For the first time since exoplanets, or planets around stars other than the sun, were discovered almost 20 years ago, X-ray observations have detected an […]

The post NASA’s Chandra sees eclipsing planet in X-rays for first time appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Microbes that live in rice paddies, northern peat bogs and other previously unexpected environments are among the bacteria that can generate highly toxic methylmercury, researchers […]

The post Toxic methylmercury-producing microbes more widespread than realized appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Sometime during the Middle Eocene a prehistoric mosquito slurped down a final blood meal then died and sank to the bottom of a pond in […]

The post Blood molecules preserved for millions of years in abdomen of fossil mosquito appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Hot spots of mercury pollution in aquatic sediments and soils can contaminate local food webs and threaten ecosystems, but cleaning them up can be expensive […]

The post Toxicity of mercury hot spots can be reduced with application of activated carbon, researchers discover appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Kepler-78b is a planet that shouldn’t exist. This scorching lava world circles its star every eight and a half hours at a distance of less […]

The post Mystery lava world baffles astronomers appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

It is one of the most sensitive noses in the animal kingdom but what its owner seeks is no pungent bed of roses, in fact […]

The post Study shows turkey vulture is doubly blessed with acute vision and sense of smell appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Hopes are high for Comet ISON, which has the potential to become the most spectacular comet seen in years. ISON is speeding through the inner […]

The post Micro-Observatory catches comet ISON 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.

Paddling the remote oxbow lakes and bayous of the White River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, the team of scientists was seeking proof of a […]

The post Nest discovery turns back the clock to days of Daniel Boone and Colonial America appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Almost 14 billion years ago, the universe we inhabit burst into existence in an extraordinary event that initiated the Big Bang. In the first fleeting […]

The post Astronomers observe first direct evidence of Cosmic Inflation appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

On April 15 the National Museum of Natural History took delivery of a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Called the Nation’s T. rex, it will be the centerpiece of […]

The post Smithsonian Welcomes “Nation’s T. rex” to Washington, D.C. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

John Kovac of the Harvard-­Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. 

The post Kovac among Time’s most influential appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Move over Matrix, astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called “Illustris.” Illustris can […]

The post Astronomers create first realistic virtual universe appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

After eluding scientists for nearly 80 years, the Clarion nightsnake (Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha unaocularus), a nocturnal reptilian species that was initially discovered in the first half […]

The post Lost species of nightsnake rediscovered in Mexico appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Republic of Panama’s proposal to implement four Traffic Separation Schemes for commercial vessels entering and exiting the Panama Canal and ports was approved unanimously […]

The post Commercial shipping lanes changed in Panama to save humpback whales appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A research team from the Smithsonian and Arizona State University have developed a new, non-destructive method using spectroscopic analysis to help unravel the complex chemistry […]

The post Feathers yield mysteries of pigment chemistry to spectroscopic analysis appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers announced today that they have discovered a new type of planet – a rocky world weighing 17 times as much as Earth. Theorists believed […]

The post Astronomers find new type of planet: The “Mega-Earth” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Ten years ago, eight antennas on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawai’i, united to form a telescope unlike any other. Since then the Submillimeter Array […]

The post The Submillimeter Array: Celebrating a decade of discovery 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.

Unless you live under a lunar rock, you’ve probably heard about or seen director Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster “Interstellar.” Starring Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey, […]

The post Interstellar exploration – five planets where humans may (or may not) be able to live someday appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A few images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko just sent back by the European spaceship Rosetta appear to be a snowboarder’s dream: pristine slopes covered in powder. […]

The post Comet probe set to answer ancient question of life on earth appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

You too can meet a kiwi! Micaela Jemison from Smithsonian Science takes us to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo where she gets up close and personal […]

The post Meet a Kiwi at the National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The challenges of conceiving only get greater as we get older. But if you have some of the most prized genes within your entire species, […]

The post High hopes for 60 year-old crocodile to become mother again appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Native Americans and America’s early colonists ate many more blue crabs than modern researchers previously thought, according to a team of scientists studying crab remains […]

The post American Indians, colonists had healthy appetite for crabs, study shows appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Lurking on leaves in the tropical forests of Brazil microscopic mites in the family Cheyletidae are ambush predators. They wait quietly until another mite crawls […]

The post Newly named mites have thick skins to deter predators appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Early Women in Science” is an online exhibition of 16 women scientists who began their work before 1922. A Biodiversity Heritage Library exhibition, it profiles forward-thinking […]

The post “Early Women in Science” Profiles Trailblazing Women appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Caitlin Burrell, research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, returned from China last night April 20, with frozen giant panda semen that had been […]

The post Panda Semen from China arrives at Zoo 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.

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.

The world’s coasts are home to more than 70 percent of the human population and experience intense development as a result. The rate of environmental […]

The post Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Marks 50 Years of Making a Difference appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New data just published in the journal Marine Mammal Science may help save the whales, or at least a good many of them. Using vertebrae […]

The post New study may help free whales from fishing rope entanglement appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Inka Empire is one of the greatest civilizations in the Western Hemisphere, spanning from the 13th century until the Spanish invasion in 1532. To […]

The post 5 Reasons the Inka Road is one of the Greatest Achievements in Engineering appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time, researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center have accurately tracked small migratory ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) to their tropical […]

The post Miniaturized GPS Tags Allow Tracking of Small Songbirds for first time appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, a volunteer-fueled camera trapping effort showed that where coyotes have moved in, cats are nowhere to […]

The post Cats Don’t Roam in Places Coyotes Call Home appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

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.

Within the 1608 church where Pocahontas and John Rolfe married, the skeletal remains of four early settlers were uncovered during a 2013 archaeological dig at […]

The post Jamestown skeletons identified as colony leaders appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Surplus mustard gas canisters and unexploded bombs dumped in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii after WWII, have become, scientists say, a potential reef that is […]

The post Old bombs, chemical weapons now home for deep-sea starfish appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Warming temperatures may mean more generations of monarch butterflies in North America during summer months, say scientists who recently finished experiments with monarch caterpillars and […]

The post Warming temperatures may mean more monarch generations in some areas of North America appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists and colleagues have discovered a new genus and species of river dolphin that has long been extinct. They made the discovery after carefully […]

The post Fossil Specimen Reveals a New Species of Ancient River Dolphin appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

If you were dumped into the middle of a desert, your first instinct would be to look for water—it is, after all, the stuff of […]

The post In Western China’s deserts an ancient competition for water resumes appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Here’s some good news that should hit you in the gut. A team of scientists searching thousands of environments for bacteria that produce the deadly […]

The post Survey pinpoints where toxic mercury accumulates in world environments appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Salamanders are typically elusive animals and adept at hiding, but National Zoo visitors will have a chance to see a variety of different amphibian species […]

The post National Zoo Opens New Home for Appalachian Salamanders appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Now here is something to ruminate on. About 85 percent of the methane produced by a cow comes out of its mouth as burps. The […]

The post Monitoring methane? Now there is a better way to measure 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.

In many ways stars are like living beings. They’re born; they live; they die. And they even have a heartbeat. Using a novel technique, astronomers […]

The post DISCOVERY MEASURES “HEARTBEATS” OF A DISTANT GALAXY’S STARS 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.

After decades of attempts, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) scientists and researchers at Cornell University have become the first to successfully use in vitro fertilization […]

The post Smithsonian-Cornell Partnership produces First Domestic Puppies by In Vitro Fertilization 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.

Prehistoric human populations of hunter-gatherers in a region of North America grew at the same rate as farming societies in Europe, according to a new […]

The post Research shows same growth rate for farming, non-farming societies appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

She was a stunning brown queen; drowned some 46 million years ago in a shallow lake in Montana. Her remains, recently recovered along the Flathead […]

The post New Montana ant species emerge from 46-million-year-old rock appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.