Women in Science

Angela Belcher got her powerful idea from an abalone shell.

Invisible Engineering

Chemist Angela Belcher looks to manufacture high technology out of viruses

While geologist don't know how long the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull could go on for, the last eruption in 1821 went until 1823.

What We Know From the Icelandic Volcano

Geologist Elizabeth Cottrell discusses the effects of the Icelandic volcanic eruption and the work of the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine

The ocean's boundless energy (von Jouanne near Oregon's Otter Rock Beach) could furnish up to 6.5 percent of U.S. electricity.

Catching a Wave, Powering an Electrical Grid?

Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea

Where do they go? How many are there? What's with the tusk? Narwhals (in the Arctic Ocean) have inspired myth and wonder but are still little known to science.

In Search of the Mysterious Narwhal

Ballerina turned biologist Kristin Laidre gives her all to study the elusive, deep-diving, ice-loving whale known as the "unicorn of the sea"

Born with a disease that has robbed her eyesight, Alisha Bacoccini (being examined by surgeon Albert Maguire) is undergoing experimental gene therapy at the University of Pennsylvania. If she weren't legally blind, says the 20-year-old massage therapist, she would want to be a forensic scientist.

Gene Therapy in a New Light

A husband-and-wife team's experimental genetic treatment for blindness is renewing hopes for a controversial field of medicine

Nancy Knowlton

Nancy Knowlton

The renowned coral reef biologist leads Smithsonian's effort to foster a greater public understanding of the world's oceans

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