Smithsoniamag

As Tern Island, a former military outpost in the Hawaiian archipelago, falls apart and harms turtles, birds, seals and more, scientists wond...

We kill, collect or otherwise use about 15,000 vertebrate species

The observatory has yielded jaw-dropping shots—and surprising facts—about our universe

Laboratory research shows that someway, somehow, PVC plastic breeds antimicrobial resistance

From before the dinosaurs to the Ice Age, several mammals and their forerunners sported the iconic, curved teeth

Telltale marks on a bone from an early human’s leg could be the earliest evidence of cannibalism

The discovery of a tiny fish far from its normal range is a poignant reminder of the changes that are already happening

Free diver Oriana Poindexter creates cyanotypes of kelp collected off the California coast

A clever cetacean feeding trick may have launched a legend

The art was created long before modern humans inhabited France's Loire Valley

An anthropologist explains how the South American launch site for the James Webb Space Telescope evolved

Researchers are nurturing sick and injured animals back to health while working to protect natural springs and curb seagrass decline

A scientist began taking shots after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and volunteers have since taken over

The creature, dubbed Iani smithi, was identified from a 99-million-year-old fossil

A warming atmosphere due to climate change is increasing the chances similar natural disasters will occur again

An international team of researchers wants to stop using eponyms. But the naming authorities won’t budge.

The documents provide evidence of climate change's impact on hardwood trees in Ohio

With the Montreal Protocol, life on Earth dodged a bullet we didn’t even know was headed our way

Two new studies suggest that 21 million years ago African primates frequented edge habitat and fed on leaves

Ancient texts suggest romantic smooching, and likely the diseases it transmitted, were widespread in Mesopotamia

A new program is rewarding shrimpers who collect and recycle derelict crab traps

A dedicated ornithologist with a passion for lightning bugs scours bogs and beaches to discover previously unknown species

In 1930, a colorful band of researchers in the Atlantic taught us how to plumb the ocean’s depths

Thousands of new tools with unproven results are entering the fold to help Americans in need

A next-generation instrument on a delayed Martian rover may be the key to answering the question of life on the Red Planet