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.

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University of Florida and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientists describe a new 20-foot extinct species of crocodile discovered in the same Colombian coal mine with Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake.

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Although cold and gaseous rather than a desert world, the newfound planet Kepler-16b is still the closest astronomers have come to discovering Luke Skywalker's home world of Tatooine.

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The fossil represents the youngest nodosaur ever discovered, and the only known specimen of a new genus and species of dinosaur that lived approximately 110 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous Era.

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Thunder, lightning and strong winds greeted the National Zoo’s two female red panda cubs when they were born June 17, and that stormy night has […]

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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.

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Our studies of the genetic relationships between these bees tells us that they originated in the Amazon about 22 million years ago and that they moved north into Central America before 3 million years ago.

The post Two closely related bee species discovered far apart in Panama and northern Colombia appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists and collaborators have determined the evolutionary family tree for one of the most strikingly diverse and endangered bird families in the world, the Hawaiian honeycreepers.

The post Complete evolutionary tree of the Hawaiian honeycreepers traced by Smithsonian scientists, collaborators appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time, astronomers have detected around a burgeoning solar system a sprawling cloud of water vapor that’s cold enough to form comets, which could eventually deliver oceans to dry planets.

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The first DNA barcoding survey of crustaceans living on samples of dead coral taken from the Indian, Pacific and Caribbean oceans suggests that the diversity of organisms living on the world’s coral reefs—one of the most endangered habitats on Earth—is seriously underestimated.

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A fragment of whale rib found in a North Carolina strip mine is offering scientists a rare glimpse at the interactions between prehistoric sharks and whales some 3- to 4- million years ago during the Pliocene.

The post Details of ancient shark attack preserved in fossil whale bone appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

DNA analysis has established that creatures captured during a voyage to the mid-Atlantic are members of the Torquaratoridae; a recently discovered family of acorn worms.

The post Strange deep sea creatures confirmed as three new species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers are confident the Cygnus X-1 system contains a black hole, and with these latest studies they have remarkably precise values of its mass, spin, and distance from Earth.

The post New details on birth of black hole Cygnus X-1 revealed by Chandra X-ray Observatory appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

It took the revealing power of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to uncover not one, but four remarkably red galaxies.

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In 2011, scholars from three institutions—National Museum of American History Curators Carlene Stephens and Shari Stout, Library of Congress Digital Conversion Specialist Peter Alyea and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Scientists Carl Haber and Earl Cornell—came together in a newly designed preservation laboratory at the Library of Congress to recover sound from those recordings made more than 100 years ago.

The post Digital technology allows Alexander Graham Bell’s 1880s disc recordings to be played again appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers using NASA's Kepler mission have detected two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star. This discovery marks a milestone in the hunt for alien worlds, since it brings scientists one step closer to their ultimate goal of finding a twin Earth.

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An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus–revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behavior in early dinosaurs.

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A new study of marmosets, small South American monkeys, indicates that obesity may begin very early in life and suggests that marmosets may be a helpful model for obesity in humans.

The post Is obesity predestined at infancy? Marmoset study may help scientists find out. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found a cluster of young, blue stars encircling the first intermediate-mass black hole ever discovered. The presence of the star cluster suggests that the black hole was once at the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy.

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Observations by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have come up with a new class of planet, a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere. It’s smaller than Uranus but larger than Earth.

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A new study provides a possible explanation for the mysterious flares. The suggestion is that there is a cloud around Sgr A* containing hundreds of trillions of asteroids and comets, which have been stripped from their parent stars.

The post X-ray flares observed by Chandra are asteroids being torn to pieces in a black hole appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The discovery of two new extinct camel species by scientists from the University of Florida and the Smithsonian is casting new light on the history of the tropics, a region containing more than half the world's biodiversity and some of its most important ecosystems.

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Scientists conducting deep-sea research in the Galapagos have described a new species of catshark. The new shark is approximately a foot long and has a chocolate-brown coloration with pale, irregularly distributed spots on its body. The spotted patterns appear to be unique to each individual.

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The Sun’s Active Region 1429 has been shooting off flares and coronal mass ejections since it rotated into Earth’s view on March 2, 2012. Two X-class flares have been released overnight, an X1.3 and an X5.4.

The post X-Class flares released by the Sun, March 6, captured by Atmospheric Imaging Assembly appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Seven years ago, astronomers boggled when they found the first runaway star flying out of our Galaxy at a speed of 1.5 million miles per hour. Theorists wondered: Could the same thing happen to planets? New research shows that the answer is yes.

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An international team of scientists has discovered an ‘ordinary’ black hole in the galaxy Centaurus A. This is the first time that a normal-size black hole has been detected away from the immediate vicinity of our own Galaxy.

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A new X-ray study of the remains of an exploded star indicates that the supernova that disrupted the massive star may have turned it inside out in the process.

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16,000 square kilometers of giant panda habitat will likely be lost by the year 2080

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When most people look at a forest, they see walking trails, deer yards, or firewood for next winter. But scientists at the Harvard Forest and […]

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For the last 1,000 days the Infrared Array Camera, aboard NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, has been operating continuously to probe the universe from its most distant regions to our local solar neighborhood.

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Biologists from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the Papua New Guinea National Museum, and the U.S. Geological Survey have discovered a new species of gecko, adorned like a bumblebee with black-and-gold bands and rows of skin nodules that enhance its camouflage on the tropical forest floor.

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Supermassive black holes snack infrequently, making the recent discovery of a black hole in the act of feeding all the more exciting to astronomers.

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Scientists have discovered several specimens of tiny insects covered with pollen grains in two pieces of amber, revealing the first record of pollen transport and social behavior in this group of animals.

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The specimen’s skull measures 24 centimeters, roughly the size of a regulation NFL football. The shell which was recovered nearby – and is believed to belong to the same species – measures 172 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7 inches, long.

The post Giant prehistoric turtle from Colombia chomped everything in sight–including crocodiles! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Recent geologic mapping of the Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars—an intensely eroded deposit near the northern edge of the cratered highlands—has revealed a wider distribution of its western component than was previously recognized.

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Astronomers have found strong evidence that a massive black hole is being ejected from its host galaxy at a speed of several million miles per hour.

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New research by a team of astronomers found that planets smaller than Neptune are located around a wide variety of stars, including those with fewer heavy elements than the Sun.

The post Alien Earths may have formed in Universe earlier than expected appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian herpetologist George Zug answers a few questions about skinks....

The post Speaking of skinks: short limbed, long tailed & prehistoric appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Accumulations of drifting snow are the most plausible explanation for the presence of a number of puzzling alluvial fan deposits found inside large impact craters on Mars

The post Melting snow likely created fan deposits inside Martian craters, geologists say 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.

The scientists made the spiders exercise by irritating them with a small paint brush and causing them to move around until they became exhausted. Spiders from the group with palps removed were able to travel 300 percent further than spiders with their palps intact.

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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.

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They observed that no plugs were ever formed during mating trials, but instead, females exposed to many males produced the amorphous plugs during the egg-laying process.

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The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) has released the largest three-dimensional map of massive galaxies and distant black holes ever created.

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The discovery of the first transiting circumbinary multi-planet system: two planets orbiting around a pair of stars, is announced by astronomers.

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stronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to find evidence our Milky Way Galaxy is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas that extends for hundreds of thousands of light years.

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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.

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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.

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The Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, a unique program in terms of its academic offerings and contributions to the field of conservation, celebrated the completion of its expansive new academic facilities today, Oct. 18, at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va.

The post Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and George Mason University dedicate new academic facilities in Front Royal, Va. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists at the University of Arizona and in California have completed the most challenging large astronomical mirror ever made.

The post First of seven mirrors completed for Giant Magellan Telescope appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.