In this artist’s conception, planets form from the gas and dust in the protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star. The gas is made up of many different molecules, including hydrogen cyanide and more complex nitriles—linked to the development of life on Earth. The soup of molecules in a particular location in the disk shapes the future of the planet forming there and determines whether or not that planet could support life as people know it. Credit: M.Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
“Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.” Exhibition Uses Art To Explore the Black Lives Matter Movement, Social Protests and the Struggle for Equality and Freedom
Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and partners are the first to use frozen coral sperm to bolster coral genes of the same species that would otherwise remain apart as they are geographically isolated, with the aim of giving coral like this endangered Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) a boost against warming oceans.
Credit: Roshan Patel, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Detected in 2019,the Borisov comet was the first interstellar comet known to have passed through our solar system. Credit: NASA, ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA).
Long-Term Monitoring of the Bat Species Saccopteryx bilineata in Their Natural Setting Revealed That Pups Display Babbling Behavior Strikingly Similar to That of Human Infants
Unidentified artist, Untitled (brooch, man with goatee), undated, albumen print in metal setting. Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Photographic Jewelry, Museum purchase made possible through the Franz H. and Luisita L. Denghausen Endowment
Scimitar-horned oryx calves born via artificial insemination along with members of their herd at the Smithsonian Conservation and Biology Institute. Photo: Budhan Pukazhenthi, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Protesters march down Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE during the 2017 Grocery Walk to demand greater investment in food access programs and healthy food retail options. To highlight the lack of grocery options in Wards 7 and 8, over 500 people marched the two-mile journey between Historic Anacostia and Ward 8’s only grocery store. Credit: Brian Oh/Courtesy of DC Greens
