New Research

An illustration of Shuvuuia deserti shows the long-legged dinosaur hunting an insect at night.

Big Eyes and Long Inner Ears Helped This Tiny, Owl-Like Dinosaur Hunt at Night

The chicken-sized Shuvuuia dinosaur had a fragile, birdlike skull, one-clawed hands and long skinny legs

The impulse to check your phone after someone nearby checks theirs is an example of the chameleon effect, new research suggests.

Research Shows Checking Your Phone Is Contagious Like Yawning

The 'chameleon effect' helps people blend into a crowd

“We think of fire often as this destructive tool,” says lead author Jessica Thompson. “That doesn’t have to be the case.”

Did Stone Age Humans Shape the African Landscape With Fire 85,000 Years Ago?

New research centered on Lake Malawi may provide the earliest evidence of people using flames to improve land productivity

This 1540 miniature by Hans Holbein may depict the Tudor king's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, not his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

Presumed Portrait of Catherine Howard May Actually Depict Anne of Cleves

A Hans Holbein miniature long thought to depict Henry VIII's fifth queen may instead portray the Tudor king's fourth wife

“We used five isotope methods in all to provide information on geology, coastal proximity, climate and diet,” says study co-author Richard Madgwick, an osteoarchaeologist at Cardiff University.

Ethnically Diverse Crew of Henry VIII's Flagship Hailed From Iberia, North Africa

New multi-isotope analysis illuminates early lives of sailors stationed on the Tudor "Mary Rose," including three born outside of Britain

Remains of individuals unearthed at the site of the former Hospital of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge

Medieval Britain's Cancer Rates Were Ten Times Higher Than Previously Thought

A new analysis of 143 skeletons suggests the disease was more common than previously estimated, though still much rarer than today

“When we saw the little foot and then the little hand [of the fetus], we were really shocked,” says anthropologist and archaeologist Marzena Ozarek-Szilke.

World's Only Known Pregnant Egyptian Mummy Revealed

The unprecedented discovery opens up new pathways into the study of maternal health in the ancient world

Elite Vikings constructed a huge stone boat for use in rituals at the Surtshellir cave.

Did Vikings Host Rituals Designed to Stop Ragnarök in This Volcanic Cave?

New findings at a cavern in Iceland point to decades of elite ceremonial activity aimed at preventing the apocalypse

An origami-inspired tent had to be flexible enough to inflate, but sturdy enough to withstand the elements.

Inflatable Origami Structures Could Someday Offer Emergency Shelter

An applied mathematics team created origami-inspired tents that can collapse to the size of a twin mattress with ease

The Anopheles stephensi mosquito is a carrier of the malaria parasite, and can infect people with the parasite when it bites them

New Malaria Vaccine Trial Reports 77 Percent Efficacy Rate

The promising results were announced following a second phase vaccine trial that included 450 children between five and 17 months old

A new analysis dates the wax bust's creation to the 19th century—some 300 years after Leonardo's death in 1519.

Whale Wax Helps Scholars Solve Mystery of Supposed Leonardo da Vinci Sculpture

Radiocarbon dating places the bust's creation centuries after the Renaissance artist's death in 1519

Researchers created this 3- by 2-centimeter version of The Starry Night in just four minutes.

Scientists Use Laser Paintbrush to Craft Mini Version of van Gogh's 'Starry Night'

The colorful "brushstrokes" are "reversible, rewritable [and] erasable," says scholar Galina Odintsova

The enzyme-enhanced plastic film had the same strength and flexibility as a standard plastic grocery bag.

This Biodegradable Plastic Will Actually Break Down in Your Compost

Water and heat activate plastic-munching enzymes that reduce the material to harmless chemical building blocks

A close-up view of Picasso's Seated Man (1917) shows the deep cracks running along its surface.

Why Did This Picasso Painting Deteriorate Faster Than Its Peers?

Study examines how animal glue, canvases, layers of paint and chemicals interacted to produce cracks in one work but not in others

Two scribes with near-identical handwriting penned the Great Isaiah Scroll.

How A.I. Is Helping Scholars Unlock the Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls

A new handwriting analysis suggests that two scribes collaborated on a key ancient manuscript

In Myanmar, a scientist with Smithsonian’s Global Health Program examines the world’s smallest mammal, a bumblebee bat.

Secretary Lonnie Bunch on the Power of Research at the Smithsonian

We can accomplish more when we unite our robust scientific capabilities with our educational reach

Harriet Tubman likely lived in the Maryland cabin between 1839 and 1844, when she was about 17 to 22 years old.

Site of Harriet Tubman's Lost Maryland Home Found After Decades-Long Search

The Underground Railroad conductor's father, Ben Ross, received the land where the cabin once stood in the early 1840s

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this image of swirling clouds in Jupiter's northern latitudes on November 3, 2019

Raindrops Are Surprisingly Similar on Other Planets

Whether they are made of water, methane or liquid iron, raindrops' size and shape are limited by the same equations

Bronze Age wedge tombs like the one pictured here are found throughout southwest Ireland. But the newly discovered burial “seems to be different,” archaeologist Mícheál Ó Coileáin tells the Irish Times. “Wedge tombs are usually visible above ground, [but] this one is completely concealed.”

Irish Farmer Stumbles Onto 'Untouched' Ancient Tomb

Archaeologists think the well-preserved burial dates to the Bronze Age—or perhaps even earlier

Smoke lingers following fires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in August 2020.

Humans Have Altered 97 Percent of Earth's Land Through Habitat and Species Loss

The study, which did not include Antarctica, also identified opportunities to restore up to 20 percent of land ecosystems

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