The impact of industrial fishing on coastal ecosystems has been studied for many years. But how it affects food webs in the open ocean―a vast […]

The post Scientists find impact of open-ocean industrial fishing within centuries of bird bones appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian is delighted to be included in this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival (June 26 – July 2 in Aspen, Colo.) which will gather some of […]

The post Three Smithsonian scientists to participate in Aspen Ideas Festival appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Observed in the wild, tucked away in museum collections, and even exhibited in zoos around the world―there is one mysterious creature that has been a […]

The post Smithsonian scientists discover new carnivore: the olinguito appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In 2009, during an expedition by a Russian research ship, a small length of yellow flesh about 5 centimeters long was dredged up from the […]

The post Last seen 140 years ago, deep sea worm resurfaces, delighting scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Hellbenders, aquatic salamanders from the eastern United States, are surprisingly good at dealing with unpredictable weather. In a recent study published in the Journal of […]

The post Zoo scientists find sudden stream temperature changes boost hellbender immune systems appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Mortlock Islands flying fox, a large, breadfruit-eating bat native to a few remote and tiny Pacific islands, has long been regarded as one of […]

The post Scientists shine light on world’s least-studied bat: Mortlock Islands flying fox 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.

After years of sleuthing for clues about where and when pantherine felids (“big cats”) originated, a Smithsonian scientist and an international team of researchers are […]

The post Smithsonian scientist confirms missing link in big cat evolution appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Out in Montana’s Big Sky Country Dale Greenwalt spends his summers seeking the incredibly tiny and fragile. Armed with a putty knife honed razor-sharp on […]

The post Quality of insect fossils from Montana’s Flathead River astounds scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The largest fully preserved great ape collection in the world is about to make its online debut.

The post Unlocking secrets–technology allows scientists to peer inside great apes 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.

Parents normally feel the need to provide well for their kids. For humans, that number of offspring is usually in the single digits, but a […]

The post The secret formula to feeding 900 babies: Scientists uncover milk composition of naked mole-rat queens appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Sometimes you need to look in unusual places to tell species apart. Some mammal species are easily distinguished by differences in their fur or skeletons, […]

The post Penis spines help scientists identify bat species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

National Museum of Natural History scientist Torsten Dikow discovered and named a new species of assassin fly, Burmapogon bruckschi, after studying the first two specimens […]

The post Ancient species of assassin fly discovered by Smithsonian scientist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Identifying larval stages of marine fishes in the open ocean is difficult because the young fishes often bear little or no resemblance to the adults […]

The post Smithsonian scientists link fish larva in Florida to new sea bass species from Curacao appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time in roughly 2 million years, melting Arctic sea ice is connecting the north Pacific and north Atlantic oceans. The newly opened […]

The post Global warming will open Arctic to invasive species, Smithsonian scientists say appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Human skin and gut microbes influence processes from digestion to disease resistance. Despite the fact that tropical forests are the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems on […]

The post Smithsonian scientists discover tropical tree microbiome in Panama 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.

While it seems that we can find just about anything on the Internet, it doesn’t mean we know everything yet. Every year, Smithsonian scientists discover […]

The post Five fascinating species discovered by Smithsonian scientists in 2014 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time, a team from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s (SCBI) Center for Conservation Education and Sustainability collected photo evidence of an Andean […]

The post Scientists Find Andean Bears with Camera Traps In Peru appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A word to the wise: don’t ask a paleontologist to pick a favorite fossil. It’s like asking your mother which child she loves most, or […]

The post Fossils help scientists build a picture of the past—and present appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“The Smithsonian Institution”―When most people hear the name, museums, scientific research, even Dorothy’s ruby slippers and the Wright brothers’ plane come to mind. But many […]

The post James Smithson, the scientist who started the Smithsonian appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new analysis of the fossil record by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has revealed that the structure of plant and […]

The post Smithsonian Scientists Trace Anthropocene Roots to Early Human Activity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and partners have published a paper that will help them save Panamanian frog species from extinction due to a deadly […]

The post New Study Helps Smithsonian Scientists Prioritize Frogs at Risk of Extinction 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.

Smothered in tartar sauce and cheese it’s difficult to know just what species of fish lurks beneath the breaded surface of a fast-food fish sandwich. […]

The post Smithsonian scientist creating DNA database to track Caribbean conch and lobster appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Three former scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park–Ellen Lamirande, Don Nichols, and Allan Pessier–were honored at the sixth annual Golden Goose Award ceremony at […]

The post Zoo scientists honored at Golden Goose appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Chances are, if you’ve been stung by a jellyfish along the Chesapeake Bay it was by a sea nettle jellyfish–one of the most common and […]

The post Scientists discover common sea nettle jellyfish is actually two distinct species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

With its homely featherless head, undertaker’s charcoal coloring and association with death and decay, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) tops few lists as a favorite […]

The post Scientists in awe of huge olfactory bulb found in turkey vulture brain appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Flitting swiftly through the darkness above the tropical forest canopy in Central and South America, a group of cute little bats with dog-like faces have […]

The post More sky puppies! Scientists discover two new species of dog-faced bat appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This winter has brought many intense and powerful storms, with cold fronts sweeping across much of the United States. On a much grander scale, astronomers […]

The post Scientists surprised by relentless cosmic cold front appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Little to nothing is known about how and where a small European songbird called the bluethroat spends much of the year. Now, Smithsonian scientists have […]

The post Scientists track a mysterious songbird using tiny backpack locators appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When many people think of the Chesapeake Bay, one of the first creatures that comes to mind is the iconic blue crab. But parts of […]

The post Smithsonian scientists become shark detectives to track species in the Chesapeake Bay appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The new island visible in the satellite photograph is the top of a giant shield volcano located on the rift axis in the Red Sea where the continental plates of Africa and Arabia are pulling apart.

The post A hot new island has just surfaced in the Red Sea. What’s going on? Smithsonian scientists explain. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists from the Smithsonian and the University of Rhode Island have found unsuspected linkages between the oxidation state of iron in volcanic rocks and variations […]

The post Scientists uncover relationship between lavas erupting on sea floor and deep-carbon cycle appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Odile Madden knows a lot about plastic. A materials scientist with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, she has spent the past eight years studying plastics […]

The post Microplastics in our environment: A conversation with Odile Madden, Smithsonian plastics scientist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Cambridge, MA -Physicists are capitalizing on a direct connection between the largest cosmic structures and the smallest known objects to use the universe as a […]

The post Scientists are using the universe as a “cosmological collider” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As average annual temperatures increase, mosquitoes have also been on the move—up the mountains of the Hawaiian islands. Once a refuge for native birds susceptible […]

The post Scientists race to find genetic clues as malaria decimates rare Hawaiian honeycreepers appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Meet Our Scientist: National Zoo veterinarian Katharine Hope appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Dr. JoGayle Howard of the Smithsonian's National Zoo discusses her work to breed and study one of the world's most endangered cats, the clouded leopard. More about the National Zoo's work to save clouded leopards: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/SCBI/ReproductiveScience/ConsEn...
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/support/annualappeal/cloudedleo... ... (more info)

The post Meet Our Scientist: Dr. JoGayle Howard of the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Dr. Thomas R. Watters of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum talks about his research in astronomy, particularly our moon. More about space science at http://www.nasm.si.edu

The post Meet Our Scientist: Tom Watters – Moon Science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Dr. Mary Hagedorn, a marine biologist at the Smithsonian Institution, talks about her research to understand and conserve our oceans' corals.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Mary Hagedorn – Coral Science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Botanist Stefan Schnitzer talks about his work studying lianas (woody vines) in the jungles of Panama. These hardy vines compete with trees for water and nutrients and also act as highways for jungle animals moving through the forest canopy.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Stefan Schnitzer – Tropical Vine Science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

What determines the variety of trees in a tropical forest? Is it the seed size? Perhaps seed-hungry animals? And what happens to forests that are being drastically changed by humans? Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Botanist, Helene Muller Landau, talks about her attempt to find answers to these questions.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Helene Muller Landau – Tropical Forest Science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Invasive plant species are threatening native species across the globe. Learn how scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Center in Panama are trying to fight one species of grass in Panama that is wreaking havoc on the country's tropical biodiversity.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Jefferson Hall – Invasive Plant Science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo's new genetics lab use animal DNA to diagnose new diseases, discover new species help in conservation efforts and solve mysteries.

The post Scientists at a new National Zoo laboratory use DNA to diagnose illnesses and discover new species of animals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian Scientist Helen James dives into dormant Hawaiian volcanoes to find bird fossils. Her work to identify these species (some new species, some extinct) helps us learn about the past--specifically, how humans might have caused the extinction of certain bird species.

The post Meet Our Scientist–Helen James dives into dormant Hawaiian volcanoes to find bird fossils appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When birds and planes collide: Carla Dove, a forensic ornithologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, talks about the work of the Smithsonian's Feather Identification Lab and its role in improving aviation safety.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove explains bird-strike science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Join National Zoo Conservation Biologist Brian Gratwicke in his work to save Panama's amphibians from extinction. You can also catch up on his dispatches from the field on the Panamanian Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project's blog: http://amphibianrescue.org/

The post Meet our Scientist: Brian Gratwicke, Amphibian Avenger appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Which is more important for a career as a scientist, good grades in math or a strong sense of adventure? Hear what Smithsonian geologist Liz Cottrell has to say as she recounts her own school years and the steps that led to a career she can't imagine ever giving up.

The post Smithsonian geologist Liz Cottrell talks about what it takes to be a scientist. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.