The results show mergers of two dense stellar remnants are the likely cause of many of the supernovae that have been used to measure the accelerated expansion of the universe.

The post Mergers of dense stellar remnants are likely trigger for many supernovae appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The study found that infants whose mothers had higher levels of available milk energy soon after their birth, coped more effectively (moved around more, explored more, ate and drank) and showed greater confidence (were more playful, exploratory, curious and active) with this novel situation.

The post New study sees mother’s milk as a communications link that shapes infant temperament appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Stephen L. Wood collection brings the collection of bark beetles held in the Natural History Museum’s Department of Entomology to an impressive 180,000 specimens, making it one of the most extensive collections in world.

The post Eighty-thousand bark beetles enter National Museum of Natural History collections appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

About as thick as a standard dictionary, this turtle’s shell may have warded off attacks by the Titanoboa, thought to have been the world’s biggest snake, and by other, crocodile-like creatures living in its neighborhood 60 million years ago.

The post Newly discovered prehistoric turtle co-existed with world’s biggest snake appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The rescue pods will be part of the project’s Amphibian Rescue Center at Summit Municipal Park, which will also include a lab with a quarantine facility.

The post Shipping industry sends help as project in Panama tackles amphibian crisis appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Long before dawn on a recent morning, Katie Milton and a group of stalwart volunteers, each armed with flashlight and compass, spread out into the jungle to take up positions at 35 listening stations marked on maps of the island.

The post Census reveals 1,200 howler monkeys living on Barro Colorado Island appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

More than 25 years ago, researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab began taking weekley surveys of the species that make their way in and out of Muddy Creek.

The post Net survey: For quarter century, scientists have been counting creatures traveling Chesapeake Bay tributary appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New world megafauna such as mammoths, bison and camelids that were alive at the end of the Pleistocene epoch (some 13,000 years ago) would have produced massive amounts of methane-rich flatulence and belching, thanks to the cellulose-digesting microbes in their guts.

The post Killing of methane-producing megafauna may have caused cooling 13,000 years ago appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This innovative facility will be at the front line of Earth defense by searching for "killer" asteroids and comets. It will map large portions of the sky nightly, making it an efficient sleuth for not just asteroids but also supernovae and other variable objects.

The post Super sensitive telescope will detect “killer” asteroids and comets on collision course with Earth appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo recently acquired Japanese giant salamanders given to the Zoo by the City of Hiroshima Asa Zoological Park. This donation will be the foundation of a new long-term breeding program in the United States and may play an important role in saving amphibians around the globe.

The post Japanese giant salamanders given to the National Zoo by Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Kiwis come to National Zoo. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo will be using a new kiwi pair donated by the New Zealand Embassy to establish a breeding science center. […]

The post New Zealand Embassy donates kiwi pair to National Zoo Breeding Science Center appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientist Tom Watters explores the universe. His most recent discovery the moon is shrinking. Watch the video to learn more about his research.

The post Smithsonian Scientist Discovers the Moon is Shrinking appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The anemones—both of which are commonly called Tealia red anemones under the species of Urticina—spawned in late April and early May, just days apart. Henley collected the eggs and sperm from the more than 2,000-gallon tank and put them together in smaller tanks to increase the chances of fertilization. After fertilization, the larvae settled and metamorphosed into a polyp.

The post National Zoo scientists successfully grow two species of anemones in aquarium tanks appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo celebrated the completion of Phase I of Elephant Trails, an innovative and expanded home for Asian elephants, on Sept. 2. Phase […]

The post Elephant Trails exhibition opens at National Zoological Park appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

On Aug, 31, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed this year’s second litter of African lion (Panthera leo) cubs. Five-year-old Shera (shown at right) gave birth […]

The post Shera, a 5-year-old lioness at the National Zoological Park appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Data from a recent study of wild takins in the high-altitude forests of the Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve in southeast China has shown that the […]

The post Great Sichuan earthquake of 2008 had little impact on of China’s wild takins appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Breitburg and her team want to determine just how much stress they cause. Over the next five years they will conduct a series of lab and field experiments that examine how diel-cycling hypoxia and the associated acidification affects the growth and disease rates in striped bass, the eastern oyster and other ecologically and economically important Chesapeake Bay species. They will also study the animals’ behavioral responses to these changes.

The post Smithsonian ecologists to examine “dead zones” in Chesapeake Bay with $1.4 million NOAA grant appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new computer simulation by Gurtina Besla of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and her colleagues now shows that the Magellanic Stream resulted from a past close encounter between two dwarf galaxies rather than effects of the Milky Way.

The post Milky Way sidelined in galactic tug of war appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

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.

This circa 1910 Yup'ik mask from Good News Bay, Alaska--made of driftwood, baleen, feathers, paint and cotton twine--is part of "Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian," an exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian, opening Saturday, Oct. 23.

The post Yup’ik mask in “Infinity of Nations” exhibition at the American Indian Museum appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For safety’s sake, the four eight-week-old cubs born to  National Zoo lioness Shera were given a swim test on Oct. 26  in the moat of […]

The post For safety’s sake, Zoo’s lion cubs take first swim appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

To celebrate a cool Halloween creature--bats--we teamed up with the Smithsonian’s Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the National Museum of Natural History. Here, he answers three commonly asked questions about these winged mammals.

The post Smithsonian bat expert Kristofer Helgen answers common questions about bats 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.

The turkey has become synonymous with Thanksgiving in the United States. But when exactly where turkeys first domesticated? And where? Bruce Smith, senior archeologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has the answers.

The post Turkey’s trip to table: Domesticating North America’s largest fowl appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

On the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal, staff members are taking down a network of seven tall Automated Radio Telemetry System towers used to track animals wearing radio-transmitters. Scientists on the island are switching to GPS and camera trap systems to produce more data with less infrastructure.

The post GPS and camera traps to replace radio antennas in tracking animals on Barro Colorado Island 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.

National Zoo lion keeper Rebecca Stites, at right in photo, was joined by Georgie Henley, at left in photo, and Skandar Keynes, actors in the […]

The post Zoo lion cub named “Aslan” by actors Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

At the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., the seven-month-old white-naped cranes Cal and Bill are thriving.

The post White-naped crane chicks thriving at National Zoo 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.

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.

A new telescope has begun to virtually explore the solar system outback, and already is scoring discoveries.

The post New telescope exploring Solar System’s “outback” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Snowflake Study through Photomicrography, 1890 Wilson A. Bentley became fascinated with the crystalline structure of individual snowflakes on his parent’s Vermont farm. By adapting a […]

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The male’s fluke design helps it overcome the drag caused by their long tusks, the scientists determined. The female’s fluke design gives them increased speed for diving while foraging.

The post Narwhal fluke design helps compensate for drag caused by tusk 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.

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics continues to be a major player in the planet-hunting realm. It is part of an international collaboration building a new instrument called HARPS-North.

The post HARPS-N instrument will help confirm Kepler’s planet finds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Last week, the Kepler team and CfA astronomers announced the discovery of a system of six transiting planets around one Sun-like star. The previous record holder for the number of transiting planets was three.

The post Six orbiting planets sets record for Sun-like stars say Kepler, Smithsonian astronmers 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.

Astronomers are piecing together the reasons for these huge energy outputs, while sorting out why our own galaxy is so modest. The two primary suspects are bursts of star formation that produce many hot young stars, and processes associated with accretion of material onto a supermassive black hole at a galaxy's nucleus.

The post Luminosity of extreme galaxy most likely driven by star formation appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Recent work has added dozens of new measurements to star-forming regions in the Milky Way. These measurements have changed the map of the Milky Way, indicating our galaxy has four spiral arms, not two, as previously thought.

The post Very Large Baseline Array telescope is helping Smithsonian astronomers remap Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies 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.

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.

For more than three decades JoGayle Howard dedicated her life and work to reproducing endangered species.

The post JoGayle Howard, National Zoological Park pioneer in reproductive biology, dies appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As researchers investigate the impact of the Burmese python in the Everglades, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, South Florida Natural Resources Center and the University of Florida examined the snake’s predation of the area’s birds. They found that birds, including endangered species, accounted for 25 percent of the python’s diet in the Everglades.

The post Invasive Burmese pythons are taking a toll on Florida’s native birds 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.

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.

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.

On the heels of spring’s arrival, a wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) chick hatched at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo March 20, the third of its kind […]

The post Wattled crane chick hatches at the National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In a recent study of the mating behavior of these Asian spiders, researchers found that 87.5 percent of males had both palps amputated during copulation.

The post Don’t pick a fight with a eunuch spider. It has nothing to lose appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

According to new research by Nick Stone and Avi Loeb (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), upcoming sky surveys might offer astronomers a way to catch a gorging black hole "in the act."

The post Astronomers seek monster black hole gorging on a buffet of stars 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.