Articles

The History of the Bar Code

Inventor Joe Woodland drew the first bar code in sand in Miami Beach, decades before technology could bring his vision to life

Nine American Airports for Art Lovers

Your layover just got better

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The Innovative Spirit

This Interactive Installation Rains a Poem Down on Viewers

Artists Camille Utterback and Romy Achituv wrote the software that drives an artwork, in which onlookers catch letters falling on a large screen

So far, nine states have tried to pass laws that encourage a "teach the controversy" approach to climate change.

Age of Humans

See Where Climate Science Conflict Has Invaded U.S. Classrooms

Conservative politicians are introducing bills that promote teaching climate science as controversial

A statue of Junipero Serra, Catholicism's newest saint, stands in front of San Gabriel Arcángel, the California mission he founded in 1771.

Why Are Native Groups Protesting Catholicism's Newest Saint?

Nearly 250 years after Junipero Serra founded California's first missions, questions linger about his legacy

Pardoned Turkeys and Voodoo Dolls: Visit These Offbeat Treasures for Free on Museum Day This Saturday

They're all part of the 100-plus museums that will be free on September 26

This Bee Works 50 Times Harder Than the Honey Bee

Using blue orchard bees to pollinate crops is an idea with a lot of promise. For one thing, they visit 50 times more flowers than honey bees

Alice with Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Disney's 1951 film

After Giving Us a New Spin on Oz, Gregory Maguire Takes on Wonderland

Alice is 150 years old, and the world is still wondering about her

Cities can be problems and solutions for environmental sustainability.

Age of Humans

Creating an Equation for Cities May Solve Ecological Conundrums

In this Generation Anthropocene podcast, scientists explore the ways urbanization might lead to a greener future

Age of Humans

Electric Fishing Puts a Rare Dolphin-Human Partnership at Risk

Illegal fishing practices are threatening traditional cooperation between humans and river dolphins in Burma

Reproduction of early English vessels at Jamestown, Virginia.

Age of Humans

Rising Seas Threaten to Swallow These Ten Global Wonders

Climate change-induced increases in sea level are forcing archaeologists and communities to get creative and make tough calls

Mouth (for L’Oréal), New York, 1986; printed 1992.

How Irving Penn Turned Fashion Photography Into a Fine Art

A new show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum looks back at a photo giant who blurred the lines

How Powerful Is a Volcanic Eruption and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Hemingway enters New York Harbor with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, aboard the ocean liner Paris on April 3, 1934. He described her as “clever and entertaining and full of desire.”

Hemingway in Love

In a new memoir, one of Hemingway's closest friends reveals how the great writer grappled with the love affair that changed his life and shaped his art

Salgado has documented many indigenous tribes and their traditions. Here, men are decorated with feathers and paint for a reahu funerary ceremony.

Sebastião Salgado Has Seen the Forest, Now He's Seeing the Trees

He documented human suffering around the world. But now, back in his native Brazil, the renowned photographer is healing the devastated landscape

Two gray wolves—Jesse and her partner, Shilo—play in the evening sun.

PHOTOS: A Sanctuary for Wolves

The Washington State refuge presents an arresting lesson in survival and what it means to be wild

The World's Oldest Papyrus and What It Can Tell Us About the Great Pyramids

Ancient Egyptians leveraged a massive shipping, mining and farming economy to propel their civilization forward

American South

The Twisted History of the Gateway Arch

With its origins as a memorial to Thomas Jefferson's vision of Western Expansion, the Arch has become a St. Louis icon

Think Big

The Theory of Relativity, Then and Now

Albert Einstein's breakthrough from a century ago was out of this world. Now it seems surprisingly down-to-earth

Scaled back so no two books share a page, the library still has 10 to the power of 4,677 books.

This Digital Library Contains Every Phrase That Could Ever Be Uttered

Inspired by an essay by Jorge Luis Borges, computer programmer Jonathan Basile has created a "Library" of Babel

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