Articles

Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, photographed here in Paris in 1993, died on October 20, 2014.

Oscar de la Renta, Star of the Smithsonian's Costume Collection

The late de la Renta designed haute couture and ready-to-wear. A decade ago, he donated items to the Smithsonian

Curiosity is able to take pictures of itself on Mars using a camera mounted to its robotic arm. This mosaic was made from 55 snapshots taken in October 2012.

An Insider's Biography of a Celebrity Mars Rover

The chief engineer for Curiosity offers a peek at the NASA rover’s tumultuous rise to stardom in a new tell-all book

A pair of fuzzy alpaca.

New Research

Why the Alpaca Has No Humps

The camel cousin evolved fluff instead of fat because it was able to linger in an evolutionary slow lane, suggest newly sequenced genomes

Google's newest Street View collection takes users to Gombe Stream National Park, where Jane Goodall pioneered her chimpanzee behavioral research. "Don't forget to look up," a Google project manager says.

Exclusive: The Chimpanzees of Gombe National Park Make Their Street View Debut

For its latest collection, Google traveled to the African rainforest where Jane Goodall pioneered her groundbreaking chimp research

California-based artist emiko oye has been making jewelry out of LEGO products since 2006. Her work will be featured at the Smithsonian Craft2Wear show.

Lego Jewelry Transforms the Childhood Toy to High Fashion Art

Artist emiko oye turns colorful children’s blocks into items that are ready to wear, not play

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Art Meets Science

Gorgeous Portraits of Spineless Sea Creatures

In a new book, San Francisco-based photographer Susan Middleton captures the curious gestures and expressions of marine invertebrates

Some argue that the recent civil war in Syria was caused, at least in part, by droughts in the area, which led to greater social instability.

Anthropocene

Five Conflicts and Collapses That May Have Been Spurred by Climate Change

Earth's changing climate has been a spectre in centuries of civil conflict and, at times, the collapse of whole civilizations

A plate filled with drops of blood detects microRNA patterns that might indicate cancers.

Testing for Cancer With a Single Blood Sample

Startup Miroculus has developed a system that screens for dozens of cancers in 90 minutes

America's answer to Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips explored the east and uncovered ancient treasures. An exhibition at the Sackler Gallery looks at his life and work.

Unearthing America’s Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips

Phillips uncovered millennia-old treasures beneath Arabian sand, got rich from oil and died relatively unknown

James Castle, Untitled, n.d., found paper, soot.

A World Of His Own: The Art of James Castle

Born profoundly deaf, the self-taught artist's body of work depicts his unique relationship to the world around him

Estes has been painting scenes of cities and nature for half a century.

Richard Estes' Incredibly Realistic Paintings Require a Double Take

Like stage sets, there seem to be a million stories embedded in the works of Richard Estes, icon of photorealism

What the Heck is a Robobird?

No flock will mess with this robot – which is precisely the point

2014 Ingenuity Awards

The 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award Winners

These 10 innovators in science, history, society and the arts are a testament to the imagination and hard work that define the nation's spirit

Why Is Colonel Pronounced With an R? And More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Greenland #63

Can Fingerpainting Save the World?

Brooklyn artist Zaria Forman has Arctic landscapes at her fingertips

The History of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, 50 Years After Its Construction

Built in 1964, the span still stands as Americas’ largest suspension bridge

Is This the Future of Robotic Legs?

Hugh Herr’s bionic limbs have already revolutionized life for amputees (including himself). Now he’s envisioning new capabilities for everyone else

2014 Ingenuity Awards

Could This Be the Answer to the Tech World’s Diversity Problem?

Kimberly Bryant hopes to crack the code with her organization that teaches young girls of color how to program

2014 Ingenuity Awards

Rosanne Cash on Discovering New Artistic Terrain

The singer-songwriter looked to her Southern ancestors to come up with a different kind of concept album

2014 Ingenuity Awards

How One Physicist’s Pursuit of the Cosmos Took Off in Antarctica

Francis Halzen’s amazing experiment heralds the beginning of a new era in astronomy

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