Articles

“And bats with baby faces in the violet light / Whistled, and beat their wings”—T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

How a Deadly Flesh-Eating Fungus Helped Make Bats Cute Again

A silver lining to the worldwide epidemic of white nose syndrome: People like bats more now

That black light you had as a teenager might help put an end to that foul barnyard odors in the future.

Is Black Light the Path to a Stink-Free Livestock Farm?

Researchers at Iowa State University are using a new technique involving the UV-light producing device to curb bad odors

Ask Smithsonian

Why Do So Many Train Stations Have the Same Name?

You asked, we answered

Charles Brown (far right) with fellow Blazers (from left) Johnny Moore and Eddie Williams.

Who Really Wrote "Merry Christmas, Baby"

The co-author of a classic holiday song still can’t catch a break

This manuscript on astronomy by Issachar Ber Carmoly dates to 1751.

Hidden in a Basement for 70 Years, Newly Discovered Documents Shed Light on Jewish Life and Culture Before WWII

The 170,000 pages found might be “the most important collection of Jewish archives since the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

This pumpkin is eventually going to hold about 250 gallons of beer.

How Elysian Brewing Company Turns a 1,790-Pound Pumpkin Into a Keg

And is this insane thing really a pumpkin?

Confederate Prisoners Being Conducted from Jonesborough to Atlanta by Kara Walker, 2005, from the portfolio Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)

How Kara Walker Boldly Rewrote Civil War History

The artist gives 150-year-old illustrations a provocative update at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

In July 1955, black children wait to register for school in Lawrence County, Arkansas, as schools desegregate in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education.

How a Psychologist’s Work on Race Identity Helped Overturn School Segregation in 1950s America

Mamie Phipps Clark came up with the oft-cited "doll test" and provided expert testimony in Brown v. Board of Education

Anti-Nazi protest outside Deutsches Haus, Aug. 1938

History of Now

The Nazis' Plan to Infiltrate Los Angeles And the Man Who Kept Them at Bay

A new book explores the deadly and nefarious plots designed by Hitler and his supporters

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Austria

How to Eat Like a Local in Vienna, Austria

Instagrammer Sothany Kim dishes on nicotine breakfasts, third-wave coffee houses and enemy bakers in Austria’s capital

Of the roughly 900,000 Rocky Mountain elk in North America, some 20,000 migrate through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Photos Document Dramatic Wildlife Migrations Across Yellowstone

A new book documents the growing challenges faced by wildlife as they migrate across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Follow the Paths of Viking Raiders from Norway to North America

Visit these preserved settlement sites

The front of Mar-a-Lago in April 1967

History of Now

The Ironic History of Mar-a-Lago

A deep dive into an obscure archive reveals that the Palm Beach property had once been envisioned as a "Winter White House"

Out of five vaquita found dead this past spring, three were killed in illegal gill nets.

There Are Possibly Only 30 of These Rare Porpoises Left on the Planet

The fascinating vaquita is heading for oblivion, the victim of a ravenous black market for a dubious remedy

Members of the chorus sing their parts in a performance of Antigone in Ferguson at Normandy High School in St. Louis.

The Healing Power of Greek Tragedy

Do plays written centuries ago have the power to heal modern day traumas? A new project raises the curtain on a daring new experiment

The molds responsible for aflatoxins grow on a number of staple crops, including corn, peanuts, millet, wheat, cottonseed and tree nuts.

Could Video Gamers Make Our Food Supply Safer?

An effort to combat poisonous molds that contaminate crops is looking to tap the puzzle-solving skills of amateur gamers

Rick Araluce's The Final Stop, installed at the Renwick Gallery, is a world unto itself.

At This Spectral Subway Platform, Trains Approach But Never Arrive

An otherworldly art installation debuts at the Renwick just in time for Halloween

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The Next Pandemic

The Next Pandemic

With Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Museum of Natural History, we look at the past, present and future of the flu

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