Articles

Stop your baby from sucking his or her thumb with this, er, "clever" invention.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Patents (Only) a Mother Could Love

For Mother's Day, we've pulled some of history's wackiest patented ideas for mothers and children

White plastic horse, 3. Plamacina retroversta ic. III. Specimen collected from Cobh shoreline, Cove of Cork, Ireland

Art Meets Science

These Haunting Photographs Call Attention to Plastic Trash Swirling in the Ocean

Award-winning photographer Mandy Barker explores the beauty and tragedy of marine plankton and plastic waste

A still from the 2015 film The Big Short, featuring actors Billy Magnussen and Max Greenfield.

New Research

From Budweiser to Heineken, Alcohol Brands Are Rampant in Hollywood Films

Over the past two decades, even G-rated films have amped up the booze labels

The ginkgo biloba or Maidenhair tree has been around for at least 270 million years, making it the botanical equivalent of the shark.

Age of Humans

The World Told Through the Eyes of the Ginkgo Tree

By deciding this ancient plant was worthy of their attention, humans ended up dramatically shaping its evolution

President Donald Trump, accompanied by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

History of Now

How White House Chiefs of Staff Help Govern

According to Chris Whipple’s new book, an empowered chief of staff can make a successful presidency

Is Artificial Intelligence the Key to Personalized Education?

AI expert Joseph Qualls thinks it will change the way kids learn. But it also raises some big issues.

Fiber artist Lenore Tawney (1907–2007) crafted a postcard collage and sent it to photographer and artist Maryette Charlton, March 18, 1980.

Cats Had Clout Long Before the Internet

For artists, cats prove to be more than elegant studio companions, but inspirations as well, says a new exhibition

Ancient Engineering That Kept One of the Driest Cities Wet

The ancient Nabataeans' water storage and irrigation system was a marvel of engineering

An illustration of the spiky new dinosaur Zuul.

New Research

Introducing 'Zuul,' an Ankylosaur That Could Really Make Your Ankles Sore

A finely preserved fossil sheds new light on the curious tail of armored dinos

The stone flakes are flying, but what brain regions are firing?

New Research

How Smart Were Early Humans? “Neuroarchaeology” Offers Some Answers

Brain Imaging Gives Insight Into Early Human Minds

The team has developed many different prototypes. Their latest iteration can display six characters at a time and images the text using an internal camera.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Device Translates Text To Braille in Real Time

Team Tactile hopes to create an inexpensive and portable device that can raise text right off the page

Frances Oldham Kelsey, a pharmacologist with the Food & Drug Administration, helped prevent a generation of children born with congenital deformities in the United States.

Women Who Shaped History

The Woman Who Stood Between America and a Generation of 'Thalidomide Babies'

How the United States escaped a national tragedy in the 1960s

Lillian as Princess Wenona, with beloved horse “Rabbit.” This was probably taken around 1915, while she was contracted with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West.

The Faux “Sioux” Sharpshooter Who Became Annie Oakley’s Rival

By reinventing herself as Indian, Lillian Smith became a wild west sensation—and escaped an unhappy past

Did a Flood Wipe Out the Mysterious Ancient City of Petra?

Why did the ancient Nabataeans desert the city of Petra? The answer lies in traces of white sand found in its rubble, suggesting a massive flood

Drinking fountain on the Halifax County Courthouse (North Carolina) in April 1938.

New Research

Racism Harms Children's Health, Survey Finds

Racism may not be a disease, exactly. But a growing body of research finds that it has lasting physical and mental effects on its victims

Portrait of James Otis (1725-1783)

Why the Colonies’ Most Galvanizing Patriot Never Became a Founding Father

James Otis, Jr. used his words to whip anti-British sentiment into a frenzy—so why isn’t he better remembered now?

“It's hard to imagine," says Smithsonian scientist Carlos Jaramillo,"that you could have the Caribbean ocean in the west Amazon."

A Vast and Now Vanished Amazon Sea Is Discovered

About 18 million years ago, the Caribbean Sea seasonally flooded inland forests, where enormous crocodiles and turtles roamed

Often called "military mascots," animals played pivotal roles during WWI. Pictured here is John Bull of the 77th Aero Force (sic). [165-WW-472A-49]

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Animals That Helped Win World War I

Newly digitized photos tell the story of animals that fought as soldiers during the Great War

Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark created these images using a new technique of structural color laser printing.

A New Color Printing Technique Borrows From Bird Feathers

Structural coloration, like that in peacock plumage, holds promise for images that don't fade away

From 1921 to 2000, no black jockeys competed.

How African-Americans Disappeared From the Kentucky Derby

Black jockeys won more than half of the first 25 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. Then they started losing their jobs

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