Science

Yes, Spiders Eat Spiders

Portia spiders, known for their remarkable intelligence, have some of the most astonishing hunting skills in the arthropod community

Stegosaurus and Ceratosaurus are among one of the most successful groups ever to have evolved.

Celebrate Dino Month With Three New Dinosaur Books

From PhDs to 4th graders, something for everyone

This golden goodness relies on a mathematical concept known as the silver ratio.

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Using Math to Build the Ultimate Taffy Machine

A mathematician dives into taffy-pulling patents to achieve optimum confection creation

In search of distinctly American beer hops.

Wacky, Wonderful, Wild Hops Could Transform the Watered-Down Beer Industry

The diversity of hops reflects a diversity of tastes and traditions that are part of an extraordinary evolution in beer

Pan Am promoted its "First Moon Flights" Club on radio and TV after the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, saying that "fares are not fully resolved, and may be out of this world."

I Was a Card-Carrying Member of the "First Moon Flights" Club

My card is now a historical museum artifact, but I’ll never give up my dream to fly to the Moon

Mangroves are rich and biodiverse coastal ecosystems that flood and emerge with the tides. Now villagers are burning these trees to better their lives.

Madagascar's Mangroves: The Ultimate Giving Trees

Locals already use the trees for food, fuel and building materials. Now they're burning them to make lime clay

Six Places on Earth That Scientists Say Look Like Other Planets

The eerie resemblance these locales have to Mars and beyond has attracted researchers for years

Wild Inside the National Zoo: The Future of Maned Wolves

After three years of being paired, maned wolves Echo and Zayda produce two new pups at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Wild capuchins make stone tools, but don't know how to use them.

Wild Monkeys Unintentionally Make Stone Age Tools, But Don't See the Point

Scientists observe a “unique” human behavior in wild animals

Zak van Biljon photographed Kennedy Lake in British Columbia using infrared film.

Art Meets Science

Looking at Nature Through Infrared Film Will Have You Seeing Red

See the world on a whole different spectrum

To make Tumor Paint, Jim Olson's team extracts molecules from the deathstalker scorpion (Leiurus quinquestriatus).

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How Scorpion Venom Is Helping Doctors Treat Cancer

When injected into the body, Tumor Paint lights up cancers. The drug could lead to a new class of therapeutics

Anthropologists have long debated the origins of human violence.

Can Resource Scarcity Really Explain a History of Human Violence?

Data from thousands of California burial sites suggests that a lack of resources causes violence. But that conclusion may be too simplistic

I just want to get this purr-fect.

Fur Real: Scientists Have Obsessed Over Cats for Centuries

Ten of the best feline-focused studies shed light on our relationship with these vampire-hunting, sexy-bodied killers

Just look at that vampiric cutie.

How Bats Ping On the Wing—And Look Cute Doing It

Researchers reveal how bats turn echolocation signals into a 3-D image of moving prey

From top left, clockwise: male orangequit; female tungara frog; purple mort bleu butterfly; sunflower; red coral; Galapagos marine iguana

Big Data Just Got Bigger as IBM's Watson Meets the Encyclopedia of Life

An NSF grant marries one of the world's largest online biological archives with IBM's cognitive computing and Georgia Tech's moduling and simulation

Cedar 7 at take-off

The Bizarre Tale of the Middle East’s First Space Program

In Lebanon, reminders of what could have been still stand

Recycling your trash is all the rage this season.

Meet an Environmental Activist and an Artist Who Share a Passion for “Trashion”

One man's trash suit is another woman's work of art

Mount Etna, Italy, erupts at night.

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Predicting Chaos: New Sensors Sniff Out Volcanic Eruptions Before They Happen

How volcanologists brave lung-singeing fumes to monitor eruptions with cutting-edge sensors

Ask Smithsonian: What’s the Point of Earwax?

Earwax has a job to do; but many are not hearing the message

Not all clothes are created equal.

Doing Laundry Can Be Deadly for Clams, Mollusks and Other Marine Animals

Pick your wardrobe carefully—the lives of sea animals may depend on it

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