Smithsonian

Ecologists discover forests are growing faster

Speed is not a word typically associated with trees; they can take centuries to grow. However, a new study to be published the week of Feb. 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found evidence that f ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 01, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (28) | comments 19 | with audio podcast

Scientists Discover New Bird Species

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have discovered a new species of bird in Gabon, Africa, that was, until now, unknown to the scientific community. Their findings were published in the international ...

Biology /

created Aug 15, 2008 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (13) | comments 0

Scientists uncover a dramatic rise in sea level and its broad ramifications

Scientists have found proof in Bermuda that the planet's sea level was once more than 21 meters (70 feet) higher about 400,000 years ago than it is now. Their findings were published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews Wednes ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Feb 09, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (14) | comments 9

Scientists discover largest orb-weaving spider

Researchers from the United States and Slovenia have discovered a new, giant Nephila species (golden orb weaver spider) from Africa and Madagascar and have published their findings in the Oct. 21 issue of the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 0

Scientists reveal a first in Ice Age art

Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Florida with an incised image ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jun 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Ancient whale species sheds new light on its modern relatives

Beluga whales and narwhals live solely in the cold waters of the Arctic and sub-arctic. Smithsonian scientists, however, found that this may not have always been the case. They recently described a new species ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New genetic evidence confirms coyote migration route to Virginia and hybridization with wolves

Changes in North American ecosystems over the past 150 years have caused coyotes to move from their native habitats in the plains and southwestern deserts of North America to habitats throughout the United States.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 25, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Smithsonian scientists discover 7 new species of fish

Things are not always what they seem when it comes to fish -- something scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Science Foundation are finding out. Using modern genetic analysis, combined with ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 04, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Nitrogen pollution alters global change scenarios from the ground up

As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise, so does the pressure on the plant kingdom. The hope among policymakers, scientists and concerned citizens is that plants will absorb some of the extra CO2 and mitigate the impact ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jun 30, 2010 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (9) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Scientists issue call to action for archaeological sites threatened by rising seas

Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion. With no hope of saving all of these ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 27, 2010 | popularity 3 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Scientists find climate change to have paradoxical effects in coastal wetlands

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is largely responsible for recent global warming and the rise in sea levels. However, a team of scientists, including two Smithsonian ecologists, have found that this same increase in CO2 may ironic ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 23, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (7) | comments 3

Black-footed ferrets sired by males that died 8 years ago

Two black-footed ferrets at the Smithsonian's National Zoo have each given birth to a kit that was sired by males who died in 1999 and 2000. These endangered ferrets—part of a multi-institutional breeding ...

Biology /

created Sep 02, 2008 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Multiple species of seacows once coexisted: study

Sirenians, or seacows, are a group of marine mammals that include manatees and dugongs; today, only one species of seacow is found in each world region. Smithsonian scientists have discovered that this was ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Mar 08, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover a new species of dinosaur, bridging a gap in the dinosaur family tree

A team of scientists led by the Smithsonian Institution has discovered a fossilized dinosaur skull and neck vertebrae that not only reveal a new species, but also an evolutionary link between two groups of ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

MESSENGER discovers an unusual impact basin on Mercury

A previously unknown, large impact basin has been discovered by the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft during its second flyby of Mercury in October 2008. The impact basin, ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 30, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0