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.

Expansive plains with a group of 10 people excavating large dirt holes
J.S. Oliver, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project
Nyayanga site being excavated in July 2016

Nyayanga site being excavated in July 2016

SI-38-2023

Download (6.6 MB)
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
Illustration of planetary objects
Alien Planet Found Spiraling to Its Doom Around an Aging Star
Condemned Planet Could Help Answer Questions About the Fate of Other Worlds as Their Solar Systems Evolve
12.19.2022
Astrophysical Observatory Research News
Aerial view of lush trees and a body of water

An aerial view of regenerating secondary tropical forest in the Barro Colorado Nature Monument, Panama. Credit: Christian Ziegler, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

Study Details How Animals Are Key To Restoring the World’s Forests
12.02.2022
Tropical Research Institute Research News
Illustration of the surface of a red planet with a star shining in the distance

New observations of WASP-39 b with the JWST have provided a clearer picture of the exoplanet, showing the presence of sodium, potassium, water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide in the planet's atmosphere. This artist's illustration also displays newly detected patches of clouds scattered across the planet. Credit: Melissa Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
 

New From JWST: An Exoplanet Atmosphere as Never Seen Before
New Observations of WASP-39 b Reveal a Never-Before-Seen Molecule in the Atmosphere of a Planet—Sulfur Dioxide—Among Other Details
11.22.2022
Astrophysical Observatory Research News
Smithsonian logo
Smithsonian Launches “Life on a Sustainable Planet” Climate Change Initiative
Initiative Aims To Facilitate Scientific Research and Promote Sustainable Solutions
11.10.2022
Research News
Smithsonian sunburst logo
Sustainability at the Smithsonian Institution: Responding to Climate Change
11.09.2022
Research News Education News
Smithsonian logo
Smithsonian Receives $10 Million Donation To Support Research and Education on Climate Resilience
Gift Will Fund Several New Programs and Help Scale-Up Existing Ones
10.31.2022
Research News Education News
Video reconstruction of Opisthiamimus gregori fossil skull

Video showing 3D reconstruction of the fossil skull of Opisthiamimus gregori, a new extinct species of lizard-like reptile from the Late Jurassic of Wyoming, U.S. Individual bones are color-coded.

Download (16.98 MB)
Photo and illustration of reptilian skull
D. DeMar (photo, top), James Morrison (illustration, bottom).
Fossil and interpretive drawing of Opisthiamimus gregori

Photo (top) and interpretive drawing (bottom) of the skull and skeleton of Opisthiamimus gregori, a new extinct species of lizard-like reptile from the Late Jurassic of Wyoming, U.S.

Download (333.73 KB)
Three line drawings of a reptilian skull reconstruction
D. DeMar
Reconstruction of the skull of Opisthiamimus gregori

Top (A), bottom (B) and right side (C) views of the skull of Opisthiamimus gregori, a new extinct species of lizard-like reptile from the Late Jurassic of Wyoming, U.S.

Download (309.86 KB)
Fossil of a lizard skeleton
David DeMar for the Smithsonian Institution.
Fossil of Opisthiamimus gregori

Fossil skeleton of the new lizard-like reptile Opisthiamimus gregori. The fossil was discovered in the Morrison Formation of the Bighorn Basin, north-central Wyoming, and dates to the Late Jurassic Period, approximately 150 million years ago.

Download (304.96 KB)
Five illustrations of a reptilian skull reconstruction
D. DeMar
Reconstruction of the skull of Opisthiamimus gregori

3D reconstruction of the skull of Opisthiamimus gregori, a new extinct species of lizard-like reptile from the Late Jurassic of Wyoming, U.S. Individual bones are color-coded.

Download (268.13 KB)
illustration of a lizard eating a bug in a forest

Credit information: Julius Csotonyi for the Smithsonian Institution.

Smithsonian Researchers Discover Extinct Prehistoric Reptile That Lived Among Dinosaurs
Discovery Sheds Light on the Tuatara, the Last Living Member of a Once-Diverse Group of Reptiles That Has Almost Entirely Been Supplanted by Lizards
09.15.2022
Natural History Museum Research News
Graph and illustration of interstellar object

This illustration plots changes in brightness of the red supergiant star Betelgeuse, following the titanic mass ejection of a large piece of its visible surface. The escaping material cooled to form a cloud of dust that temporarily made the star look dimmer, as seen from Earth. This unprecedented stellar convulsion disrupted the monster star’s 400-day-long oscillation period that astronomers had measured for more than 200 years. The interior may now be jiggling like a plate of gelatin dessert. Credit: NASA, ESA, Elizabeth Wheatley (STScI) 

Hubble Sees Red Supergiant Star Betelgeuse Slowly Recovering After Blowing Its Top
Seething Monster Star Had Never-Before-Seen Titanic Eruption
08.11.2022
Astrophysical Observatory Research News
Four people in wet suits pose on edge of a boat on water
Matt Whalen
Members of the Zostera Experimental Network (ZEN) at a site in Japan.

Members of the Zostera Experimental Network (ZEN) at a site in Japan. (Credit: Matt Whalen)

SI-262-2022

Download (1.45 MB)
Person rowing boat on a body of water pauses to look straight ahead
Wytze Stam
Professor emeritus Jeanine Olsen of the University of Groningen, on an expedition at a ZEN site near Bodø, Norway. ZEN (Zostera Experimental Network) tracks eelgrass health at sites across the Northern Hemisphere

Professor emeritus Jeanine Olsen of the University of Groningen, on an expedition at a ZEN site near Bodø, Norway. ZEN (Zostera Experimental Network) tracks eelgrass health at sites across the Northern Hemisphere. (Credit: Wytze Stam)

SI-262-2022

Download (2.18 MB)
Two people crouch in marshland to observe a scientific sample
Liz Allen
UC Davis biologist Jay Stachowicz (left) and postdoc Deanna Beatty on a sampling expedition in Tomales Bay, California

UC Davis biologist Jay Stachowicz (left) and postdoc Deanna Beatty on a sampling expedition in Tomales Bay, California. (Credit: Liz Allen)

SI-262-2022

Download (5.25 MB)
Man kneels on side of boat on the water while gripping structural bar on boat
Sean Mattson/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian biologist Emmett Duffy on a research boat in Bocas Del Toro, Panama

Smithsonian biologist Emmett Duffy on a research boat in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. (Credit: Sean Mattson/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

SI-262-2022

Download (3.09 MB)
Close-up of underwater blades of grass
Matt Whalen
Eelgrass in Japan's Lake Akkeshi

Eeelgrass in Japan's Lake Akkeshi. (Credit: Matt Whalen)

SI-262-2022

Download (1.78 MB)
Underwater photo of lush green eelgrass being moved in a current

Eelgrass from the Finnish Archipelago Sea. Eelgrasses migrated to the Atlantic from the Pacific hundreds of millennia ago, and that ancient migration left marks on their DNA that still shape them today. (Credit: Christoffer Boström, Åbo Akademi University)

Legacy of Ancient Ice Ages Shapes How Seagrasses Respond to Environmental Threats Today
Past Migration, Pleistocene Ice Ages Still Impact Size and Structure of Modern Eelgrass Communities
08.01.2022
Environmental Research Center Research News

Pages