/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121218020136squids-mating-brian-skerry-470px.jpg)
From deep-sea squid habits to vanishing coral reefs, here are the ocean stories we couldn’t stop talking about this year.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121218110010nimbus-II-web.jpg)
Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde has found a way to create clouds in gallery spaces. In the seconds before they dissipate, he captures beautiful photographs
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/SurprisingScience-Reindeer-631.jpg)
Some reindeer really do have red noses, a result of densely packed blood vessels near the skin's surface
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121218084059stick-n-find-small.jpg)
They haven't received much attention yet, but here are some of the more innovative--and useful--ideas that have popped up this year.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121217103055picresized_1344381588_picresized_1344381118_02_leakey_3906B_cvr_fred_spoor.jpg)
This year's hominid finds illuminate the great diversity and adaptability of our ancient relatives
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/SurprisingScience-Climate-Change-Tipping-631.jpg)
A new report indicates that we have roughly 8 years to cut fossil fuel use without risking catastrophic levels of warming
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121214020145white-and-red-christmas-tree-worm-web.jpg)
The oceans show holiday spirit with a worm on coral reefs that resembles a fluffy fir tree adorned with colored ornaments.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/SurprisingScience-Godilocks-Planets-631.jpg)
From the Higgs Boson to the Curiosity rover, 2012 was a major year for science
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121214110044nyasasaurus-thumb.jpg)
From feathers to black market fossil controversies, 2012 was a big year for dinosaurs
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121214084056Spaun-small.jpg)
Canadian researchers have created a computer model that performs tasks like a human brain. It also sometimes forgets things
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121213011152mouse-pheromones-small.jpg)
A new study shows that female mice who smell pheromones in potential mates' urine will constantly return to the site of exposure even weeks later
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121213092041australia-dinosaur-thumb.jpg)
Recently unveiled dinosaur sculptures are frustrating eyesores to some and tourist attractions to others
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/SurprisingScience-Cheese-631.jpg)
Previously traced to ancient Egypt, prehistoric pottery indicates that cheese was invented thousands of years earlier
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/2012121209312812-12-12-calendar-math-web.jpg)
Seen from a mathematical perspective, today's date--12/12/12--is more than a coveted wedding anniversary
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121212092115picresized_th_1355242957_little_foot_026.jpg)
The search for humans' most ancient ancestors began in South Africa, where some of paleoanthropology's most iconic fossils have been found
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121212092039tunnel-thumb.jpg)
Were enigmatic, 230-million-year-old burrows created by dinosaurs?
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121212091008Beehive-ginger-web.jpg)
In a new book, Andrew Zuckerman embraces minimalism, capturing 150 colorful blooms on white backdrops
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20121211102040novacek-thumb-1.jpg)
Dinosaurs can help us unlock essential secrets about the history of life on Earth
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Surprising-Science-Porcupine-631.jpg)
Microscopic barbs allow porcupine quills to slice into flesh easily and stay there stubbornly—qualities that could prove useful in medical applications
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/f5/aa/f5aa0409-0b60-4ed9-b4e3-42a019f6965d/picresized_1355107420_961px-broken_hill_skull_replica01.jpg)
The history of anthropology is littered with many now-defunct hominid species that no longer have a place on the human family tree
Page 261 of 439
