The Kepler spacecraft was launched in March of 2009 to study extrasolar planets. One of its major goals is the detection of terrestrial planets in habitable zones.

The post Kepler spacecraft used by Smithsonian astronomers to find other earths appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists and local dive operators first noticed coral bleaching in the waters surrounding Isla Colon, in Panama’s Bocas del Toro province in July. Smithsonian staff scientist Nancy Knowlton and colleagues documented an extensive bleaching event in late September.

The post Coral bleaching event caused by warming ocean waters is documented in Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

"This galaxy cluster wins the heavyweight title. It's among the most massive clusters ever found at this distance," said Mark Brodwin, a Smithsonian astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The post Newly discovered massive galaxy cluster wins heavyweight title appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion. With no hope of saving all of these sites, three archaeologists—Leslie Reeder of Southern Methodist University, Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon and Torben Rick from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History—have issued a call to action for scientists to assess the sites most at risk around the world.

The post Scientists issue call to action for archaeological sites threatened by rising seas, urban development appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A roundup of recent articles featuring spiders, bats and rats....

The post A Halloween roundup featuring recent articles on spiders, bats and rats appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The most puzzling characteristic of deep-sea dragonfishes (stromiids) is found where their backbone (or vertebral column) approaches the back of their skull. In the anterior region of the backbone, these […]

The post Deep-sea dragonfish research appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have found evidence of the youngest black hole known to exist in our cosmic neighborhood. The 30-year-old object is a remnant of SN 1979C, a supernova in the galaxy M100 approximately 50 million light years from Earth.

The post Chandra X-ray Observatory finds youngest nearby black hole appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Known as one of the greatest racehorses of his day and sire to more winning horses than any other American thoroughbred before or since, this Smithsonian loan returned the legendary Lexington's remains to the town of his birthplace some 160 years after he was born.

The post One hundred sixty years after his birth a racehorse’s bones return to Lexington appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The extrasolar planet GJ 1214b has a radius of about 2.7 times that of the Earth and is about 6.5 times as massive putting it squarely into the class of exoplanets known as super-Earths.

The post Super-earth has an atmosphere, but is it steamy or gassy? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Our Sun can be a menace when it sends out powerful blasts of radiation towards the Earth. Astronomers keenly watch the Sun in hopes of being able to predict these eruptions. New research shows that one-third of the Sun’s blasts are “sneak attacks” that may occur without warning.

The post Sneak attacks from the Sun appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This 'hot Jupiter', now named Qatar-1b, adds to the growing list of alien planets orbiting distant stars, or exoplanets. Its discovery demonstrates the power of science to cross political boundaries and increase ties between nations.

The post International team discovers alien planet that’s Jupiter-sized appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Despite the general perception of exurban development as environmentally preferable to urban sprawl, this is not necessarily correct. Housing development is detrimental for natural bird communities even at low housing levels.

The post Exurban development is changing communities of birds in Eastern Forests 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.

An instrument on board NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, developed by Smithsonian scientists, is giving unprecedented views of the Sun's innermost corona 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The post Smithsonian instrument reveals Sun’s innermost corona appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Twenty years ago scientists at the Marine Invasions Lab of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., began studying the interactions between native grass […]

The post Invasive oriental shrimp found in Chesapeake Bay by Smithsonian scientists 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 […]

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

Subjects watched demonstrators for varying amounts of time. When given the pipe, each of the subjects in both groups opened the door on their first attempt using the method they had seen demonstrated.

The post Lemurs exhibit ability for social learning in zoo experiment appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A recent experiment by scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has revealed just how rising atmospheric carbon dioxide will deliver a one-two […]

The post Rising ocean temperatures and acidity may deliver deadly one-two punch to the world’s corals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A. sediba was discovered in 2008 in the Malapa Cave at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site located outside Johannesburg.

The post Skeletal casts of early hominin ancestor from Africa donated to National Museum of Natural History appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new species of Brazilian leaf beetle named Cachiporra extremaglobosa, (which translated means the “extremely globular billy club leaf beetle,”) was recently discovered by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

The post “Billy club” leaf beetle has been hiding in Smithsonian collections since 1959 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The awarded film features STRI marine biologist Héctor M. Guzman diving with a group of five whale sharks while traveling in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. In the video, Guzmán tags a radiotransmitter to one of the sharks in order to follow its voyages.

The post Whale sharks featured in award-winning documentary following the work of Tropical Research Institute’s Héctor Guzman appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Tiny Antarctic marine creatures collected 100 years ago by British Royal Navy explorer Robert Falcon Scott are giving scientists new clues about polar environmental change.

The post Tiny creatures collected 100 years ago confirm accelerating carbon uptake in Antarctic Ocean appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

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.

Funded by BP through the Florida Institute of Oceanography, the scientists will make the 10-day trip aboard the institute’s 115-foot research vessel. The divers, scientists and photographers will document hard bottoms of Florida, from the Keys to the Panhandle, to gain a better understanding of these sponge- and coral-dominated communities

The post Gulf of Mexico survey will benchmark diversity of ocean floor appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In recent research on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of Southern California, isotope readings of carbon and nitrogen found in the bones of Chumash Indians and domestic dogs excavated from archaeological sites show that both humans and dogs have nearly identical signatures of stable isotopes.

The post Ancient bond between humans and dogs revealed in isotopic signatures of their bones appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The National Zoological Park’s 23-year-old male red-ruffed lemur, Joven, enjoys a tasty St. Patrick’s Day frozen treat made of apples, pears, cucumbers, honeydew and diluted […]

The post A St. Partick’s Day treat for the Zoo’s red-ruffed lemur appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Meet Sahelanthropus tchadensis. This newly unveiled bust by artist John Gurche is now on view in the the Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The post Artist’s recreation of 7- to 6-million-year-old early human unveiled in Hall of Human Origins appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Faced with insufficient time and inadequate library resources to tackle the problem on their own, they instead posted a catalog of specimen images to Facebook and turned to their network of colleagues for help.

The post Facebook friends help scientists quickly identify nearly 5,000 fish specimens collected in Guyana appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The discovery of a pattern of X-ray “stripes” in the remains of an exploded star may provide the first direct evidence that a cosmic event […]

The post X-ray stripes in exploded star may reveal highest energies of cosmic rays produced in our Galaxy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

To help regulators and engineers develop and test such treatment systems, and ultimately enforce these standards, a team of researchers developed a statistical model to see how to count small, scarce organisms in large volumes of water accurately.

The post Smithsonian researchers help block ship-borne bioinvaders with new screening strategy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The April 5 exhibits, “In the Mummy’s Tomb,” “Making a Mummy” and “What’s in a Face,” focus on Egyptian burial rites.

The post Mummies featured in new Smithsonian exhibition 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.

Astronomers have just discovered an amazing pair of white dwarfs whirling around each other once every 39 minutes. This is the shortest-period pair of white dwarfs now known. Moreover, in a few million years they will collide and merge to create a single star.

The post Two dying stars to be reborn as one…in a few million years appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Julie DeJong can’t set foot on the ground of an Oregon marsh to gather duck eggs on a spring day in 1875. […]

The post Work of 19th-century oologists enables researcher to track climate change with duck eggs 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.

An international team of astronomers has revealed details of a “super-exotic” exoplanet that would make the planet Pandora in the movie Avatar pale in comparison.

The post Astronomers unveil portrait of newly discovered “super-exotic super-Earth” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In addition to the species name, Leafsnap provides high-resolution photographs and information about the tree's flowers, fruit, seeds and bark—giving the user a comprehensive understanding of the specie

The post Leafsnap, a new mobile app that identifies plants by leaf shape, is launched by Smithsonian and collaborators 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.

A study published in the journal Global Change Biology finds that while fertilizer has been the dominant source of nitrogen pollution in Caribbean coastal ecosystems for the past 50 years, such pollution is on the decline, thanks in part to the introduction of more advanced, environmentally responsible agricultural practices during the last decade.

The post National Museum of Natural History’s coral collection used in Caribbean agricultural and sewage pollution study appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and partnering organizations will build a frozen repository of Great Barrier Reef coral sperm and embryonic cells. Genetic banks composed of frozen biomaterials hold strong promise for basic and applied research and conservation of species and genetic variation.

The post Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to help create frozen repository of sperm and embryonic cells for Great Barrier Reef corals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists have discovered hundreds of new species around the world. To mark this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity, May 22, here is a […]

The post Slideshow: Species discovered by Smithsonian researchers the past decade appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

By compiling and comparing long-term data from stranding records and visual sighting records, both taken from nearly every ocean basin in the world, Pyenson verified that stranding records “faithfully reflect the number of species and the relative abundance” found in live surveys.

The post Stranding records are faithful reflection of live whale and dolphin populations, new study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The National Zoo’s great cat program recently expanded with the arrival of two-and-a-half-year-old female Sumatran tiger, Damai, who is now out of quarantine and spending time outside in her exhibit where visitors can see her.

The post Damai, a two-and-a-half-year-old female Sumatran tiger, makes her debut at the National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

One of the most challenging aspects of this research is simply studying these insects as they are falling, says Yanoviak, a tropical arthropod ecologist at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. Small body size, rapid descent, and the long distances that they can fall, make accurate data taking a challenge.

The post Lofty experiments with gliding ants reveals secrets of their unusual flight appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A description and photos of the green-headed tanager (Tangara seledon), a bird native to east-central South America, can be found in the Species of the […]

The post Green-headed Tanager (Tangara seledon) of east-central South America appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists have confirmed that chytridiomycosis, a rapidly spreading amphibian disease, has reached a site near Panama’s Darien region. This was the last area in the entire mountainous neotropics to be free of the disease. This is troubling news for the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, a consortium of nine U.S. and Panamanian institutions that aims to rescue 20 species of frogs in imminent danger of extinction.

The post Deadly amphibian disease detected in the last disease-free region of Central America appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Using the deepest X-ray image ever taken, astronomers found the first direct evidence that massive black holes were common in the early universe. This discovery from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that very young black holes grew more aggressively than previously thought, in tandem with the growth of their host galaxies.

The post Chandra X-Ray Observatory finds massive black holes common in early universe appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Florida with an incised image of a mammoth or mastodon.

The post Bone fragment is only Ice Age artwork from America to show a “proboscidean” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.