Articles

A museum worker wearing gloves holds up a cuneiform clay tablet, one of a collection of over 100, on display at a museum in Jerusalem.

What the Heck is Cuneiform, Anyway?

The writing system is 6,000 years old, but its influence is still felt today

Pepin has recently announced his donation of the menu from that long-ago meal when he dined with Julia Child at her home shortly before her kitchen was dismantled and delivered to the Smithsonian Institution.

Jacques Pépin Donates a Hand-Painted Menu From His Last Supper With Julia Child

This month the modern traditionalist chef is honored with the first-ever Julia Child Award

Robert Kondo, Remy in the Kitchen, "Ratatouille," 2007

The Art and Design Behind Pixar’s Animation

A new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt in New York City draws on the rich backstory of what it takes to give computer-animated life to pen and ink sketches

Where Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse Defeated Colonel Custer

Custer's Last Stand took place at the Little Bighorn River, where he led over 200 soldiers into battle against thousands of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors

A person stands in front of a fault in Utah. Better understanding how rocks behave under stress and along faults like this could help geologists more accurately identify places at risk of earthquakes.

Big Quakes Can Trigger Other Shakes Thousands of Miles Away

According to new research, when a big one strikes, more than aftershocks can follow

College Students are Living Rent-Free in a Cleveland Retirement Home

Research shows that the unique arrangement could have health benefits for the elderly

A color composite image highlighting pluto's brilliant diversity of color and texture. The western lobe of the heart—an area rich with nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane ice—is brightly displayed in the right of the image.

First Official Data From the Pluto Flyby Reshapes the Dwarf Planet’s History

“The ‘little spacecraft that could’ is making a lot of big discoveries,” says Alan Stern

This portrait of Patti Smith, a photograph by Lynn Goldsmith, was taken in 1976, a year after Horses, Smith’s breakout album.

Poetry Matters

Poet and Musician Patti Smith’s Endless Search in Art and Life

The National Portrait Gallery’s senior historian David Ward takes a look at the rock 'n' roll legend's new memoir

The Innovative Spirit

New Software Makes Cyberbullies Think Twice

Teen programmer Trisha Prabhu created a program called ReThink to make cyberbullies reconsider before posting cruel messages

Today, the water tribunal in Valencia, Spain meets on the same day, in the same way and at the same time as it did 1,000 years ago.

Drink in History at the World's Oldest Court

Valencia's water tribunal doesn't have written records or lawyers—but that doesn't mean it's outdated

Racers warm up before the annual Regata di Murano.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

How to Row Like a Venetian

The art of Venetian rowing has sustained Venice for centuries. Spend the day learning to row from a local expert

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Genius of Venice

The seafaring republic borrowed from cultures far and wide but ultimately created a city that was perfectly unique

A beach at Durban reserved for whites. An amendment to the Separate Amenities Act extended the laws to beaches. January 1, 1976

A Look Back at South Africa Under Apartheid, Twenty-Five Years After Its Repeal

Segregated public facilities, including beaches, were commonplace, but even today, the inequality persists

Powers with a model of his cold war-era U-2, known as the "Dragon Lady." He was freed in an exchange for a Soviety spy in Germany in 1962.

Gary Powers Kept a Secret Diary With Him After He Was Captured by the Soviets

The American fighter pilot who's the focus of Bridge of Spies faced great challenges home and abroad

Director Federico Fellini had Sutherland’s eyebrows removed, built out his nose and chin, and partially shaved his forehead for the role of Casanova.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

Donald Sutherland on Fellini, Near-Death and the Haunting Allure of Venice

A fuzzy Tyrannosaurus roars across the Utah desert at Moab Giants.

New Dinosaur Museum Tracks the “Terrible Lizards” Through Time

The Moab Giants museum in eastern Utah makes a roaring debut

The algorithm could be useful for pilots flying in turbulence.

This "Psychic Robot" Can Read Your Mind

Researchers have created an algorithm that understands what movement you meant to make, even if you're interrupted

Last week, Twitter and Facebook fans of Smithsonian.com were invited to send in their questions for the new Smithsonian Secretary.

Ask Skorton Anything

The Smithsonian’s New Secretary David Skorton Takes Questions From the Crowd

The secretary is creating a new teen advisory board, networking with D.C. arts and science leaders and getting to know the collections

Howard Unruh, a war veteran, killed 13 people by shooting from a window down into a crowded street. Police forced him out of the apartment with tear gas.

The Story of the First Mass Shooting in U.S. History

Howard Unruh’s “Walk of Death” foretold an era in which such tragedies would become all too common

The black-footed ferret's tale of near-extinction is just one of many stories of endangered animals.

Age of Humans

How We Decide Which Animals Become Endangered

It wasn't too long ago that the idea of "endangered animals" didn't even exist.

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