Research News

Newsroom of the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian is one of the world’s foremost research centers in science, the arts, and the humanities. In addition to research pursued by the museums, our research centers specialize in areas of inquiry spanning the globe and the farthest reaches of the universe.

Computer-generated rendering of medium-sized, white, fluffy dog.

The reconstructed woolly dog shown at scale with Arctic dogs and spitz breeds in the background to compare scale and appearance; the portrayal does not imply a genetic relationship. Credit: Karen Carr.

Researchers, Coast Salish People Analyze 160-Year-Old Indigenous Dog Pelt in the Smithsonian’s Collection
Analysis Conducted To Pinpoint the Origin and Sudden Disappearance of the Culturally Significant Coast Salish Woolly Dog
12.14.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
An organic, black piece of whale against a black background

A plate of baleen (left) and a plastic shard (right) found in the gut of the first Rice’s whale to be scientifically described.

Credit: James D. Tiller and Fred Cochard, Smithsonian.

Smithsonian To Host Symposium Focused on Endangered Rice’s Whale in Partnership With NOAA, Marine Mammal Commission
Museum Will Display Remains of the First Scientifically Described Rice’s Whale
11.09.2023
Natural History Museum Research News Exhibitions
Yellow frog on green grass

Hourglass treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus). Amphibians, which face some of the steepest declines worldwide, saw some of the biggest benefits to living in protected lands. (Credit: Justin Nowakowski)

Protecting Lands Slows Biodiversity Loss Among Vertebrates by Five Times
Effective Government Key To Ensuring Protected Areas Safeguard Biodiversity
09.27.2023
Environmental Research Center Research News
Elkhorn Coral

Roshan Patel/Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

New Technique Could Facilitate Rapid Cryopreservation of All Coral Species
Successfully Cooling and Thawing Coral Fragments Key to Global Conservation Milestone for Vanishing Coral Reefs
08.23.2023
National Zoo Research News
Still life photo of various clams and other bivalves spilling from a bushel basket

Human-harvested shellfish from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History research collections. (Credit: Brittany M. Hance and James D. Tiller, Smithsonian)

More Than 800 Human-Harvested Shellfish Species Tend To Be More Resistant to Extinction
Researchers Caution That Harvests Must Be Sustainably Managed To Preserve Populations for Future Generations
08.15.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
Smithsonian sunburst
Analysis Reveals Ancestry, Possible Descendants of Enslaved and Free African Americans
Scientists Analyzed DNA From an African American Burial Ground Located at a Historic Maryland Ironworks
08.03.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
Huge tree on Barro Colorado Island

One of the largest trees on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Tropical forests pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere where it causes global warming and store it as wood. But the amount of carbon stored varies depending on tree species, age, climate conditions and other factors. Verifiable estimates of carbon stored in forests are necessary to calculate carbon credits. (Photo by Steve Paton)

Bezos Earth Fund Grants $12 Million to Smithsonian To Support Major Forest Carbon Project
07.06.2023
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Three bones showing cut marks from stone tools

Briana Pobiner

Humans’ Evolutionary Relatives Butchered One Another 1.45 Million Years Ago
Cut Marks on a Fossil Leg Bone Belonging to a Relative of Modern Humans Were Made by Stone Tools and Could Be Evidence of Cannibalism
06.26.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
Fisherman casting seine net

Credit: Luciano Candisani

Marine Protected Areas Improve Health, Wealth of Nearby Communities
New Smithsonian-Led Study Shows Protecting Marine Life Can Support Multiple U.N. Sustainable Development Goals in Mesoamerican Reef
06.22.2023
Environmental Research Center Research News
Camels traversing Kenyan desert

Caravan of camels moving across the edge of the Chalbi Desert in Marsabit County, Kenya. (Photo by James Hassell, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute).

Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute and Kenyan Partners Awarded $5 Million Grant To Prevent Emerging Diseases in Northern Kenya
Five-Year Study of Three Animal-Borne Pathogens Aims To Enhance Local and Global Health Security
06.06.2023
Conservation Biology Institute National Zoo Research News Administrative News
Scientists working on inaugural BiodiversiTREE project pose for group shot

The team of scientists and interns who planted BiodiversiTREE in 2013, along with roughly 100 volunteers. From left: Susan Cook-Patton, Whitney Hoot, Caitlyn Cecil, Jess Shue, John Parker, Kim Holzer and Lada Klimesova. (Credit: Susan Cook-Patton)

Tree Species Diversity Increases Likelihood of Planting Success
Researchers and Volunteers Planted 20,000 Tree Saplings in Reforestation Experiment; Ten Years Later, the Results Are In
05.23.2023
Environmental Research Center Research News
Exoplanet LP 791-18 d

LP 791-18 d, illustrated here, is an Earth-size world about 90 light-years away. The gravitational tug from a more massive planet in the system, shown as a blue disk in the background, may result in internal heating and volcanic eruptions—as much as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most geologically active body in the solar system. Astronomers discovered and studied the planet using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite along with many other observatories.

Astronomers Find Potentially Volcano-Covered Earth-Size World
05.17.2023
Research News
Earth rising on the horizon of the moon

NASA

Study Presents New Clues About the Rise of Earth’s Continents
One Popular Explanation for Properties That Result in Dry Land Is Unlikely According to New Experiments
05.04.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
Kirtland's Warbler

Research ecologist Nathan Cooper holds a radio-tagged Kirtland’s Warbler just before releasing it in The Bahamas. Credit: Tim Romano/Smithsonian

Night Flight: Tracking Data Reveal When and Why Songbirds Begin Their Massive Journeys and How They Decide To Leave
Most Birds Start Within a 69-Minute Window Just After Dusk
05.01.2023
Research News
Center for Environmental Justice at the Anacostia Community Museum
Smithsonian’s Center for Environmental Justice at the Anacostia Community Museum Launches on Earth Day
04.07.2023
Anacostia Community Museum Research News Public Programs
Close up of coral polyps underwater

A close-up ofextended polyps of an apparently healthy great star coral colony (Montastraea cavernosa) on a reef near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The tentacles surrounding the mouth of each polyp help trap food particles for the coral to eat. The brown coloration is from the symbiotic microalgae (Symbiodiniaceae) that live in the coral tissues. Credit: Valerie Paul

Newly Discovered Probiotic Could Protect Caribbean Corals Threatened by Deadly, Devastating Disease
New Treatment Offers an Alternative to Antibiotic Treatment, Reducing Risk of Resistant Pathogenic Bacteria
04.06.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
Smithsonian logo
Unraveling a Microbial Mystery
Why Are Some Bacteria Making Environmental Mercury Even More Toxic?
04.04.2023
Environmental Research Center Research News
Smithsonian logo
Global Natural History Initiative Builds Groundbreaking Database To Address 21st-Century Challenges
Effort Connects More Than a Billion Objects in Scientific Collections Across 73 Museums in 28 Countries
03.23.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
Open book with dozens of painted silhouettes

Credit: Page spread from William Bache’s Silhouettes Album, black paper-coated silhouettes mounted on paper. Digitized by Mark Gulezian/NPG. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of Sarah Bache Bloise

Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Reveals Identities of Hundreds of People in Early 19th-Century Portrait Album
Portrait Gallery Research and Conservation Project Used Getty Grant To Create a Microsite Featuring 1,800 Paper Silhouettes From Political Elite to Everyday People
03.20.2023
Portrait Gallery Research News
Book cover with images of clothing and musical instruments and text "Musical Crossroads"
National Museum of African American History and Culture Releases New Book on Black Music and Its Global Impact
Objects and Essays Explore 400 Years of Musical Culture
03.01.2023
African American Museum Research News
Expansive outdoor area with 10 people seen excavating a dirt hole

Nyayanga site being excavated in July 2016. Credit: J.S. Oliver, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

2.9-Million-Year-Old Butchery Site Reopens Case of Who Made First Stone Tools
Discovery of Stone Tools and Cut-Marked Animal Bones in Kenya Offers Window Into the Dawn of Stone Technology
02.09.2023
Natural History Museum Research News
Belize Mangroves

Credit: Hannah Morrissette

Getting to the Root of Blue Carbon Storage in Belize’s Mangroves
SERC Is Part of International Team To Develop First National Estimates of Mangrove Carbon Stocks in Belize
02.08.2023
Environmental Research Center Research News
Smithsonian logo
AAAS Honors Three Smithsonian Scientists as Lifetime Fellows
01.31.2023
Research News
Illustration of prehistoric creatures in the sea

Artist’s life reconstruction of adult and newly born Triassic ichthyosaurs Shonisaurus, 2022. Credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

Fossil CSI: Analysis of Giant Extinct Marine Reptile Graveyard Suggests Mysterious Site Was Ancient Birthing Grounds
Nevada Site Has Been Studied for Decades, but Explanations for Why So Many Ichthyosaurs Died There Some 230 Million Years Ago Have Eluded Researchers
12.19.2022
Natural History Museum Research News

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