Science

David Eagleman

Think Big

Neuroscientist David Eagleman on What Is Possible in the Cosmos

The author tackles where the human brain and astronomy intersect

Playtime with baby can help expand a child’s attention span, a new study shows.

Infants Learn to Pay Attention (or Not) From Watching Mom and Dad

Parents who focus on play may help babies develop critical skills that predict future success

The grand hall of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut—the wellspring of some the most distinguished scholarship of our times.

The Scientific Daredevils Who Made Yale's Peabody Museum a National Treasure

When an award-winning science writer dug into the backstory of this New Haven institute, he found a world of scientific derring-do

The now-closed Fisk Generating Station in Chicago was once a triumph of engineering and considered one of the more efficient coal-fired plants in the country. Now, though, coal-fired plants like this one are looked on as dirty emitters of carbon dioxide--but CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas worth worrying about.

Age of Humans

When it Comes to Greenhouse Gases, CO2 Isn’t the Only Game in Town

Carbon dioxide rightly gets the attention in the climate change debate. But here are four more gases that can wreck our atmosphere.

Modern microscopes can image red blood cells in stunning detail.

Early Microscopes Revealed a New World of Tiny Living Things

A cloth merchant turned a device for checking his wares into an instrument fit for science

The Washington Monument went through years of expensive restoration work following a 2011 earthquake.

NASA Responds to an S.O.S. of Historic Proportions

Rocket technology could save our (historic) structures from earthquakes

"Science fiction is so important to our culture, because it allows us to dream," said Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary science division, at the "Future is Here" festival.

Future Is Here Festival

The Future Is Here Festival Considers Extraterrestrial Life and the Essence of Humanity

In the festival's final day, speakers turn to the cosmos and our place within it

Future is Here festival attendees heard from visionaries in a wide range of fields.

Future Is Here Festival

How to Make Science Fiction Become Fact, in Three Steps

Speakers at <em>Smithsonian</em> magazine's "Future is Here" festival said be patient, persistent, but never, ever pessimistic

Woolly mammoths were mixing it up with other mammoths in North America, new research shows.

North American Mammoths May Have Been a Single Species

Woolly mammoths and other varieties may have been intermingling, DNA analyses show

Researchers sort through finds recovered from trawling in the central section of the Amazon reef.

Shining Light on Brazil’s Secret Coral Reef

The massive, previously unstudied reef is unlike any other known on Earth

Demonstrators on the first Earth Day, Union Square, New York.

Age of Humans

Why Didn't the First Earth Day's Predictions Come True? It's Complicated

More than half a century ago, scientists and activists predicted utter doom for the planet. That hasn't happened yet, but it's nothing to cheer about

This Is the Closest Thing to a Dragon You'll Ever See

Draco lizards use specialized sideflaps to launch themselves into the air while evading predators

Groggy after a night in a strange place? A night watchman in your brain may be to blame.

You Can’t Sleep While Traveling Because Your Brain Acts Like a Dolphin’s

On the first night in a new place, half your brain stays awake to watch out for danger

Severe drought killed this stand of trembling aspen trees, Populus tremuloides, near Fairplay, Colorado.

What Does a Dying Forest Sound Like?

As temperatures rise, scientists scramble to pinpoint trees in danger of drought

Ginseng roots

The Fight Against Ginseng Poaching in the Great Smoky Mountains

A profitable black market for the native shrub pits the National Park Service against poor residents of Appalachia

After a century in which black holes went from theoretical nuisances to undisputed facts, a new initiative at the Harvard -Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics will study them.

Think Big

Stephen Hawking on Why Black Holes Are Worthy of Your Consideration

A new Harvard-Smithsonian initiative will delve into the places in the universe where spacetime sags around massive objects

Workers in Sumatra process an oil palm harvest from the plantation on the left even as the remnants of the natural peat swamp forest in the distance are burned to make way for new plantations.

Journey to the Center of Earth

The Mad Dash to Figure Out the Fate of Peatlands

As the planet’s peat swamps come under threat, the destiny of their stored carbon remains a mystery

Jekan Thanga (right) and students holding FemtoSats

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These Tiny Satellites Can Be Launched Into Space for as Little as $1,000

Researchers at Arizona State University may be paving the way for consumer satellite flight

Engineers have been working on improving Orion’s heat shield since the vehicle successfully traveled to space for the first time last year.

Inside the Grand Plan to Send Humans to Mars

NASA's innovative deputy administrator Dava Newman explains just how close we are to sending astronauts far, far away

The NASA Robot That Failed to Do Its Job

A cautionary tale about the android who just wasn't suited for the task at hand

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