waters

An unprecedented mapping project shows the elusive patterns of Earth's surface water over 30 years

"Dude, I thought he said he'd be here at 4."

New Research

How Cheetahs “Spot” Each Other

Cheetah meetups: In a novel study, researchers show that roaming cheetahs likely use their noses to seek each other out after weeks apart

Spectacular Footage of a Butterfly Leaving Its Cocoon

The transition from caterpillar to butterfly is a process that consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult

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