Articles

"Among dung beetles, for instance, the smallest sneaker males relentlessly attempt to slip into tunnels where females are sequestered while Mr. Big, the guarding male, is looking the other way."

Close Encounters of the Sneaky Kind

When it comes to mating, the brawny guy is supposed to get the girl, but biologists are finding that small, stealthy suitors do just fine

"I had a bunch of birds that had died of encephalitis at the same time people had encephalitis," says Tracey McNamara (in her Bronx apartment), a veterinary pathologist formerly at the Bronx Zoo. She helped link the virus to the 1999 epidemic.

On the Trail of the West Nile Virus

Some scientists race to develop vaccines against the scourge while others probe the possible lingering effects of the mosquito-borne infection

Shoe-fitting fluoroscope, National Museum of American History.

Here's Looking at You, Kids

For three decades, the fluoroscope was a shoe salesman's best friend

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Lighthouse of the Skies

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory probes the universe for the unimaginable

"This is the energy of American culture at its most useful and exuberant," says Philadelphia architectural historian George Thomas, 58, of motels like the Caribbean, whose vintage style is echoed in the 2001 renovation of the Starlux.

Doo Wop by the Sea

Architects and preservationists have turned a strip of New Jersey shore into a monument to mid-century architecture. Can they keep the bulldozers at bay?

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Land Shark

In his noir satires, novelist and eco-warrior Carl Hiaasen ravages those who dare to desecrate

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Nothing but the Struth

A new exhibition showcases the German photographer's eye for art

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Shoot, Don't Call

Announcing our first-ever photo contest

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Battling Smallpox; Renovating Paris

The "Rainbow Portrait" of Queen Elizabeth I, painted in the early 17th century.

Reign On!

Four centuries after her death, Good Queen Bess still draws crowds. A regal rash of exhibitions and books examines her life anew

The original Ishtar Gate (left, a 1980s replica) was moved to Berlin in 1903. It was built in 572 B.C.; both Nebuchadnezzar II and the prophet Daniel would have walked through it.

Saving Iraq's Treasures

As archaeologists worldwide help recover looted artifacts, they worry for the safety of the great sites of early civilization

Helen Thomas' press passes

On the Legacy of Helen Thomas

The White House correspondent's career as a journalist spanned ten presidencies and was marked by an unwavering dedication to the truth

Capitol Discovery

Senate staffers come across a historic treasure in a dusty storage room

NaNa dune, named after the Beach Lady

Beach Lady

MaVynee Betsch wants to memorialize a haven for African-Americans in the time of Jim Crow

Keeping our valuable collections (Chinese ivory) from risk.

Curiosities and Wonders

Where do you put all those treasures?

Kandula frolicking with mother Shanthi at the National Zoo at 8 months.

Great Expectations

Elephant researchers believe they can boost captive-animal reproduction rates and reverse a potential population crash in zoos

Indicating that Neanderthals buried their dead, a stone-lined pit in southwest France held the 70,000-year-old remains of a man wrapped in bearskin. The illustration is based on a diorama at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Rethinking Neanderthals

Research suggests they fashioned tools, buried their dead, maybe cared for the sick and even conversed. But why, if they were so smart, did they disappear?

Naturalist and writer Burroughs (above, left, with conservationist Muir) fretted that he was "the most ignorant man" aboard ship.

North to Alaska

In 1899, railroad magnate Edward Harriman invited preeminent scientists in America to join him on a working cruise to Alaska, then largely unexplored

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True or False? Extinction Is Forever

Researchers' efforts to clone the vanished Tasmanian tiger highlight the quandary of reviving long-gone creatures

Margaret Mead

Coalition of the Differing

It took Margaret Mead to understand the two nations separated by a common language

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