Nearly 100 years ago, scientists detected the first signs of cosmic rays—subatomic particles (mostly protons) that zip through space at nearly the speed of light. […]

The post Telescope array finds new evidence that exploding stars are sources of cosmic rays appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Recently, researchers from Boston University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have been taking a closer look at the vibrations that red-eyed treefrog embryos use as cues to trigger early hatching. They discovered that treefrog embryos can evaluate different features of vibrations.

The post Researchers discover treefrog embryos can evaluate different features of vibrations appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Chi Cygni pulses once every 408 days. At its smallest diameter of 300 million miles, it becomes mottled with brilliant spots as massive plumes of hot plasma roil its surface. As it expands, Chi Cygni cools and dims, growing to a diameter of 480 million miles—large enough to engulf and cook our solar system out to the asteroid belt.

The post Distant, dying star gives astronomers preview of the fate of our Sun appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Spinning under the influence” is one way to describe recent activities in the Costa Rican laboratory of Smithsonian scientist William Eberhard. An entomologist at the Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Institute, Eberhard recently carried out a series of experiments in which he observed the web-building behavior of dozens of spiders under the influence of drugs—specifically, a chemical injected into their bodies by parasitic wasps.

The post Drugged spiders’ web spinning may hold keys to understanding animal behavior appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In their laboratory, scientists from the University of Cambridge, the University of Southampton and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, observed as a number of adult locusts walked along a horizontal ladder. After covering the right or left eye of an insect, the scientists observed a significant increase in the error rate of rungs missed by the front leg on the side of the covered eye.

The post For first time, scientists prove locusts use vision to place their legs when walking appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian astronomers have just discovered a rare example of a galaxy that appears to have a pair of giant black holes. Now they are trying to determine if those black holes are partners tied together by gravity, or if one of the two has been kicked out in a cosmic breakup.

The post Double Black-Hole Mystery: Dance Partners or Breakup Survivors? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Eleven bats remain in the National Zoo’s colony. The initial challenge the team faced was how to feed the animals. Virginia big-eared bats, which are a subspecies of the Townsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinuss townsendii), eat while flying.

The post Captive colony of Virginia big-eared bats providing valuable lessons in battle against deadly white-nose syndrome appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists from the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, the University of Valencia in Spain and the University of Minnesota, recently made an important observation regarding charcoals […]

The post Fungi still visible in wood charcoal centuries after burning appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Based on decades of cutting-edge research, the 15,000-square-foot Hall of Human Origins offers visitors an immersive, interactive journey through 6 million years of human evolution spelling out how defining characteristics of the human species have evolved during millions of years in response to a changing world.

The post New Hall of Human Origins points to environmental change as major force in evolution of hominins appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Long before dawn on a recent morning, Katie Milton and a group of stalwart volunteers, each armed with flashlight and compass, spread out into the jungle to take up positions at 35 listening stations marked on maps of the island.

The post Census reveals 1,200 howler monkeys living on Barro Colorado Island appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute conducted three different kinds of genetics tests and all yielded the same result—the Galapagos seabirds have been genetically different from the magnificent frigatebirds elsewhere for more than half a million years.

The post Genetic surprise: Magnificent frigatebird living on Galapagos Islands is distinct species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has unveiled a previously unseen structure centered in the Milky Way--a finding likened in terms of scale to the discovery of a new continent on Earth. The feature, which spans 50,000 light-years, may be the remnant of an eruption from a supersized black hole at the center of our galaxy.

The post Astronomers find giant, previously unseen structure in our galaxy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For a thousand years, Cyprus was divided into at least 10 autonomous states. The inhabitants spoke three languages: Greek, Phoenician, and Eteocypriot, the original language […]

The post Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

At the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., the seven-month-old white-naped cranes Cal and Bill are thriving.

The post White-naped crane chicks thriving at National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A research team from The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Virginia's Old Dominion University will be awarded $110,999 to develop a tool to help seagrass restorers predict which places will be the best for planting seagrasses, the Virginia Sea Grant has announced.

The post Environmental Research Center to help with Chesapeake Bay seagrass restoration appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute community ecologist Sunshine Van Bael primarily examines the relationship between leaf cutter ants–the world’s first farmers–and the fungi that they cultivate.

The post New online video series to feature Tropical Research Institute scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Office of Public Affairs videographers Johnny Gibbons and Brian Ireley recently headed down to the Punta Culebra Nature Center on the edge of Panama City […]

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Evidence for a diversified sea-based economy among North American inhabitants dating from 12,200 to 11,400 years ago is emerging from three sites on California's Channel Islands.

The post New archaeological evidence reveals California’s Channel Islands as North America’s earliest seafaring economy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

If intelligent and more advanced civilizations exist on other planets then its a good bet that some of these civilizations turned to asteroid mining long ago. If so, the hallmarks of their mining activities, such as unusual dirty halos of cast-off dust and debris around large asteroids, might be detectable from earth.

The post Evidence of asteroid mining in our galaxy may lead to the discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A remarkable 5,000-year-old deposit of bones representing an entire herd of Persian gazelles recently discovered in northeastern Syria is firm evidence, scientists say, of an ancient hunting practice largely responsible for the near extinction of gazelles in this region today.

The post Archaeological evidence confirms mass hunting of gazelles 5,000 years ago appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The expanded and remodeled Mathias Laboratory, named in honor of U.S. Senator Charles "Mac" Mathias Jr. (1922-2010) (R-Md.) will have a low environmental impact on all fronts, from where it gets its power to where it gets its materials.

The post New Mathias Lab at Environmental Research Center will have low environmental impact appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The new research reveals that from the period between 1100-1600 small agricultural settlements up and down the Delaware River Valley caused a 50-percent increase in sediment runoff into the Delaware River.

The post Study reveals environmental impact of American Indian farms centuries before Europeans arrived in North America appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers have discovered a new comet that they expect will be visible to the naked eye in early 2013.A preliminary orbit computed by the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., shows that the comet will come within about 30 million miles of the sun in early 2013, about the same distance as Mercury. The comet will pose no danger to Earth.

The post New comet may be visible to the naked eye in 2013 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The whole-genome analysis of two Tasmanian devils—one that died of a new contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) and one healthy animal—is at the center of a new management strategy to help prevent the extinction of this species.

The post Whole-genome analysis at center of effort to save Tasmanian devil appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo has a new addition: Rocky, a male whooping crane (Grus americana). This is the first time the Zoo has exhibited this species in 88 years.

The post Whooping crane will help teach visitors and scientists alike appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Gray whales survived many cycles of global cooling and warming over the past few million years, likely by exploiting a more varied diet than they do today, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, and Smithsonian Institution paleontologists.

The post Varied diet has allowed gray whales to survive millions of years, study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Using 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional CT scans, Natural History Museum anthropologists found that the brain and major organs were removed and rolls of linen filled out the abdominal cavity. This mummification method is evidence of superior embalming, indicating a person of higher status.

The post Video: A mummy ‘grows’ with CT scans and 3D digital technology appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A small-eel like fish newly discovered in a cave in the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific represents an extremely primitive "living fossil."

The post Video: Newly discovered eel a “living fossil” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Kandula, an 8-year-old male Asian elephant at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, recently demonstrated to researchers for the first time that elephants are capable of insightful problem solving.

The post A first: National Zoo elephant shows insightful problem solving appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has spotted a planet that alternately runs late and
early in its orbit because a second, "invisible" world is tugging on it.
This is the first definite detection of a previously unknown planet using
this method.

The post Invisible world “spotted” tugging on visible planet by Kepler spacecraft appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study on the dodo’s island home of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, paints a picture of this unusual bird as an intrepid survivor on par with the giant tortoise for its resiliency.

The post Dodo bird a resilient island survivor before the arrival of humans, study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought.

The post Infrared survey reveals fewer near-Earth asteroids than previously thought appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In a new study researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics used DNA from coyote scat (feces) to trace the route that led some of the animals to colonize in Northern Virginia.

The post New genetic evidence confirms coyote migration route to Virginia and hybridization with wolves appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In a new paper, Avi Loeb, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Edwin Turner, Princeton University, suggest a new technique for finding aliens: look for their city lights.

The post City lights could reveal E.T. civilization appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Viewed from inside the SOMATOM Emotion 6CT scanner used at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the skeleton and internal organs of this well-preserved […]

The post Peruvian mummy as seen by a SOMATOM Emotion 6CT scanner appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Nearly 20 years after the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute became the first to produce an Eld’s deer fawn through artificial insemination, SCBI scientists have now contributed to the birth of the first Eld’s deer via in vitro fertilization.

The post First Eld’s deer born from in vitro fertilization with help of Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New research on tiny spiders has revealed that their brains are so large that they fill their body cavities and overflow into their legs, say a team of scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

The post Brains of tiny spiders fill their body cavities and legs, Smithsonian researchers discover appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A box jellyfish from the Caribbean appears to have recently become established in the red mangroves of Florida near Boca Raton.

The post Caribbean box jellyfish now thriving in southern Florida appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The only explanation for such symmetry across these vast distances, explains Smithsonian anthropologist Dennis Stanford, is that the method of creating the points was handed down from person to person.

The post 3-D imaging adds remarkable new understanding of North America’s mysterious Clovis people appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers led by David Nesvorny of Southwest Research Institute and David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has inferred an unseen planet, this time orbiting a distant star, marking the first success of this technique outside the solar system.

The post Unseen planet’s gravity allows Kepler Telescope to “see” it appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new video to help aviators identify the cause of bird strikes has been posted on YouTube by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services Airport Wildlife Hazard Program and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The post Aircraft bird-strike reports can save lives. New video shows how to report, collect and ship evidence appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A July 12 news alert from NASA indicates a X1.4 class solar flare erupted from the center of the Sun, peaking July 12 at 12:52 P.M.

The post Coronal mass ejection from July 12 solar flare headed toward Earth; minor geomagnetic storm activity predicted appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

By attaching tiny radio transmitters to more than 400 seeds, Patrick Jansen, scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Wageningen University, and his colleagues found that 85 percent of the seeds were buried in caches by agoutis, common, house cat-sized rodents in tropical lowlands.

The post Thieving rodents hiding seeds drives continual rejuvination of tropical forests appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study has unveiled how the tiny hummingbird adapts to flying in heavy rain.

The post Video shows how hummingbirds adjust flight in heavy rain appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Ignition Sequence,” 1968, Vincent Cavallaro, oil on canvas. The power of the ignition and launch sequence of a NASA rocket is portrayed in an abstract […]

The post “Ignition Sequence,” by Vincent Cavallaro appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are recommending that Panama adopt revised traffic patterns and slower speeds for vessels crossing the Gulf of Panama to reduce the risk of collisions between ships and whales.

The post Ships need to slow down for whales in Gulf of Panama, scientists advise appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A rare Longman’s beaked whale found stranded on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2010 has scientists in Hawaii on the alert for a deadly disease known as morbillivirus which can lead to high mortality rates in dolphins and other marine mammals.

The post Rare whale beached in Hawaii infected with deadly marine-mammal virus appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Clearly visible connecting the dark-purple cephalopods was the white “terminal organ” or penis of the male, extending out through the male’s funnel.

The post First detailed sex video of deep-sea squid resolves long-standing mysteries as to how these animals mate appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Tiny as a mouse with a ‘prout brown’ body and three black stripes on its back Monodelphis gardneri from Peru bears little resemblance to its much larger cousin the North American opossum.

The post Tiny new Peruvian opossum comes from a great big family appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Using echolocation alone the bats found, identified and captured insects perched motionless and silent on the leaves of plants.

The post Common tropical bat uses echolocation with precision previously considered impossible, new experiments reveal appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.