Science

The smallest cub, which weighed just 86 grams at birth, is seen here being hand-reared with bottle formula feedings.

Panda Update: Giant Panda Mom Mei Xiang Won't Exchange Care of Cubs

Smaller cub is receiving infant formula and fluids from Zoo veterinarians

A bat box stands over the Herdade do Esporão vineyard in Portugal.

Age of Humans

Winemakers Are Building Houses for Bats to Make Vineyards Greener

Attracting the right species can help get rid of vine-munching insects and allow farmers to cut back on pesticides

The white Kermode bear, a rare ursa sacred to local tribes, is now the center of a fierce battle to protect British Columbia’s rainforest.

Canada

This Rare, White Bear May Be the Key to Saving a Canadian Rainforest

The white Kermode bear of British Columbia is galvanizing First Nations people fighting to protect their homeland

Fast Forward

A Mouthguard That Could Measure Concussions

Professional football, rugby, and other contact sports could benefit from it

Opah caught off the coast of Hawaii can weigh 200 pounds.

Taking the Temperature of the First Warmblooded Fish

What can the opah tell us about the deep blue sea

The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South

A naturalist cuts through the myths surrounding the invasive plant

None

The 21st Century Life List: 25 Great New Places to See

Something for the scientist, the history buff, the artist and the thrill-seeker

None

Anthropocene

These Maps Show the Severe Impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans

Where does the city stand now, compared to where it was ten years ago when the storm hit

Learning the value of sharing.

New Research

Want a Satisfying Sex Life? Try Being a Better Parent

Data suggest that splitting childcare duties often produces happier, more sexually satisfied couples

Screen grab from Panda Cam

BREAKING: A Panda Cub is Born at the National Zoo (Video)

The 17-year-old female giant panda Mei Xiang gives birth

Humans take 14 times more adult biomass from the oceans than other marine predators.

Anthropocene

Modern Humans Have Become Superpredators

Most other predators target juveniles, but our species tends to kill more full-grown adults

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: Why Do Flamingos Stand on One Leg?

Flamingos may be doing their one-legged tree pose to stay warm or just because it's comfortable

This layered metal sphere is a wormhole for magnets.

Innovative Spirit Health Care

Physicists Built a Wormhole for Magnets

The metal sphere lets one magnetic field pass through another undetected, which could lead to improvements in medical imaging

Veterinarians detected what they believe is a developing giant panda fetus in an ultrasound procedure on giant panda Mei Xiang. Based on the size of the fetus, which is about four centimeters, officials say that Mei Xiang could give birth early next week, or possibly in early September.

Panda Cub (Or Is It Bamboo?) Detected in Mei Xiang's Ultrasound

Breeding pandas is complicated and frustrating. The Zoo's female Giant Panda has delivered two healthy cubs in the past ten years

"Flatties" might be more aptly nicknamed "fliers" for their ability to glide to safety should they lose their grip in tree canopies.

New Research

Gliding Spiders Found Falling From Tropical Trees

Flat-bodied spiders that live in the rainforest strike a Superman pose to take control of their free-falls

The remains of slash-and-burn land clearing in Rondônia in 1985.

Age of Humans

How a Farming Project in Brazil Turned Into a Social and Ecological Tragedy

This week's Generation Anthropocene podcast looks at Rondônia, a textbook tale of how not to set up sustainable land use

Head lice crawl across a nit comb and into your nightmares.

New Research

Lice That Can Resist Drugs Have Infested Half the States in the U.S.

Mutated pests that can survive common drugstore treatments have been found in at least 25 states so far

Sweetgrass, a possible anti-mosquito agent.

New Research

This Sweet-Smelling Herb Can Ward Away Mosquitoes

Traditionally used by some Native American peoples, sweetgrass contains chemicals known to repel pesky bugs

Greetings, 51 Eridani b!

How, and Why, Do Astronomers Take Pictures of Exoplanets?

The latest snapshot of a Jupiter-like world hints at the potential for seeing more diverse planets in direct images

Yeast, a multipurpose microbe.

Innovative Spirit Health Care

A Genetically Modified Yeast Turns Sugar Into Painkillers

Stanford scientists have engineered a strain of yeast that can produce opiates on its own

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