Articles

The Innovative Spirit fy17

How Computer Scientists Are Using Twitter to Predict Gentrification

Cambridge researchers have created a way to predict a neighborhood's fortunes in coming years by analyzing social media data

The Washington Monument went through years of expensive restoration work following a 2011 earthquake.

NASA Responds to an S.O.S. of Historic Proportions

Rocket technology could save our (historic) structures from earthquakes

Swiss yodeling choir Jodlerclub Echo during a competition.

Switzerland

How to Yodel Like a Local

The Swiss tradition is much more than a simple yodel-ay-ee-oooo

"Science fiction is so important to our culture, because it allows us to dream," said Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary science division, at the "Future is Here" festival.

Future Is Here Festival

The Future Is Here Festival Considers Extraterrestrial Life and the Essence of Humanity

In the festival's final day, speakers turn to the cosmos and our place within it

Replica of 'Psycho' House

Replica of 'Psycho' House Opened on Museum Rooftop

The Metropolitan Museum of Art features a replica of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' house

Print of Harriet Tubman

Breaking Ground

The Priceless Impact Harriet Tubman Will Have as the Face of the $20 Bill

Curator Nancy Bercaw from the African American History Museum discusses the freedom fighter's ongoing legacy

Smart Startup

Hosting an Event? Don't Toss Leftover Food, Donate It

With an Uber-like app, Transfernation is reducing food waste while feeding those in need

Future is Here festival attendees heard from visionaries in a wide range of fields.

Future Is Here Festival

How to Make Science Fiction Become Fact, in Three Steps

Speakers at <em>Smithsonian</em> magazine's "Future is Here" festival said be patient, persistent, but never, ever pessimistic

Both genius and impresario, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla reads in his remote Colorado Springs laboratory in 1899 next to a magnifying transmitter that generates millions of volts of electricity. While far too dangerous to sit near—the image is a double exposure—his gigantic Tesla coil created the first human-made lightning.

Nikola Tesla's Struggle to Remain Relevant

An offbeat Belgrade museum reveals the many mysteries of the prolific, late-19th-century inventor

Woolly mammoths were mixing it up with other mammoths in North America, new research shows.

North American Mammoths May Have Been a Single Species

Woolly mammoths and other varieties may have been intermingling, DNA analyses show

The slogan &ldquo;unbought and unbossed&rdquo; appeared on Chisholm&rsquo;s campaign posters, one of which resides in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Breaking Ground

'Unbought and Unbossed': When a Black Woman Ran for the White House

The congresswoman tried to win the White House by consolidating the Black vote and the women's vote, but she ran into trouble

Researchers sort through finds recovered from trawling in the central section of the Amazon reef.

Shining Light on Brazil’s Secret Coral Reef

The massive, previously unstudied reef is unlike any other known on Earth

The Slovak Radio Building, an inverted pyramid completed in 1983, has been called “one of the ugliest buildings in the world.” Recording studios at the center are surrounded by outward-facing offices. Its heavy weight and rough texture seem to capture the grim, waning years of Communist Party rule.

Is Bratislava's Communist-Era Architecture Worth Preserving?

For residents of Slovakia's capital, Cold War structures recall a painful past

Several of Minnijean Brown-Trickey’s school items, including a notice of suspension and the dress she designed for her high school graduation, are now held in the collections of the National Museum of American History.

Women Who Shaped History

A Member of the Little Rock Nine Discusses Her Struggle to Attend Central High

At 15, Minnijean Brown faced down the Arkansas National Guard, Now Her Story and Personal Items are Archived at the Smithsonian

German beers have been under strict rules for 500 years.

Celebrating 500 Years of German’s Beer Purity Law

Germany's treasured—and controversial—rule has a fascinating past and an uncertain future

ArcAttack's lightning guitarist wears a protective Faraday suit.

Future Is Here Festival

When Electricity and Music Collide, the Tesla Coils Sing

The band ArcAttack delivers a high-voltage performance with a side of science education

Demonstrators on the first Earth Day, Union Square, New York.

Age of Humans

Why Didn't the First Earth Day's Predictions Come True? It's Complicated

More than half a century ago, scientists and activists predicted utter doom for the planet. That hasn't happened yet, but it's nothing to cheer about

King Lear was deemed too dark for its 17th century audiences.

Is There Such a Thing as a “Bad” Shakespeare Play?

More than four hundred years after the Bard’s death, the quality of his works is still a fluid scale

This Is the Closest Thing to a Dragon You'll Ever See

Draco lizards use specialized sideflaps to launch themselves into the air while evading predators

Illustration from Merchant of Venice

Four Hundred Years Later, Scholars Still Debate Whether Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” Is Anti-Semitic

Deconstructing what makes the Bard’s play so problematic

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