Articles

The new work is nearly 21 feet tall and weights almost 900 pounds.

Evoking a Ship's Rippling Sail, This New Sculpture Aims to Make Global Connections

The African Art Museum at its first award ceremony recognizes two international artists who have overcome personal hardships to excel

Surface water seasonality between October 2014 and October 2015 in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Dark blue indicates permanent surface water; light blue indicates seasonal surface water.

New Research

High-Resolution Satellite Images Capture Stunning View of Earth's Changing Waters

An unprecedented mapping project shows the elusive patterns of Earth's surface water over 30 years

"Dude, I thought he said he'd be here at 4."

New Research

How Cheetahs “Spot” Each Other

Cheetah meetups: In a novel study, researchers show that roaming cheetahs likely use their noses to seek each other out after weeks apart

The electoral map in 2016, that is, assuming there are no faithless electors

The Electoral College Has Been Divisive Since Day One

It has always had the potential for chaos—one that hasn’t been tapped...yet

President Coolidge conducts the first official transatlantic phone call with the king of Spain in 1927

History of Now

From the Telegram to Twitter, How Presidents Make Contact With Foreign Leaders

Does faster communication cause more problems than it solves?

The Best Books About Innovation of 2016

If you have a lover of big ideas on your holiday shopping list, consider these thought-provoking titles published this year

Spectacular Footage of a Butterfly Leaving Its Cocoon

The transition from caterpillar to butterfly is a process that consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult

The Sikiorsky JRS-1 "was right in the middle of it,” Robinson says. “She went out along with other airplanes from the (Navy) Utility Squadron One searching for the Japanese fleet.”

At Pearl Harbor, This Aircraft Risked It All to Find the Japanese Fleet

The Sikorsky JRS-1 flew right through the middle of it on December 7, 1941

After the 2016 election, several hundred students at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, walked out of the classrooms in protest.

Finding Lessons for Today’s Protests in the History of Political Activism

A whirlwind of action, both organized and organic, supported by legal defense teams brought historic change

The highlight of the Innoskate Cambridge 2016 program with 1,500 attending the two-day program was the best trick contest.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

What Skateboarding Tells Us About Innovation

Rodney Mullen, the godfather of skateboarding, says the sport is all about overcoming disbelief and seeking new connections

Canada

The Town That Polar Bears Built

Get to know the four-legged residents of Churchill, Canada

Noble is interviewed by students participating in StoryQuest, an oral history project based at the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experence at Washington College.

A New Oral History Project Seeks the Stories of World War II Before It’s Too Late

Every member of the greatest generation has a tale to tell, no matter what they did during the war

Showy traits, like the large antlers of these bull moose, can be detrimental to an animal's health.

New Research

Go Big or Go Generic: How Sexual Selection Is Like Advertising

When it comes to attracting mates, it pays to either go all out—or not try at all

The Botswana Innovation Hub will be a new LEED-certified facility for technology research and development.

Step Inside a Virtual Building of the Future

Architects are embracing virtual reality and the complex designs they can create there

The proliferation of fake news sites this election year has led to many readers believing complete falsehoods.

The Remedy for the Spread of Fake News? History Teachers

Historical literacy, and the healthy skepticism that comes with it, provides the framework for being able to discern truth from fiction

The Raft, May 2004, Video/sound installation

Keep an Eye on These Portraits Because They Move

Noted visual artist Bill Viola is subject of the first all-video exhibition in one of D.C.'s oldest buildings.

Do We Finally Know How the Holy Grail Disappeared?

How did an onyx cup thought to be the Holy Grail disappear from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 909 AD?

An Inca skull from the Cuzco region of Peru, showing four healed trepanations. The new review focuses on the practice in ancient China.

Drilling Deep: How Ancient Chinese Surgeons Opened Skulls and Minds

A new review finds evidence that the Chinese performed trepanation more than 3,500 years ago

We asked Smithsonian scholars to make book recommendations to our readers for this holiday season of gift giving.

Increase and Diffuse Knowledge for the Holidays With These Smithsonian Curated Books

Books recommended by Smithsonian Institution scholars

A California Startup Is Using Ashes to Protect Forests

Better Place Forests is accepting reservations from those who wish to have their remains scattered in a redwood forest in northern California

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