Articles

Atlas of Eating

On the Dangers of Erotic Truffles

A 19th-century investigation into the power of the aphrodisiac

Smithsonian Gardeners created a beautiful overwintering habitat for bugs in the Ripley Garden.

How to Create an Insect Habitat in Your Garden

A Smithsonian gardener offers tips for sheltering the insects during the frosty winter months

From left to right, the astronauts of Apollo 1: Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee.

The Legacy of the Apollo 1 Disaster

Fifty years after a fire killed three astronauts and temporarily grounded U.S. space exploration, a new exhibit honors the fallen crew

Earwax: Coming To a Home Air Filtration System Near You?

A clogged ear on a scuba trip led a Georgia Institute of Technology engineer to study the dust-filtering properties of the waxy substance

Like most innovations in science, the study of whale earwax—a.k.a. earplugs—as oceanic core samples came about by asking a question no one had thought to ask.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

For Scientists, Chunks of Whale Earwax Can Be Biological Treasure Troves

Biologists are waxing poetic about these unusual oceanic core samples found in the ears of cetaceans

Soldiers schlepping heavy gear could one day use suits like these to help them walk farther, carry more, and experience less fatigue.

This Soft Exosuit Could Help People Walk Farther, Easier

Researchers at Harvard are developing an energy-saving supersuit that you might just wear one day

Komodo Dragons Can Taste Their Prey From Miles Away

A Komodo dragon's strongest sensory organ is its deeply forked tongue. It acts as a meal detector that samples the air for dead or dying animals

The 2017 Harbin Ice and Snow World began trial operations December 21, which has attracted tens of thousands of tourists to take pictures here.

This Ice Festival in China Is a Rainbow-Colored Dream

A gecko uses millions of tiny hairs to cling powerfully to surfaces. A new device exploits this adaptation by using ultraviolet light as a switch.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Scientists Can Turn This Gecko-Inspired Gripping Device On or Off With the Flick of a Light

The mighty lizard inspires yet another innovation that could prove a boon to robotics and manufacturing

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This App Uses Facial Recognition Software to Help Identify Genetic Conditions

A geneticist uploads a photo of a patient’s face, and Face2Gene gathers data and generates a list of possible syndromes

Victorian mores influenced ideas not just about men and women but animals too.

How Victorian Gender Norms Shaped the Way We Think About Animal Sex

No, females aren't always choosy and males don't always get around

Incredible: A Gaboon Viper Strikes a Bird in Slo-Mo

Gaboon vipers don't have the fastest strike in the snake world--but they don't need to be faster than other snakes, just their prey

Atlas of Eating

The Ever Expanding World of Wine Takes Your Palate to Unexpected Places

Never before have so many diverse wines, from so many places, been available to so many people around the globe

Woodrow Wilson

World War I: 100 Years Later

What Did President Wilson Mean When He Called for “Peace Without Victory” 100 Years Ago?

The iconic speech revealed the possibilities and the inherent problems with Wilsonian idealism

An artist's rendering of the "badger otter."

New Research

You Wouldn't Want to Cuddle This Giant Prehistoric Otter With a Crushing Bite

The “badger otter” has some serious teeth, which had mystified paleontologists until now

Dominico Cascino (left) and chef Salvatore Denaro prepare an olive and tomato salad at the Cascinos’ olive farm in southern Sicily.

Atlas of Eating

Much of the Cuisine We Now Know, and Think of as Ours, Came to Us by War

The long and winding road that brought "local" dishes to our plates

The head of the suffragist parade in Washington, 1913.

History of Now

The Original Women's March on Washington and the Suffragists Who Paved the Way

They fought for the right to vote, but also advanced the causes for birth control, civil rights and economic equality

This is a pyramidal neuron, so named for the pyramid-shaped body at the center of this drawing, from the cerebral cortex of a human. This outermost layer of the brain integrates information from sensory organs, commands movements and is the hub for higher brain functions, such as consciousness. In his drawing, Cajal gives the branches or dendrites different weights to show how the neuron extends in three-dimensional space. It’s likely that this represents a sort of idealized portrait of a pyramidal neuron, a synthesis of many observations.

Art Meets Science

Revel in These Wondrous Drawings by the Father of Neuroscience

A new book and exhibition pay homage to Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s impressive powers of observation

Two thylacines at the Smithsonian National Zoo around 1905. A thylacine brain from the Smithsonian Institution was scanned as part of a study to learn more about the extinct marsupial, but it is unclear whether that brain belonged to one of the animals pictured.

New Research

How Scientists Reconstructed the Brain of a Long-Extinct Beast

This dog-like marsupial went extinct 80 years ago, but its preserved brains help us glean how its mind worked

What Happens to President Obama's Papers and Artifacts Once He Leaves Office?

From Cuban cigars to a 7,000-page torture report

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