Articles

Soldiers on the Union side look solemn as they carry a large flag.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

What the Final, Major 150th Anniversary Civil War Reenactment Looked Like

What war—and surrender—looked like on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War

Prototype of the original Jogbra

The Innovative Spirit - OLD

The First Jogbra Was Made by Sewing Together Two Men's Athletic Supporters

An archive collected from the sports company reveals that the bra gave a boost to women's athletics

The top hat, with a silk mourning band for his son Willie, was worn last to Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

A Host of Relics from Lincoln's Last Days All Came to Reside at the Smithsonian

The Lincoln collection at the American History Museum marks the horrific tragedy and the poignancies of a nation in mourning

This winter jacket is light, thin and made of the same special ingredient that insulates astronaut spacesuits.

This Week in Crowdfunding

A Winter Jacket Made From the Same Material as NASA Spacesuits and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Plus, a high-tech update to the tried-and-true jump rope

A man holds his mobile phone as he sits in the ruins of a house in Minamisanriku, Japan, after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Getting a Push Notification on Your Cell Phone? It Could Be Warning You About an Earthquake

Sophisticated GPS sensors in the average mobile device could be harnessed for seismic early warning systems around the world

Librarian Aboubakar Yaro examines an Islamic manuscript from the 17th century at the Djenne Library of Manuscipts, in Djenne, Mali, September 2012. Djenne is thought to have at least 10,000 manuscripts held in private collections, dating from the 14th to 20th centuries.

Why We Have a Civic Responsibility to Protect Cultural Treasures During Wartime

With the recent deliberate destruction of cultural treasures in the Middle East, we remember the measures taken in the past to preserve our heritage

The Innovative Spirit

What is the Nine Millionth Patent?

The landmark announcement is part of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Patent Act

A 3D visualization of the Three-Eyed Raven concept.

The Set Designer From Game of Thrones Hints at What's to Come in Season Five

Production Designer Deborah Riley discusses the influences behind the intricate and imposing sets of the hit HBO show

Azar Nafisi is the recipient of the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate in the Humanities and Public Service.

Azar Nafisi on Why the Arts and Humanities Are Critical to the American Vision

The author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and recipient of a Smithsonian award, discusses why in education art matters as much as science

Bob Baker in 2013.

Urban Explorations

The Curtain Hasn't Closed Quite Yet on America's Longest-Running Puppet Theater

Though its namesake died last year, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater is still hosting performances for audiences of all ages

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Best Space Photos of the Week

An Einstein Ring and an Asteroid "Dart" Are Among These Space Stunners

A lensed galaxy and a mission to manipulate a space rock feature among our picks for this week's best space images

The yurt, a portable, circular hut, has been a part of Central Asian nomadic culture for centuries. During the Soviet era, metal was abundant and cheap, so metallic yurts frequent Kyrgyzstan ancestral cemeteries. An Islamic crescent tops this yurt, and a Kyrgyz hunting eagle spreads its wings in the background.

Kyrgyzstan’s Otherworldly Cities of the Dead

Photographer Margaret Morton traveled to the remote corners of the Central Asian nation to document its city-like ancestral cemeteries

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Ask Smithsonian: Could the Volcano Beneath Yellowstone National Park Ever Erupt?

The good news is that an eruption there is highly unlikely, but the bad news is that it would be huge

New Research

Pulling Your Hair Out? It Might Just Help Reverse Baldness

Plucking hair could be a counterintuitive way to fight balding, according to a study of quorum sensing in rat follicles

The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia left a huge crater, along with a sometimes unexpected legacy.

200 Years After Tambora, Some Unusual Effects Linger

Frankenstein, famine poetry, polar exploration—the "year without a summer" was just the beginning

"One more stain on the old banner," Booth yelled, conjuring the Confederate flag as he prepared to face his pursuers

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The Final Hours of John Wilkes Booth

"I have too great a soul to die like a criminal," Booth once wrote

Currier and Ives illustration of Lincoln assassination

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The Night Abraham Lincoln Was Assassinated

What happened on that fateful Good Friday evening

When young planets collide.

New Research

The Moon Was Formed in a Smashup Between Earth and a Near Twin

But solving one puzzle of lunar origins has raised another linked to the abundances of tungsten in the primordial bodies

Building a Bionic Pancreas

A device that tracks blood sugar and automatically administers insulin and glucagon could take some pressure off Type 1 diabetes patients and their parents

In an eerie green hue, this upside-down Medusa head threatens to turn onlookers to stone. The color seems to come partly from a slick covering of algae.

Europe

Two Eerie Medusa Heads Watch Over Turkey’s Waterways

Why the Greek monster stares out from an ancient cistern in Istanbul

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