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.

Labeled figure of core
Rebecca Fischer
Carbon Figure 2

A team of scientists reports March 30 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences how carbon behaved during Earth’s violent formative period.

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False color photo of carbon
Rebecca Fischer
Carbon Figure 1

A team of scientists reports March 30 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences how carbon behaved during Earth’s violent formative period.

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False color image of carbon moleculre

Credit: Rebecca Fischer

Most of Earth’s Carbon Was Hidden in the Core During Its Formative Years
04.01.2020
Natural History Museum Research News
Giant panda eating bamboo

Giant panda Mei Xiang at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Photo: Meghan Murphy/Smithsonian’s National Zoo          

 

Giant Panda Mei Xiang Is Artificially Inseminated at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo
03.23.2020
National Zoo & SCBI Research News
intersex bee.
How Does an Intersex Bee Behave?
03.18.2020
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Vampire bats clustered together
Josh Moore
Bound By Blood 1

A group of common vampire bats just hanging around. 

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Vampire bat flying directly at camera
Sherri and Brock Fenton
Bound By Blood 2

The common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus, in flight

 

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Vampire bat in flight
Sherri and Brock Fenton
Bound by Blood 3

Desmodus rotundus, the common vampire bat

 

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Vampire bat in flight
Sherri and Brock Fenton
Bound by Blood 4

The common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus, in flight

 

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Bats tagged and netted
Sherri and Brock Fenton
Bound by Blood 5

Desmodus rotundus carrying proximity sensor “backpack”

 

 

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Bat with transmitter
Sherri and Brock Fenton
Bound by Blood 6

The very lightweight proximity sensor does doesn’t affect the bat’s ability to fly.

 

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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
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

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
Spider Zombie Wasp

Wasp in Pupil Stage. Credit: Marcelo O. Gonzaga

Parasitoid Wasps May Turn Spiders Into Zombies by Hacking Their Internal Code
04.29.2019
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Red siskin bird on branch
Jhonathan Miranda / RSI Avian Field Research Specialist.
Red siskin in the wild

According to estimates, less than 3000 Red Siskins remain in the wild in Venezuela. 

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Close up of red siskind
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Red siskin

The Red Siskin Initiative maintains a colony of birds in human care at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va.

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Colorful red siskin on tree branch with leaves
Jhonathan Miranda / RSI Avian Field Research Specialist
Red siskin in the wild

According to estimates, less than 3000 Red Siskins remain in the wild in Venezuela.

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Coloful red siskin bird on branch

According to estimates, less than 3000 Red Siskins remain in the wild in Venezuela. Photo credit: Jhonathan Miranda / RSI Avian Field Research Specialist.

Coffee and Chocolate Could Help Preserve Endangered Birds in Venezuela  
11.02.2018
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Marsh showing invasive grasses

This Maryland marsh is covered with invasive Phragmites, light brown stalks that grow taller than native marsh plants. However, marshes and other coastal ecosystems excel at storing “blue carbon,” and some invasive plants like Phragmites could more than double.

Invasive Plants Can Boost Blue Carbon Storage
Coastal Ecosystems Store More Carbon With Certain Plant Invaders, but Animal Invaders Set Them Back
10.01.2018
Environmental Research Center Research News
Colleagues pose for group photo
Maria Sharova/Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Researchers

Left to right: Ecologists Christina Simkanin (Smithsonian), Ian Davidson (Smithsonian), Grace Cott (University College Cork) and John Devaney (Trinity College Dublin) in front of the Mathias Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland. 

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Crab covered in Botrylloides violaceus

A crab on a Ketchikan dock, covered in the invasive tunicate Botrylloides violaceus. (Photo: Linda McCann/SERC)

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Bugula neritina

Scientists found the bryozoan Bugula neritina in Alaska for the first time in the town of Ketchikan, as part of the citizen science project Plate Watch. (Photo: Melissa Frey, Royal BC Museum, Canada)

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Gary Freitag

Gary Freitag, of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, kneels on a dock with fouling plates beside volunteer citizen scientists. (Photo: Linda McCann/SERC)

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