Unique among Earth’s creatures, turtles are the only animals to form a shell on the outside of their bodies through a fusion of modified ribs, […]

The post Discovery: Turtle shells appeared 40 million years earlier than previously believed appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Based on a treasure trove of recent discoveries, astronomers now know that planets are remarkably plentiful in our galaxy and may be common throughout the […]

The post Dust trap around distant star may unlock mystery as to how planets form appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum announced that it will receive a $6 million donation from the Thomas W. Haas Foundation to establish an […]

The post Air and Space Museum receives $6 million donation for Public Observatory Program appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

All stars begin their lives in groups. Most stars, including our Sun, are born in small, benign groups that quickly fall apart. Others form in […]

The post First transiting planets in a star cluster discovered appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, has posed an enduring mystery. Why is it so hot? The Sun’s visible surface is only 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, […]

The post Sun’s loops are displaying an optical illusion appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Fond of a range of marine and freshwater vegetation such as turtle grass and eelgrass, the Florida manatee spends most of its waking hours grazing […]

The post Algae bloom toxins may make Florida’s manatees and sea turtles susceptible to deadly accidents appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

To download the free e-book Best of Both Worlds: Museums, Libraries, and Archives in a Digital Age, by G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian, […]

The post Smithsonian secretary on the future of museums, libraries and archives appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The center of the Milky Way galaxy, with The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A–at center–is revealed in this image. Astronomers have used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to […]

The post Sagittarius A: Center of the Milky Way appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

  The surface of Venus is hidden beneath a perpetual blanket of clouds, but radar allows scientists at the National Air and Space Museum to […]

The post Mapping Venus with radar appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Santa Claus and his sleigh full of gifts has been upstaged early this holiday season by news of autonomous drones possibly delivering packages to your […]

The post Package-delivering drones? Q&A with Roger Connor of the National Air and Space Museum appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A groundbreaking study by Harvard University’s Harvard Forest and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute reveals that, if left unchecked, recent trends in the loss of […]

The post Sprawl threatens water quality, climate protection, and land conservation in Massachusetts appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For scientists who study non-insect invertebrates, the sheer diversity of these odd and fascinating creatures is both intoxicating and daunting. Occupying niches in habitats the […]

The post Non-insect invertebrates are focus of new global genome-sequencing alliance appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

W49A might be one of the best-kept secrets in our galaxy. This star-forming region shines 100 times brighter than the Orion nebula, but is so […]

The post SMA reveals giant star cluster in the making appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have discovered a new genus and species of attine ants that reveals key clues in the […]

The post Smithsonian scientists discover new ghost ant genus and species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As the male túngara frog serenades female frogs from a pond, he creates watery ripples that make him easier to target by rivals and predators […]

The post Bats use water ripples to hunt frogs appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

An 880-pound asteroid moving at 38,000 miles per hour hit the moon last September with a blast equivalent to 15 tons of TNT. While errant […]

The post Give us the telescopes and we’ll find the asteroid mines! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new species of mite discovered recently in Ohio is so tiny that it lives in the space between particles in sandy, impoverished soils. Despite […]

The post New dragon-like mite found in Ohio is gentle, reclusive appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Chip a tooth and expose a nerve and the result can be a searing sensitivity to hot and cold. The hard outer layer of a […]

The post Scientists map pathway from narwhals’ sensitive tusk to brain appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The galaxy known as M87 has a fastball that would be the envy of any baseball pitcher. It has thrown an entire star cluster toward […]

The post Star cluster thrown out of its galaxy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A mysterious X-ray signal has been found in a detailed study of galaxy clusters using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. One intriguing possibility […]

The post Mysterious X-ray signal from space appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

It is related to one of the world’s most destructive invasive species, and possibly the slimiest. Thirty-five pounds of live giant West African snails (Archachatina […]

The post Slimy invaders, giant snails: Q&A with mollusk expert Ellen Strong appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The carabid beetle tribe Lachnophorini is the focus of an extensive new study by two Smithsonian entomologists just published in a special issue of the […]

The post New study focuses on carabid beetles appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Over the vast, empty reaches of interstellar space, countless small molecules tumble quietly though the cold vacuum. Forged in the fusion furnaces of ancient stars […]

The post Mysterious molecules in space appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis), which has not been seen in the eastern United States in five years, has been found by a Smithsonian […]

The post Rare rusty-patched bumble bee discovered in Virginia survey appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In the wild, wide milk chocolate-brown stripes adorn the beautiful smooth, white shells of the chambered nautilus, a deep-diving mollusk from the Indo-Pacific Ocean. But […]

The post Nautilus shell deformity puzzles scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may have detected the dusty hallmarks of an entire family of Pluto-size objects swarming around an adolescent […]

The post Swarms of Pluto-size objects kick up dust around adolescent star appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Zombies have been part of popular culture for decades. The living dead rising and taking over the world is a terrifying concept, worthy of Hollywood […]

The post It’s science: zombies already walk among us appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society by scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) found unique communities […]

The post Golden Frogs with Unique Skin Microbes Survive Frog-Killing Fungus appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has acquired a large collection from the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Trust. The collection consists of 87 cubic […]

The post Arthur C. Clarke papers come to Air and Space Museum Archives appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Tucked in the shadow of the towering Skylab exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, there’s an inferno raging. Lucky for all of […]

The post Video from Solar Dynamics Observatory wows museum visitors appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Studies show that on average, the weight of cremated remains for men is about 7.13 pounds (plus or minus 1.2 pounds) and for women, 4.9 […]

The post Hi-Tech Analysis Cracks Curious Case of Contaminated Cremains appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

  In the store-rooms of the National Museum of American History curators recently discovered a small microscope made around 1750 by John Cuff (1708-1772), a […]

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Who: Wheelerodemus muhlenbergiae What: A newly discovered species of plant eating bug belonging to the family Blissidae, members of which are found worldwide. W. muhlenbergiae […]

The post Meet a new true bug: “Wheelerodemus muhlenbergiae” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers have discovered a black hole that grew much more quickly than its host galaxy. The discovery calls into question previous assumptions on the development […]

The post A Precocious Black Hole appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Since researchers began surveys in the 1980s, coral reefs in the Caribbean have undergone widespread change following bleaching and disease epidemics that have reduced the […]

The post Study reveals Agriculture and Fishing Cause Coral Reef Decline appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Contrary to popular imagery, massive volcanic eruptions or an asteroid impact may not have been the cause of the world’s first mass extinction. Rather, some […]

The post Did mystery worms cause world’s first mass extinction? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The collection of rocky planets orbiting distant stars has just grown by one, and the latest discovery is the most intriguing one to date. The […]

The post Astronomers Eager to Get a Whiff of Newfound Venus-like Planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A Smithsonian team of scientists re-examined a fossil sperm whale for the first time in 90 years and created an entirely new group in the […]

The post “Call Me Albicetus”: Fossil Sperm Whale Is Named in Honor of Moby-Dick appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Globular star clusters are extraordinary in almost every way. They’re densely packed, holding a million stars in a ball only about 100 light-years across on […]

The post Globular Clusters Could Nurture Interstellar Civilizations appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The bush dog is one of the most enigmatic of the world’s canid species, seldom seen throughout its range in Central and South America. New […]

The post Elusive bush dog widespread in Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the past 50 years, the number of wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) that breed in the United States has decreased more than 60 percent. However, […]

The post Smithsonian Scientists Solve Puzzle of Dramatic Wood Thrush Decline appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise…and you know the rest, probably even if you’re not a huge fan of […]

The post Five things only a conservator would know about the USS Enterprise appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

With over 138 million collection objects, 2.1 million library volumes, and 137,000 cubic feet of archives, the stories of how our collections have made their […]

The post Seventeen Objects for 170 Years (Happy Birthday to us!) appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

(Study is one of dozens to be presented by bird scientists this week at the 2016 North American Ornithological Conference in Washington, D.C.) To catch tuna […]

The post Fishing gear entanglements of marine birds is focus of Smithsonian ecologist’s study appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 The distant planet GJ 1132b intrigued astronomers when it was discovered last year. Located just 39 light-years from Earth, it might have an atmosphere despite […]

The post Venus-like Exoplanet Might Have Oxygen Atmosphere, But Not Life appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Like many predators, the fringe-lipped bat primarily uses its hearing to find its prey, but with human-generated noise on the rise, scientists are examining how […]

The post Bats Use Second Sense to Hunt Prey in Noisy Environments appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Crustaceans that thrive in the vastness of the open ocean have no place to hide from their predators. Consequently, many creatures that live at depths […]

The post Tiny ocean crustaceans wear invisibility cloak of living bacteria appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In 1935, 101 cane toads from Hawaii were set loose in Australia to help control beetles that were decimating the Australian sugar crop. But instead […]

The post Discovery: Australia’s invasive cane toads modify their bodies to conquer new territory faster appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Washington, D.C. is a city of symbols. The rites, rituals, and places that define Washington capture the aspirations of our nation and its citizens. Just […]

The post Trusted Sources: Why Museums and Libraries Are More Relevant Than Ever appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New species don’t just spring out of thin air. Speciation, the evolutionary process by which new and distinct species arise, usually takes millions of years. […]

The post Simultaneous hermaphrodites: Understanding Speciation in fish called “hamlets” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.