Articles

Which National Park Draws 25 Million Visitors a Year?

The National Mall attracts an unbelievable amount of visitors each year. Here's what they come to see.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee by Gregory Heisler, 1988

Commentary

Why We Have to Play Catch-up Collecting the Portraits of Female Athletes

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is setting its sights on the future

A "neural dust" sensor

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Tiny "Neural Dust" Sensors Could One Day Control Prostheses or Treat Disease

These devices could last inside the human body indefinitely, monitoring and controlling nerve and muscle impulses

Just a handful of key animals—mostly charismatic megafauna and a few economically important species—make up the bulk of conservation research efforts.

Scientists Know They Should Really Study Important Bugs but OMG a Baby Cheetah

In conservation science, the cutest animals still get all the attention

A male zebra finch.

Age of Humans

Birds Sing to Their Eggs, and This Song Might Help Their Babies Survive Climate Change

Embryonic learning—things birds pick up from their parents while still in the egg—may play a bigger role than imagined.

This toy diplodocus fetches up to $600 on eBay.

This Man Claims He Has the World’s Largest Collection of Toy Dinosaurs, and He Loves Them All

Randy Knol's stunning array chronicles our evolving knowledge about the prehistoric beasts

Scenes from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

The Paris Olympics

The Rise of the Modern Sportswoman

Women have long fought against the assumption that they are weaker than men, and the battle isn’t over yet

Ostrich Feather Hat, 1910-1912

100 Years Later, the First International Treaty to Protect Birds Has Grown Wings

The U.S. and Canada celebrate the centennial of an agreement recognizing that birds see no borders

Gastromotiva student Luis Freire (right) preps plums at Refettorio Gastromotiva, with the dining room in the background.

This Rio Restaurant Is Using Surplus Food From the Olympic Village to Feed the Homeless

At Refettorio Gastromotiva, top chefs from around the world are cooking five-star cuisine for the poor

Seven Items You May Want to Add to Your Back-to-School Shopping List

From smart lunch boxes to apps for making digital flash cards, these technologies can help students of all ages this coming school year

The portrait in question, by Dutch painter Barend Graat

Is This a Portrait of One of the World’s Most Influential Philosophers?

One Dutch art dealer is convinced that he owns the only portrait that Baruch Spinoza sat for

Biddulph Grange Garden, Staffordshire‬

Step Inside 12 of England's Most Beautiful Gardens

Girls get taught simple circuits, but how they decorate their robots is up to them.

Robotics Can Get Girls Into STEM, but Some Still Need Convincing

The lack of women leaders in STEM creates “a catch-22 death spiral.” Robotics teams try to change that

"Pick, Pan, Shovel," Ed Ruscha, 1980

The History of the American West Gets a Much-Needed Rewrite

Artists, historians and filmmakers alike have been guilty of creating a mythologized version of the U.S. expansion to the west

A nesting male with a female in his nest.

New Research

Give it Up, Sneaky Males: These Lady Fish Have You Outwitted

Female ocellated wrasses have developed a surprising trick to control who fathers their offspring

The fossil Arktocara yakataga (resting on an 1875 ethnographic map of Alaska) belonged to a dolphin that swam in subarctic marine waters around 25 million years ago.

Smithsonian Researchers Uncover Extinct, Ancient River Dolphin Fossil Hiding in Their Own Collections

Sometimes, paleontologists don’t have to go into the field to discover a tantalizing new species

The farm at Coastal Roots Farm, a more traditional community garden. Coastal Roots Farm recently added an eight-acre forest garden to its offerings.

Age of Humans

Move Over, Community Gardens: Edible Forests Are Sprouting Up Across America

These new urban forests let you pick your own produce. But will the concept take root?

From unsavory beginnings to a refreshing treat, pink lemonade has remained a summer staple.

The Unusual Origins of Pink Lemonade

It’s a pretty scary story. It does involve clowns, after all

A Secret Refuge for Elk Thought to Be Extinct

As many as 500,000 tule elk once roamed the coast of California, but they were hunted to extinction in the mid-1860s. Or so we thought...

A few of the Olympians pose for a photo upon their return to the U.S. after the 1936 Games. In the back row, on the far right is Tidye PIckett and third from the left is Louise Stokes.

The Paris Olympics

Sports History Forgot About Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes, Two Black Olympians Who Never Got Their Shot

Thanks to the one-two punch of racism and sexism, these two women were shut out of the hero’s treatment given to other athletes

Page 419 of 1284