From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year ...

It’s the real world wide web. Romanian scientists realized every arachnophobe’s worst nightmare after discovering the “world’s biggest spider web”– complete with approximately 111,000 of the critters.

China has made no secret of its goal to attract the world’s best scientists. In the past three years, a parade of highly accomplished researchers has emigrated there. Wolfgang Baumeister, a molecular ...