Articles

A competitor named Rich Welsh midway through his challenge at this year's World Bog Snorkeling Championships in Wales.

Swimming Through Mud at the World Bog Snorkeling Championships

This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the world's strangest (and messiest) competitions

Nima food allergen detector

The Innovative Spirit

Test Your Restaurant Meal for Allergens in Two Minutes

Nima, a handheld food analyzer, can test for gluten on the spot

Charles Lindbergh was the innovator and designer of the perfusion pump.

The Innovative Spirit

To Save His Dying Sister-In-Law, Charles Lindbergh Invented a Medical Device

The famous aviator’s biography is incomplete without the story of how the aviator worked to perfect his glass-chambered perfusion pump

"Brainchild" by Michael Christian

Photos: Wacky, Wild Art From This Year's Burning Man Festival

Feast your eyes on some of this year's wildest art installations

The Star Trek starship Enterprise model on display in the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building in 1975.

Trekkies Needed for USS Enterprise Restoration Project

The National Air and Space Museum asks "Star Trek" fans for pre-1976 images or film of the original studio model of the USS Enterprise

Innovative Spirit Health Care

Can This App Predict Your Headache?

Migraine Buddy is one of a growing number of apps that use big data to help consumers manage their health issues

Arthur Benjamin speaks at a TED Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 2013.

From Poof to Proof: Inside the Mind of a Mathemagician

Arthur Benjamin has a few new tricks up his sleeve to help people learn “alge(cada)bra”

The Innovative Spirit

17 Inventions That Could Make Going Back to School a Little Bit Easier

From an aromatic alarm clock to a school bus locator system, these patented products could help students and parents with the transition

Nuts, shredded meat and bee poop are just some of the odd things that have reportedly rained from on high.

Strange Rain: Why Fish, Frogs and Golf Balls Fall From the Skies

Unusual precipitation doesn't just belong in myth and legend, and it's more common than you might think

The identity card of Johanna Koch with Marie Jalowicz's photo. The date of birth and the stamp over the photo were forged.

A Holocaust Survival Tale of Sex and Deceit

One Jewish woman’s personal story reveals what it took to elude capture in Nazi Germany

A mother hummingbird in Arizona incubates her eggs under the indirect protection of her neighborhood hawk.

New Research

Hawks Act as Unwitting Muscle for Hummingbirds

In Arizona, hummingbirds seem to deliberately seek out bodyguard hawks to shield them from nest-robbing jays

A hole like this could be healed in matter of seconds.

This Plastic Heals Itself

How will it be used? For one, it could make space travel safer

This is your brain on science.

"Hidden Brain" Podcast Will Make You Think Twice About Your Unconscious Mind

In the new NPR program, correspondent Shankar Vedantam connects rigorous science with people's everyday experiences

This Man Invented the Way You Bank

Amadeo Giannini, a first-generation American, founded the Bank of Italy, which would later become one of the world's largest commercial banks

Mills and smokestacks in Lowell, Massachusetts, considered by some historians to be the first real company town in the U.S.

America’s Company Towns, Then and Now

A look at these small towns across the United States shows the good, the bad and the ugly of the industrial boom

Taste science ftw.

New Research

Winning Really Does Taste Sweet, Because Emotions Change Taste Perception

A study of hockey fans sampling ice cream may offer clues to the origins of emotional eating disorders

How does skin heal? You'll never look at a scab the same way again.

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: How Does Skin Heal?

The skin is an organ system that is unique to each individual, so not everyone heals the same way

Obama’s move to rename the U.S.'s highest peak was supported by Native and non-Native Alaskans alike.

Commentary

Denali and America's Long History of Using (or Not Using) Indian Names

In restoring the Athabaskan name to the country’s highest mountain, President Obama is among those who have wrestled with the issue

American South

The Oldest City in the United States

St. Augustine, Florida, was the first city founded by European settlers in North America

Why Puerto Rico's Killer Bees Stopped Killing

Upon their arrival in Puerto Rico, killer bees caused one human death a year. But something strange began to happen...they became gentler

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