Video: Newly discovered eel a “living fossil”
A small-eel like fish newly discovered in a cave in the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific represents an extremely primitive “living fossil.”
Science Spotlight
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Video: A mummy ‘grows’ with CT scans and 3D digital technology
Using 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional CT scans, Natural History Museum anthropologists found that the brain and major organs were removed and rolls of linen filled out the abdominal cavity. This mummification method is evidence of superior embalming, indicating a person of higher status.
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Increased tropical forest growth may result in release of stored carbon in the soil
A new study shows that as climate change enhances tree growth in tropical forests, the resulting increase in litterfall could stimulate soil micro-organisms leading to a release of stored soil carbon.
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New finding may enable scientists to bolster genetic diversity of captive cheetah population
Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute have discovered why older females are rarely able to reproduce—and hope to use this information to introduce vital new genes into the pool. SCBI scientists and collaborating researchers...
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Darkest known exoplanet, a Jupiter-sized gas giant, discovered
This Jupiter-sized world reflects less than one percent of the light that falls on it, making it blacker than any planet or moon in our solar system.
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Alaska’s cold waters no barrier to invasive marine species, scientists say
Alaska’s pristine coastline is ripe for an influx of invasive marine species such as the European green crab and the rough periwinkle (an Atlantic sea snail) warns a new study by a team of scientists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
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Kari Bruwelheide, forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, discusses the power of bones.
Kari Bruwelheide, forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, discusses how she came to work at the museum, the power of human remains and the information that bones can contain. She and her colleagues continue to discover new ways to interpret evidence from bones and burials.
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‘Science at the Smithsonian’ gallery: 165 years of scientific achievement
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 Regents and a Secretary of the Smithsonian. Joseph Henry, the...
