The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center turned 60 this year. We're celebrating with six of our favorite stories since ...

More than a billion years ago, a shallow basin in what is now northern Ontario held a subtropical lake. The setting likely resembled modern Death Valley, where heat drives evaporation and leaves salt ...

Nuclear fusion. People on Mars. Artificial general intelligence. These are just some of the advances that could come by the ...

With findings on Earth’s polar extremes and its innermost core, scientists shaped how we look at the planet in 2025 in surprising and fascinating ways.

Scientists discover 26 new bacterial species in NASA cleanrooms, revealing surprisingly resilient microbes with potential ...

These fungi boost plant growth and restore depleted ecosystems, but federal funding for a library housing them has been cut – and it may be forced to close ...

From Santa’s reindeer and the Hanukkah armadillo to some very festive sea worms, our changing world is changing life for ...

Scientists trace an ancient microbe, Asgard archaea, that gave rise to humans, animals, and plants more than 2 billion years ...

Electric water heaters will soon be the standard replacement for Bay Area residences. But there will be some exceptions.

Methane isn’t just an environmental buzzword — it is energy lost. Every puff of gas from a cow’s rumen represents feed energy ...

From Santa’s reindeer and the Hanukkah armadillo to some very festive sea worms, our changing world is changing life for ...

Climate change, growing demand and the transformation of coffee into a commodity for speculation on the New York Stock ...