Carol O’Donnell shares the story of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, which is transforming K-12 education through science, in collaboration with communities across the globe. Continue reading Bringing the Smithsonian into Classrooms for 40 Years
The National Air and Space Museum’s Samantha Thompson shares the history of the astronomer whose name graces the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Everything in space – from the Earth and Sun to black holes – accounts for just 15% of all matter in the universe. The rest of the cosmos seems to be made… Continue reading The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will help astronomers investigate dark matter, continuing the legacy of its pioneering namesake
What can we learn from the last time the Earth underwent rapid global warning? Continue reading 56 million years ago, Earth underwent rapid global warming. Here’s what happened to pollinators
Scientists from the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute illustrate the importance of shared standards in studying the origins of museum collections Continue reading Precise measurement standards have revolutionized museum science, helping nail down where artifacts are from
What happens after a mass extinction event? Does nature always “find a way?” Stewart Edie explains what we know about the planet’s ability to survive a hard reboot. Continue reading Ancient fossils show how the last mass extinction forever scrambled the ocean’s biodiversity
White-tailed deer are so common today that some areas have been forced to cull populations to reduce the environmental damage caused by their grazing. But only a century ago, this common backyard visitor was on the verge of extinction. Continue reading The rise and fall – and rise again – of white-tailed deer
And we’re not referring to that ancient blue eyeshadow from seventh grade you found in the back of the medicine cabinet. Continue reading MCI Researchers Help Recreate the World’s Oldest Pigment
Can you tell a toxic cane toad from a delicious Túngara frog just by listening? Fringe-lipped bats can. (Guess their super-hearing is some compensation for the fringe-lip thing.) Continue reading Young bats learn to be discriminating when listening for their next meal
NMNH paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner helped identify the earliest evidence of humans in Eastern Europe—tiny cut marks on bone fossils. Continue reading Evidence suggests that our human ancestors were hunting (and eating) in Romania almost 2 million years ago
Reneé S. Anderson, collections manager at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, writes about a civil rights icon near and dear to her heart. Continue reading Fashion Forward: Mae Reeves used her show-stopping hats to help get out the vote
Vote now for the Autumn 2025 Windows Lock Screen. Voting ends Sunday, September 21st! Continue reading Vote now for the Autumn 2025 Windows Lock Screen
(Ed. note: We should note that it's never wise to stand behind a cow, even a buttery one. Cow pies never win blue ribbons.) Continue reading Behind the Butter Cow: A Look at the Renwick’s new State Fair exhibition
More than $2.5 million in grants has been awarded to fund projects ranging from exposing little kids to nature, the link between movement and emotional wellbeing and building a robotic telescope. Continue reading 2025 Together we Thrive
Melanie Adams will serve as interim director beginning August 26. Continue reading Director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum is stepping down
