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.

Underwater coral that is textured and various shades of brown and tan.
Kelly Pitts, Smithsonian.
NMNH Coral Probiotic - Great Star Coral

A great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa) colony infected with stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) on the coral reef in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The lesion, where the white band of tissue occurs, typically moves across the coral, killing coral tissue along the way.

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Bubbly, rough-textured surface of underwater coral with layer of paste.
Kelly Pitts, Smithsonian.
NMNH Coral Probiotic - Paste After Application

Corals treated with the probiotic paste lost more tissue than the untreated corals. This revealed that applying the probiotic directly to the lesions was the least effective way to control SCTLD.

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A female diver in a black suit and oxygen tank uses a syringe to apply something to a large, boulder-esque coral.
Hunter Noren.
NMNH Coral Probiotic - Researcher Applying Paste

Kelly Pitts, a research technician with the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce, Fla., and co-lead author of the study, applies a paste containing probiotic strain McH1-7 with a syringe directly onto the disease lesion of an SCTLD-infected great star coral (Montaststraea cavernosa) colony.

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A person a black diving suit and full mask treats coral on ocean floor.
Hunter Noren.
NMNH Coral Probiotic - Researcher Treating Coral

Kelly Pitts, a research technician with the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft.

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Close-up of a bubbly, rough-textured underwater coral with the tip of a syringe applying clear paste
Kelly Pitts, Smithsonian.
NMNH Coral Probiotic - Paste Application, close-up

A probiotic paste of McH1-7 is applied to the disease lesion of a great star coral (Montaststraea cavernosa) colony infected with stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD).

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STRI - Capuchin Monkeys, video from Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
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Exterior of a building with a large glass entrance and metal pole in front.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
NASM - July 2025 Gallery Opening, Mall Entrance
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A watery field of green grass with white poles for a science exeriment.
Genevieve Noyce, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
SMARTX experiment

The SMARTX experiment, where scientists are raising temperatures on a wetland to mimic a hotter world, during a flood.

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Man wearing glasses and a short sleeve shirt crouches down a field of tall green grass.
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Researcher Jaehyun Lee Collects Samples

Jaehyun Lee collects a porewater sample in the SMARTX experiment, at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland.

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A man and a woman wearing short sleeve shirts and outdoors attire stand in field of tall green gas holding large stick with soil
Sairah Malkin, Horn Point Laboratory
Researchers Holding Soil Core

Genevieve Noyce (left) and Pat Megonigal, two wetland scientists at the Smithsonian, hold up a soil core as part of an experiment.

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Dried specimen with ten alternating thin leaves.
Smithsonian
NMNH Heliconia - Heliconia atratensis specimen

Heliconia atratensis

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Dried leaf specimen of large green teardrop leaf.
Smithsonian
NMNH Heliconia - Heliconia oleosa specimen

Heliconia oleosa

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Dried leaf specimen with thin, small leafs.
Smithsonian
NMNH Heliconia - Heliconia donstonea specimen

Heliconia donstonea

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Plant with magenta pink leaves shaped like large almonds.
John Kress
NMNH Heliconia - Heliconia reticulata

Heliconia reticulata

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Picture of outdoor landscaping with small, spiky shrubs in shades of green and one tall plant with long thin flowers.
John Kress
NMNH Heliconia - Planted Heliconia

Heliconias planted as ornamentals in a garden in Panama.

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Plant with long, thin, bright red leaves in a needle shape.
John Kress
NMNH Heliconia - Heliconia atratensis

Heliconia atratensis, an endangered species in Colombia.

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Plant in a conical shape with vibrant red leaves
John Kress
NMNH Heliconia - Heliconia bella

Heliconia bella in Panama. 

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Man in button down and a black cap stands in the forest holding a leaf sample.
John Kress
NMNH Heliconia - John Kress

John Kress, now an emeritus curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and one of the authors of the new study, discovering a new species of Heliconia in Venezuela.

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Microscopic close-up of gray, rice-shaped particles.
Rob Wardell, Tim Gooding and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian.
NMNH - Bennu, 2

Sodium carbonate. The vein is also surrounded by clay-rich rock, with small pieces of rock resting on top of the sodium carbonate needles.

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Image of surface of planet with rays light projecting out against black space.
NMNH - Bennu, D - Encleadus Plumes, Image by NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Enceladus’ surface jets emitting plumes while backlit by the sun, as observed by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

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Black capsule sits in desert.
NASA/Keegan Barber
NMNH - Bennu, Sample capsule

The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range.

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A group of minerals in varying shapes and colors.
Greg Polley, Smithsonian.
NMNH - Bennu, Mineral examples

Earth-originating examples of minerals found in Bennu samples. These specimens are from the U.S.

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Ring of light in outer space.
NASA
NMNH - Bennu, Saturns E Ring with Enceladus, Image by NASA

Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus within Saturn’s E ring as observed by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

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Microscopic close-up of circular particles.
Rob Wardell, Tim Gooding and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian.
NMNH - Bennu, 3

Magnetite (iron oxide) crystals less than 1 micrometer in size. The individual crystals range in shapes from six-sided cubes to eight-sided octahedra.

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