Articles

Mike deRoos and Michi Main rebuild skeletons of marine mammals for their company Cetacea. Here, deRoos adjusts a blue whale chevron bone placement.

Art Meets Science

How to Give Dead Animals a Second Life: The Art of Skeleton Articulation

Mike deRoos and Michi Main build beautiful models from the remains of Pacific sea creatures

The main branch of the NYPL, located on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

The Wondrous Complexity of the New York Public Library

A new documentary captures the sweeping human impact of one of the country's largest library systems

Northern lights over a wilderness cabin near Fairbanks, Alaska.

Best Places to See the Northern Lights

Find out where to witness the aurora borealis, with reindeer sleigh rides, ice hotels and hot springs included

Thousands of women tirelessly worked in close quarters throughout the war breaking codes for the Army and Navy. Vowed to secrecy, they have long gone unrecognized for their wartime achievements.

How the American Women Codebreakers of WWII Helped Win the War

A new book documents the triumphs and challenges of more than 10,000 women who worked behind the scenes of wartime intelligence

Beneath the surface of Lake Minnewanka, located in Alberta, Canada, rests the remains of a former resort town.

This Canadian Lake Hides an Underwater Ghost Town

Lake Minnewanka in Alberta was once home to a bustling resort, but today its eerie landscape can only be seen by scuba divers

In the late Bronze Age, ca. 500-450 BCE, bells were made in sets that rang different notes according to size.

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

A Rare Collection of Bronze Age Chinese Bells Tells a Story of Ancient Innovation

These rarely played ancient bells are newly analyzed with their acoustics remastered and digitized for a new exhibition at the Sackler Gallery

A succulent spread from Petworth-based Japanese restaurant Himitsu, one of the many D.C. vendors that will be represented at IlluminAsia.

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

You've Never Tasted "Street Food" Like This Before

For its grand reopening, a hub of Asian-American culture serves up a culinary wonderland

In a still from the documentary, Michael Zahs screens one of the early films against a barn in Iowa.

Thought Lost to History, These Rare, Early Films Survived Thanks to a Crafty Showman and a Savvy Collector

A new documentary focuses on the incredible story of Frank Brinton

Two celestial beings, China, Kucha, Kizil, Cave 224 or 205, 6th century CE

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

New Sackler Buddhist Exhibition Doubles the Immersive Experiences

Film of Sri Lankan site joins popular shrine room as part of three-year exhibition and we finally learn why one Buddha’s hair is blue

It seems that it’s only a matter of time before we have the technology for switchgrass, shown here, to replace corn as a feedstock for ethanol.

Future of Energy

The Next Generation of Biofuels Could Come From These Five Crops

Researchers are currently developing biofuels from these abundant species, which require relatively little land, water and fertilizer

Part of Blade Runner's enduring appeal are the questions it poses about the nature of humanity—should replicants have the same rights as humans?

Are Blade Runner’s Replicants “Human”? Descartes and Locke Have Some Thoughts

Enlightenment philosophers asked the same questions about what makes humans, humans as we see in the cult classic

Young people of the U.S. Virgin Islands march along in a carnival parade, amid the destruction of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

How Cultural Resilience Made a Difference After Hurricane Hugo And Could Help Again

When the 1989 hurricane devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands, Smithsonian folklorists were working on an upcoming Folklife Festival

Delightful or despicable? Your response could help neuroscientists understand the brain's basis for disgust.

New Research

What Stinky Cheese Tells Us About the Science of Disgust

Why does this pungent delicacy give some the munchies, but send others reeling to the toilet?

Art Meets Science

Explore the Secret Lives of Animals With These Marvelous Maps

A new book considers how sophisticated tracking technology and the data it collects can improve conservation strategies

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in concert, Toronto, Canada, 1995

Tom Petty, Standard-Bearer for Classic Rock, Dies at Age 66

In <i>Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen</i>, Bill Bentley remembers the singer-guitarist who forged a unique place in American rock

Danish architecture firm THIRD NATURE's POP-UP project stacks a parking garage on top of a water reservoir.

What Can Cities Do to Go "Blue"?

In a number of projects and proposals, architects and urban planners are working with water instead of against it

Daniel Kish is an expert in human echolocation and president of World Access for the Blind.

How Does Human Echolocation Work?

Blind since he was very young, Daniel Kish is the world's foremost proponent of using vocal clicks to navigate

"Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States" by Howard Chandler Christy. James Madison is at center, seated, to the right of Ben Franklin.

History of Now

Inside the Founding Fathers’ Debate Over What Constituted an Impeachable Offense

If not for three sparring Virginia delegates, Congress’s power to remove a president would be even more limited than it already is

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Want to Learn Cherokee? How About Ainu? This Startup Is Teaching Endangered Languages

Tribalingual founder Inky Gibbens explains how saving languages is a means of preserving different worldviews

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