A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Scientists Discover a 'Phonetic Alphabet' Used by Sperm Whales, Moving One Step Closer to Decoding Their Chatter (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Extensive Desert 'Lava Tubes' Sheltered Humans for 7,000 Years, Archaeologists Find (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Employee Quietly Sneaks His Own Painting Onto the Walls of a German Museum (www.smithsonianmag.com)
80 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions Come From Just 57 Companies, Report Shows (www.smithsonianmag.com)
A new analysis released last week by the international non-profit InfluenceMap reveals an overwhelmingly unequal share of fossil fuel pollution worldwide. From 2016 to 2022, 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions were produced by just 57 companies.
Why Birds Survived, and Dinosaurs Went Extinct, After an Asteroid Hit Earth (www.smithsonianmag.com)
These Small Birds Flutter Their Wings to Say 'After You' to Their Partner (www.smithsonianmag.com)
A new study of Japanese tits provides the first evidence of non-primate animals using gestures to convey messages...
Newly Discovered Fossil from the Smithsonian’s Collection Named After Kermit the Frog (www.smithsonianmag.com)
In a paper published today in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, museum paleontologist Arjan Mann and Calvin So, a doctoral researcher at George Washington University, describe a new species of proto-amphibian that they recently discovered in the museum’s fossil collection. They identified several unique features...
Do you like to be ridiculously cold for five months, surrounded by a horrible smell the whole time? Have I got a job for you! (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Iceland's Recent Volcanic Eruptions Are Unleashing Deep Secrets (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Each dramatic episode over the past few years has led to fresh geologic revelations, and researchers think another bout is on the way...
In a First, a Prosthetic Limb Can Sense Temperature Like a Living Hand (www.smithsonianmag.com)
The device provides a realistic sense of hot and cold in the missing “phantom” hand by delivering thermal information to nerve areas on the amputee’s residual limb that the brain believes are still connected to the missing hand.
Humans and Neanderthals Lived Side by Side in Northern Europe 45,000 Years Ago, Study Finds (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Archaeologists identified bone fragments of prehistoric modern humans in Germany, suggesting several millennia of coexistence with Neanderthals before the species disappeared...
Smithsonian Scientists Discover New Species of Hedgehogs Hiding in Plain Sight (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Soft-furred hedgehog specimens deposited decades ago in the museum’s collection are new to science...
Newly Discovered, Parrot-Like Dinosaur Roamed North America Alongside T. Rex (www.smithsonianmag.com)
While larger dinosaurs are comparatively well-known, finding smaller species paints a more complete picture of life before the mass extinction...
Another Mysterious Roman Dodecahedron Has Been Unearthed in England (www.smithsonianmag.com)
A Roman dodecahedron, a mysterious 12-sided metal object, was discovered in the village of Norton Disney in England....
Seabed Trawling May Be Spewing Huge Amounts of CO2 Into the Atmosphere (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Extremely rare half-female, half-male bird spotted in Colombia for the first time in more than 100 years (www.smithsonianmag.com)
The green honeycreeper is only the second of its species ever observed with this condition—and the first recorded in more than 100 years...
A New Project Uses Isotopes to Pinpoint the Birthplaces of the Enslaved (www.smithsonianmag.com)
In South Carolina, members of the local Black community are teaming up with scientists to produce a novel study of the trans-Atlantic slave trade...
Miners Discover Seven-Foot Mammoth Tusk in North Dakota (www.smithsonianmag.com)
After coal mine workers found the 50-pound specimen, paleontologists studied the site and uncovered more than 20 additional bones...
The Scientist Using Bugs to Help Solve Murders. At crime scenes around the world, the forensic entomologist Paola Magni is taking her field into uncharted waters (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Paola Magni didn’t plan on getting involved in her most infamous case. As a forensic entomologist, she researches how insects and related creatures found at crime scenes can help investigators solve mysteries. She frequently works with public health officials and coroners, who, perhaps surprisingly, are often repelled by...
The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine (www.smithsonianmag.com)
An Invasive Tick That Can Clone Itself Is Spreading Across the U.S., Threatening Livestock (www.smithsonianmag.com)
A New Drug That Could Extend Dogs' Lives Inches Closer to Approval (www.smithsonianmag.com)
After Getting Stuck in a Sculpture at the National Gallery of Art, This Barred Owl Is Now Flying Free (www.smithsonianmag.com)
Created by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in the late 1990s, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X is a large, colorful sculpture depicting this once-common but now obsolete tool. It stands outdoors at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.