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.

woman looking in microscope

Pei-Chih Lee, reproductive biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, dehydrating domestic cat ovarian tissue for storage above freezing temperatures.

Photo: Pierre Comizzoli/Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Smithsonian Scientists Dry and Store Live Ovarian Tissues Above Freezing Temperatures for the First Time
It Is the First Step in Preserving Tissues Long-term Without Freezing
12.05.2019
Conservation Biology Institute Research News
Butterfly on plant
Is Evolution Predictable?
11.14.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Vampire bat flying straight at camera
Bound by Blood: Vampire Bat Bonding Persists From the Lab to the Wild
10.30.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
fan-shaped cora

The sclerite composition of this white and fan-shaped coral is characteristic for this species and differentiates it from others in the same genus. Credit: Héctor Guzmán/STRI

New Deep-Water Coral Discovered
10.21.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
graphic of shark pool

A new study published in PNAS by researchers at the Smithsonian, Academia Sinica and The George Washington University analyzed more than 47 million animal DNA sequences from GenBank, the most commonly used tool used to identify environmental DNA, and found that animal DNA identification errors are rare, but sometimes funny. The researchers want to be able to identify DNA of marine animals in ocean water samples to better monitor the ocean health.

Credit: Ian Cooke Tapia (cartoonist), Matthieu Leray (author)

Can GenBank Be Trusted?
Comparisons of 4.7 Million DNA Sequences Show GenBank Is Reliable for Animal IDs
10.21.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
bird on finger

A photo of the Spectacled Flowerpecker taken in the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Segerak research station. While scientists and birdwatchers have previously glimpsed the small, gray bird in lowland forests around the island, a Smithsonian team of scientists surveying the birdlife of Borneo is the first to capture and study it, resulting in its formal scientific description as a new species. The team’s study, reported Oct. 17 in the journal Zootaxa, confirms that the bird belongs to a colorful family of fruit-eating birds known as flowerpeckers, which are found throughout tropical southern Asia, Australia and nearby islands.

Credit: Chris Milensky

First Scientific Description of Elusive Bird Illuminates Plight of Borneo’s Forests
Scientists Document New Species With Eye Toward the Fate of a Shrinking Forest Biodiversity Hotspot and Its Inhabitants
10.17.2019
National Zoo Research News
crab

Although initially mistaken for Petrolisthes tonsorius in the 1970s, the uncommon colors and atypical habitat of Petrolisthes virgilius led the scientists to corroborate through genetic analyses that it was a new species.

Credit: Alexandra Hiller and Bernd Werding

Two New Porcelain Crab Species Discovered
10.15.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Bright red frog climbing branches.
Imprinting on Mothers May Drive New Species Formation in Poison Dart Frogs
10.03.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Warm Soils, More Carbon

Peruvian mountainside. Andrew Nottingham, research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh, predicted the effects of climate warming on tropical soils by moving soil from a higher to lower elevation on a mountainside in the Peruvian Andes.

Microbes in Warm Soils Released More Carbon Than Those in Cooler Soils
Warming Tropical Soils Could Cause a 9% Increase in Atmospheric CO2 This Century
09.30.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
lake and trees

In the Bocas del Toro region of Panama, manatees occur in turbid brackish waters, so visual counting methods are ineffective for calculating their population sizes.

Underwater Manatee Chatter May Aid in Their Conservation
09.30.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
diver underwater with tank
Living Coral Cover Will Slow Future Reef Dissolution
In situ Experiment on Great Barrier Reef Tests Future Ocean Acidification Scenario
09.26.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
river and marshland

Tidal marshes like this one in Maryland are critical buffers against storm surges, hurricanes and other extreme weather. Scientists think that growing shorter, denser clusters of stems could help marshes be even better shields, and enable them to build soil more quickly to help them stay above water as sea levels rise. (Credit: Gary Peresta/Smithsonian Environmental Research Center)

High CO2 Can Create “Shrinking Stems” in Marshes
Marshes Grow Shorter, Denser Stems Under High Carbon Dioxide, Which Can Help Them Resist Sea Level Rise
09.25.2019
Environmental Research Center Research News
logo
Traditional Fisherfolk Help Uncover Ancient Fish Preservation Methods
09.24.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
flying bat

Antrozous pallidus with scorpion

Credit: Merlin Tuttle

Bats Use Private and Social Information As They Hunt
09.24.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Eel under water

South American rivers are home to at least three different species of electric eels, including a newly identified species capable of generating a greater electrical discharge than any other known animal, according to a new analysis published in the Sept. 10 issue of the journal Nature Communications. The third species, Electrophorus varii (shown above), named after the late Smithsonian ichthyologist Richard Vari, swims through murky, slow-flowing lowland waters.

Credit: D. Bastos

Smithsonian Scientists Triple Number of Known Electric Eel Species
Study Also Documents Most Powerful Biologically Produced Electric Shock and Strengthens Case for Preserving Amazon’s Rich Biodiversity
09.10.2019
Natural History Museum Research News
Konza Prairie Biological Station in northeast Kansas

Konza Prairie Biological Station in northeast Kansas. Humans and animals alike depend on grasslands for survival. In addition to providing land for cattle and sheep to graze, grasslands can also store up to 30 percent of the world’s carbon. Credit: Kim Komatsu, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Global Change Is Triggering an Identity Switch in Grasslands
Scientists Discover Species Turnover in Study of More Than 100 Grassland Experiments
08.19.2019
Environmental Research Center Research News
person holding leech
New Bloodsucker Is Discovered: First North American Medicinal Leech Scientifically Described in Over 40 Years
Museum Collections Reveal the New Leech Has Hidden in Plain Sight for Decades
08.15.2019
Natural History Museum Research News
purple fringeless orchid

An endangered purple fringeless orchid discovered on a private farm in Virginia July 24 by citizen scientists.

Photo: Courtesy of October Greenfield

Citizen Scientists Discover Endangered Orchid in Virginia
08.06.2019
Conservation Biology Institute Research News
Bat

Micronycteris microtis in flightcage
Credit: Inga Geipel

Bats Use Leaves as Mirrors To Find Their Prey in the Dark
08.01.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Kirtland’s Warbler

A Kirtland’s warbler.

Photo: Courtesy of Nathan Cooper  

Kirtland’s Warbler No Longer Needs Protection from Brown-Headed Cowbird in Michigan
07.31.2019
Conservation Biology Institute Research News

Expedition to Darien Forest. Photo by Sean Mattson

Study Reveals Unusually High Carbon Stocks and Tree Diversity in Panama’s Darien Forest
07.19.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
lion

A male African lion named Luke at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in 2011.

Photo: Mehgan Murphy/Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Male African Lions in Human Care Hit Puberty Earlier Than in the Wild
Nutrition May Be Behind the Difference
07.03.2019
National Zoo Research News
woman with bugs

Amber S. Litterer, University of New Hampshire, loves Docidocercus gigliotosi, a tropical katydid species.

Credit: Ciara Kernan

Insects Need Empathy
Immediate, Science-Based Community Action Can Mitigate Insect Decline
06.27.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
People speaking into radio

George H. Clark Radioana Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Smithsonian Launches Transcription of Audio Collections
Apollo 11 Recordings Among First Projects Available for Volunteers
06.24.2019
Smithsonian Learning Lab Research News

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