Ben Panko

Ben Panko is a staff writer for Smithsonian.com

Orbis et Globus in place - for now

This Wandering Concrete Sphere Will Track the Movements of the Arctic Circle

On a small Icelandic island, a massive piece of art will track Earth's wobble in space

A graphic showing the high image resolutions achieved with cryo-electron microscopy

Method for Capturing the Smallest Details of Life Nabs Chemistry Nobel

With cryo-electron microscopy, tiny living molecules can be seen in their natural states

Visitors next month will be able to tour the top tiers of Rome's Colosseum

Rome's Colosseum Is Reopening Its Upper Tiers to Visitors

For the first time in four decades, the public will be able to enter the top levels of Rome’s amphitheater

The glowing end of a tapeworm took fourth place in the competition. 200x magnification

Revel in the Big Details of Tiny Things With These Prize-Winning Images

Skin cells, tape worms and fuzzy mold are among this years top photos

Kurt Vonnegut in a 1990 portrait

You Can Now Read Five Newly Discovered Kurt Vonnegut Short Stories

Written early in the author's careers, the works were recently unearthed in his archives

Humans overwhelmingly rely on only a few crops like wheat, making our food supplies vulnerable to climate change

Just a Few Species Make Up Most of Earth's Food Supply. And That's a Problem

The looming threat of extinction from climate change makes the lack of diversity in the world's food supplies a dangerous prospect

Circadian rhythms dictate the patterns of sleep and wakefulness for much of life on Earth

Nobel Prize Awarded to Three Scientists Who Mapped the Body's Internal Clock

Circadian rhythms dictate the daily patterns of life on Earth, and understanding these patterns is crucial to overall health

The 2015 winner of the "GIF It Up" competition.

Competition Wants You to Turn Cultural Heritage Into GIFs

The latest round of "GIF It Up" seeks the best GIFs made from public domain prints, photos, paintings and more

This 1966 portrait of Hugh Hefner will go on display today in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Hugh Hefner's Legacy as Told Through National Portrait Gallery Artifacts

Three objects explore the complicated and controversial life of the late founder of the Playboy empire

Scientists drilled under the waters around New Zealand to find evidence of a lost continent

"Lost Continent" Rises Again With New Expedition

Zealandia sank beneath ocean tens of millions of years ago, but scientists are pulling up remnants of it to study how it used to be

A comparison of the man's brain activity before and after he had vagus nerve stimulation.

Experimental Treatment Partially Awakens Man in Vegetative State

Scientists are hopeful but cautious about the initial results of the test

An artist's impression of ripples in the fabric of space-time formed from the collision of two black holes.

Scientists Detect Fourth Gravitational Wave, Homing in on an Ancient Black Hole Collision

By triangulating measurements, scientists could soon detect these once elusive energy bursts on a weekly basis with greater precision than ever before

A horsehair worm seen in its adult state, in which it lives only to breed

This Jumble of Writhing Sticks Is Actually a Bizarre Parasite

Observed flailing around in Taiwan, this so-called 'alien' turns out to be a horsehair worm

Easter Island's famed statues could be remnants of a populous civilization

Lots of Sweet Potatoes Could’ve Made Easter Island a Bustling Place

A new agricultural analysis of the island finds that the crop could have supported more than 17,000 people

Make your art better with this highly trained AI named Vincent

Watch This AI Turn Sketches into Masterpieces

Trained on the 'history of human art,' this system can transform your scribbles

Josephine Peary, wife of the legendary Arctic explorer Robert Peary, wears a parka in 1892

Explore the High Fashion of Exploration

From the Arctic to the Moon, a new exhibit shows how the outfits of exploration have impacted the outfits of the runway

An illustration envisioning how the satellite OSIRIS-REx will collect rocks from the asteroid Bennu

How a Satellite Just Used Earth Like a Slingshot

On its way to study an asteroid for clues about the origins of life, OSIRIS-REx got a little boost from Earth's gravity

A VR animation of a 1945 design for a massive elevated airport over the Hudson River

New Exhibit Imagines the Buildings New York Could've Had

From a gigantic airport, to an urbanized Ellis Island, the show reveals the many fascinating ideas for New York City that never made it off the page

The wings of a normal and CRISPR-edited Sara Longwing butterfly show how disabling a single gene can change the patterns

Scientists Identify the Genes That Paint Butterfly Wings

Using genetic editing, scientists isolated just two genes that play a major role in making butterfly wings as pretty as they are

Cassiopea jellyfish resting "upside-down" in their tank

Even Without a Brain, Jellyfish Still Need to Sleep

These simple, ancient creatures show just how deeply rooted sleep may be in the animal kingdom

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