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 National Aeronautics and Space Administration has made available to the public a new online collection of images that capture the excitement of planetary exploration and the journey to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system.

The post Stunning high-resolution NASA images available online for public exhibits appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The most widely used methods for calculating species extinction rates are "fundamentally flawed" and overestimate extinction rates by as much as 160 percent, life scientists report May 19 in the journal Nature.

The post Methods for calculating species extinction rates overestimate extinction, says Smithsonian scientist 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.

Five cheetah cubs were born May 28 to 6-year-old Amani at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va. Amani is a dedicated mother according to keepers, who have observed her nursing and grooming the cubs.

The post Five cheetah cubs born at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Any adventurer, hiker or backyard naturalist with a camera can help scientists survey and hopefully save the world’s amphibians thanks to a new social networking site that links “citizen scientists” with researchers tracking the decline of amphibians around the globe.

The post Scientists turn to social networking and citizen scientists to help keep track of amphibians 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.

Scientists and educators from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and George Mason University broke ground June 29 on a green-design conservation complex that embodies the concept of the living classroom.

The post Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and George Mason University expand partnership appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This image of lawyer Clarence S. Darrow (center) talking with group of men in Dayton, Tenn., in July 1925 is one of 10 photographs from […]

The post Scopes Trial photographs released on Web by Smithsonian Archives appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Now, a new study of hellbenders by scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute will place these amphibians at the center of the conservation of Appalachian salamanders.

The post Will global warming be hell on the hellbender? Smithsonian study aims to find out. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This is the first report of this invasive species in this area, and may indicate a recent range expansion of the snakehead population.

The post Smithsonian team finds northern snakehead fish in Maryland’s Rhode River appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

On Aug. 10, 1846, U.S. President James K. Polk signed the legislation that established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust administered by a Board of […]

The post Science at the Smithsonian: 165 years of scientific achievement appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, more commonly known as the Jefferson bible, is a volume created by Thomas Jefferson containing passages he […]

The post Unlocking the mysteries of Jefferson’s bible with high-tech analysis and microscopic testing appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The 5.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the eastern United States on the afternoon of Tuesday, Aug. 23, caused minor damage to some of the Smithsonian's natural history collections. All public Smithsonian museums are open and have been determined safe for visitors and staff.

The post Earthquake causes minor damage to Smithsonian natural history collections appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Kandula, an 8-year-old male Asian elephant at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, recently demonstrated to researchers for the first time that elephants are capable of insightful problem solving.

The post A first: National Zoo elephant shows insightful problem solving appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Now, for the first time scientists at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute have developed a fast and reliable method to date silk.

The post New technique for dating silk developed by Smithsonian conservation team appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Two scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have been honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for their innovative research and scientific leadership. It is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

The post President Barack Obama recognizes outstanding scientists at the Smithsonian appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study by a team of scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the National University of Singapore and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts have unlocked the secret to mate binding in orb web spiders, and revealed just how it calms the cannibalistic female spider.

The post Suitor’s gentle massage soothes aggressive, cannibalistic female spiders, researchers find 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.

The post Frigid water cloud may be source of water delivered to dry planets by comets appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Viewed from inside the SOMATOM Emotion 6CT scanner used at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the skeleton and internal organs of this well-preserved […]

The post Peruvian mummy as seen by a SOMATOM Emotion 6CT scanner appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian Anthropologist Bruce Smith shares the origins of some favorite Thanksgiving foods.

The post Smithsonian Anthropologist Bruce Smith talks turkey…squash, potatoes and corn appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Nearly 20 years after the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute became the first to produce an Eld’s deer fawn through artificial insemination, SCBI scientists have now contributed to the birth of the first Eld’s deer via in vitro fertilization.

The post First Eld’s deer born from in vitro fertilization with help of Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center analyzed how songbirds are affected by both general noise and the acoustics of hard human-made surfaces in urban areas.

The post Urban songbirds adjust melodies to adapt to life in the big city, Smithsonian scientists find appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and other partnering organizations spent two weeks at the end of November collecting sperm and embryonic cells during spawning from two species of coral and have built the first frozen repository for the Great Barrier Reef.

The post Smithsonian scientists help build first frozen repository of Great Barrier Reef coral appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New research on tiny spiders has revealed that their brains are so large that they fill their body cavities and overflow into their legs, say a team of scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

The post Brains of tiny spiders fill their body cavities and legs, Smithsonian researchers discover appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Both investigations were carried out through DNA analysis of fish tissue performed in a laboratory using a U.S. Food and Drug Administration protocol that originated largely at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. DNA from the fish in question was identified by matching it against a database of DNA fish barcodes that again, has its origins at the Smithsonian.

The post Smithsonian research with DNA barcoding is making seafood substitution easier to catch appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

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.

The post 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site discovered in South Africa appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A box jellyfish from the Caribbean appears to have recently become established in the red mangroves of Florida near Boca Raton.

The post Caribbean box jellyfish now thriving in southern Florida appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has released the first completely portable bilingual species identification guide for the shore fishes of the tropical Eastern Pacific as a free iPhone application.

The post First fish App from the Smithsonian free on iTunes. “The Smithsonian Guide to the Shore Fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Slithering in at 48 feet long and weighing an estimated one-and-a-half tons, the largest snake the world has ever seen is being brought back to […]

The post Largest snake the world has ever seen is being brought back to life by Smithsonian Channel appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A baby boom is underway at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Two Guam rail (Gallirallus owstoni) chicks hatched March 3 and 4; they join six others in the Zoo’s collection—three of which live at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va.

The post Extremely rare Guam rails hatch at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian astronomers have joined their colleagues from other observatories in a daring new venture: to photograph the giant black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy.

The post Smithsonian astronomers and colleagues to photograph black hole at our galaxy’s heart appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

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 […]

The post Development will reduce carbon stored in forests, Smithsonian & Harvard scientists predict appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

To celebrate its 22nd anniversary in orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope has released a dramatic new image of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known […]

The post New image of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Two very different models explain the possible origin of Type Ia supernovae, and different studies support each model. New evidence shows that both models are correct - some of these supernovae are created one way and some the other.

The post One supernova type, two different sources appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists from the Smithsonian and University of British Columbia have discovered a sensory organ in the chin of rorqual whales that communicates to the brain. It orchestrates the dramatic adjustments needed in jaw position and throat-pouch expansion to make lunge feeding successful

The post Scientists discover sensory organ in baleen whales that choreographs movement of their massive jaws and throat-pouch appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists have discovered an incredible story of fungal fidelity among certain species of ants.

The post Fungal fidelity: some ants have been eating the same meal for 5 million years! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The loud love calls of tiny túngara frogs (Physalaemus pustulosus) that reverberate through the nighttime jungles of Panama are bold advertisements for a suitable mate. […]

The post With picky eating, bats avoid poison prey 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.

Today, astronomers are releasing the highest-resolution images ever taken of the Sun's corona, or million-degree outer atmosphere, in an extreme-ultraviolet wavelength of light.

The post Astronomers release highest-resolution images ever of the Sun’s corona appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

JoVonn Hill, a research associate with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station at Mississippi State University, recently borrowed 32,000 grasshoppers from the Smithsonian’s National […]

The post Mississippi State borrows grasshopper collection from Smithsonian appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A rising spike in West Nile virus is taking health officials across the country by surprise as this year more than 2,600 people in 45 states and the District of Columbia, have been stricken with severe symptoms of this mosquito-transmitted disease.

The post As robins disperse, West Nile mosquitoes switch diet to humans: Q&A with Smithsonian ornithologist Peter Marra appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study finds that since 1985, half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef coral has died.

The post Smithsonian marine biologist Nancy Knowlton discusses Great Barrier Reef coral dieoff on PBS NewsHour appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A specimen recently pulled from deep in the southwest Atlantic may represent a new species of squid, say scientist who have studied the animal’s unusual morphology. But then again, it may not…

The post As they grow some squid change dramatically, making scientists cautious about naming new species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

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.

The goal of the project—the Smithsonian’s Tennenbaum Marine Observatories—is to monitor the ocean’s coastal ecosystems over a long period of time.

The post Smithsonian launches Global Marine Biodiversity Project with $10 million donation appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers have discovered that one well-known elliptical galaxy has a split personality. Centaurus A is hiding a gassy spiral in its center.

The post Split-personality elliptical galaxy holds a hidden spiral appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The new Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History, Kirk Johnson, had only been on the job for 26 days when he got […]

The post Female “spidernaut” settles into new home at Smithsonian’s Insect Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.