Research News

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.

Research News Feed

Higher Elevation Birds Sport Thicker Down “Jackets” To Survive the Cold

Study of Himalayan Songbirds in Museum Collections Is First Step Toward Using Feathers To Predict the Effects of Climate Change for Birds in Extreme Environments

Baby Vampire Bat Adopted by Mom’s Best Friend

Scientists Discover How a Group of Caterpillars Became Poisonous

Genetic Research Using Smithsonian Collections Reveals the Evolutionary Path of Six Toxic Butterfly Species

Artist rendering of five planets of various sizes

High Schoolers Discover Four Exoplanets Through Harvard & Smithsonian Mentorship Program

High Schoolers-Turned-Scientists Published Their Findings This Week

Astronomers Discover First Cloudless, Jupiter-Like Planet

This Marks the Second Time Astronomers Have Observed a Cloud-free Exoplanet

Smithsonian Scientists Reduce Uncertainty in Forest Carbon Storage Calculations

Scientists Discover Electric Eels Hunting in a Group

Never-Before-Seen Behavior Culminates in a Synchronized Zap of Eels’ Prey, Raising New Questions About How They Communicate

Study Reveals That Mercury Is the Not-So-Shrunken Planet

New Paper Is Published by Smithsonian Scientist Tom Watters

Report Highlights Long-Term Benefits of Scientific Collections

December 16, 2020
Research News

Three dried corn cobs on black background

Ancient DNA Continues To Rewrite Corn’s 9,000-Year Society-Shaping History

Three 2,000-Year-Old Cobs in Honduras Show That People Brought Corn Varieties Back to Mesoamerica, Possibly Sparking Productivity and Shaping Civilization

One-Two Punch: Sea Urchins Stuck Belly-up in Low-Oxygen Hot Water

Researchers Discover Secret Social Lives of Giant Poisonous Rats

Scientists Release Genomes of Birds Representing Nearly All Avian Families

Approximately 40% of Genome Samples Sourced From Smithsonian Collections, Amassed Over Decades From Around the Globe

Global “BiteMap” Reveals How Marine Food Webs May Change With Climate

Biologists Track Predator Activity Underwater and Discover Temperature Changes Communities More Than Appetites

The Darwinian Diet: You Are What You Eat

Lessons in Evolution From Agricultural Ants in Panama

DNA in Fringe-Lipped Bat Poop Reveals Unexpected Eating Habits

Turbulent Era Sparked Leap in Human Behavior, Adaptability 320,000 Years Ago

New Drill Core Shows a Boom-Bust Landscape in the East African Rift Valley at a Defining Moment in Human Evolution, Technology and Culture

Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Giant Panda Cub Is Male

Peruvian Amazonian Shaman Rose to Power in the Early 20th Century on Promises of Liberation and Immortality

Book by SmithsonianTropical Research Institute Anthropologist Describes Life of the Shaman, Tasorentsi

Fish Invasions Follow Panama and Suez Canal Expansions, but Research Halted by Pandemic

Warmer, Acidifying Ocean Brings Extinction for Harder Reef-Building Corals, Renewal for Softer-Bodied Relatives

Human Carbon Emissions Already Devastating Coral Reefs, While Softer-Bodied Relatives Will Persist and Diversify for Millions of Years

Research team with unearthed fossil tree

Fossil Trees on Peru’s Central Andean Plateau Tell a Tale of Dramatic Environmental Change

Tracking Technology Exposes Secretive Long-distance Movement of Kirtland’s Warblers

Hidden Movements Have Conservation Implications for All North American Bird Species

Strianassa lerayi Anker, New Shrimp Species From Panama’s Coiba National Park

Named for Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Post-doctoral Fellow Matthieu Leray