The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Pawnee, Oklahoma, on Sept. 3 is officially the state's largest on record. Geologists believe that activities related to oil and gas extraction in the state have triggered a quake swarm in the seismically active region.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Oklahoma Just Had Its Biggest Quake Ever, and There May Be More to Come

Oklahoma’s recent string of earthquakes are something new for the state

After just moments in the air, flight 1549 collided with a flock of geese.

Smithsonian Expert Fills in the Missing Science Behind the Movie “Sully”

Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove shares her story of analyzing the bird remains or “snarge” scraped from the engines of flight 1549

As more countries and companies send spacecraft to other worlds, scientists are worried about potential contamination risks. Here, NASA's Curiosity rover takes a self-portrait on Mars.

Think Big

Can We Save Mars From Ourselves?

When we travel to Earth-like worlds, contamination may be inevitable

Cameras Capture a Hornet Hatching Up-Close

After two weeks of encasement, it’s time for the larvae, now adult hornets, to leave their silk cocoons. Get an intimate look at the moment one hatches

Melba Roy led the group of human computers who tracked the Echo satellites in the 1960s.

Women Who Shaped History

The True Story of “Hidden Figures,” the Forgotten Women Who Helped Win the Space Race

A new book and movie document the accomplishments of NASA’s black “human computers” whose work was at the heart of the country’s greatest battles

The pace of drug development can be key in minimizing the scale of an outbreak.

The Story of a Resurrected Antiviral Could Hold Lessons for Combating Zika

How Stanford scientists used two genetic screening techniques in tandem to unravel the mystery of a discarded antiviral

Mario Livio

Think Big

Astrophysicist Mario Livio on the Intersection of Art and Science

The scientist considers both a response to the vastness of the universe

Like humans, captive Komodo dragons tend to impose their microbes upon their environments.

Captive Komodo Dragons Share Their Teeming Microbiome with Their Environment, Just Like Us

Komodos could be the perfect model for studying host-microbe interactions

Dennis Wiist inspects an eagle's foot at the National Eagle Repository in Commerce City, Colorado.

Inside a Remarkable Repository that Supplies Eagle Parts to Native Americans and Science

The repository, which has long provided feathers to tribes for traditional uses, also helps bird conservation researchers

The only one who really understands me.

New Research

Dogs Know When You’re Praising Them. That Doesn’t Mean They Understand Human Speech

A dose of caution with the results of an intriguing new study

Think Curiosity is cool? You ain't seen nothing yet.

Think Big

How the Next Generation of Mars Rovers will Search for Signs of Life

The Mars 2020 rover doesn’t even have a name yet—but it already has an ambitious goal

A Falcon 9 explodes on the launch pad, 9:07 a.m. on September 1, 2016.

Air & Space Magazine

SpaceX Explosion Sets Back Launch Date, Hopes

The Falcon 9 blow up may be a sign that Elon Musk is moving too fast

An artist's impression of the Milky Way six million years ago, depicts an orange bubble at the galactic center and extending to a radius of about 20,000 light-years. Scientist think that outside of that bubble, a pervasive "fog" of million-degree gas might account for the galaxy's missing matter.

Solving the Mystery of the Milky Way’s Missing Mass

Smithsonian scientists have discovered a huge cloud of super hot gas expanding from the middle of our galaxy

Two Giant Killer Hornet Colonies Battle to the Death

A giant killer hornet war is waged between two colonies, and the resources, territories, and survival of a new generation are at stake

A beach in Juneau, Alaska. Sea levels in Alaska are not rising, but dropping precipitously due to a phenomenon known as glacial isostatic adjustment.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Melting Glaciers Are Wreaking Havoc on Earth’s Crust

Sea levels are dropping, earthquakes and volcanoes are waking up, and even the earth’s axis is moving—all because of melting ice

The Carnegie Quarry fossil excavation at Utah's Dinosaur National Monument has yielded more than 11 different species, including dinosaurs, such as Allosaurus, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus, as well as turtles, crocodiles and lizards.

You Can Thank Scientists for the National Park System

Early conservation research and scientific expeditions laid the groundwork and helped to convince the public national parks were a good idea

The subtle and nuanced female form, as captured by Georgia O'Keeffe.

The Quest to Build the First Robotic Vagina

Your reproductive tract is a biological miracle, and researchers are trying to recreate it

Many boundaries between geologic eras are marked by physical golden spikes. This one, in South Australia, marks the end of the Ediacaran period, 635 million years ago.

Age of Humans

Where in the World Is the Anthropocene?

Some geologists believe we’ve entered a new era. Now they have to search for the rocks that prove it

The casein film can either be used as wrappers, like this, or it can be sprayed onto food.

Age of Humans

Here’s a Food Wrapper You Can Eat

Made from milk protein, it not only keeps food from spoiling, but it also could keep a lot of plastic out of landfills

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: What Is a Dimple?

Michael Jordan, Vanessa Hudgens and all those celeb dimples to die for? Just a result of a double zygomaticus major muscle

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