Articles

A New App Turns Fractals Into Ornate Art

With Frax, users can create mathematically-driven art, adding color, depth and texture to geometric shapes

Rendering of the scaffolding that will surround the dome during its restoration.

Scaffolding is All Over D.C. Here’s Why the Monuments Still Look Majestic

When the beautiful historic buildings of our nation's capital need repair, architects get creative with the exterior work

Can cameras read what’s going on in a second grader’s mind?

Can Facial Recognition Really Tell If a Kid Is Learning in Class?

Inventors of software called EngageSense say you can tell if kids are engaged in class by analyzing their eye movements

Oysters Don’t Have Ears But Still Use Sound to Choose Their Homes

Oyster larvae find their homes by responding to the unique sounds of a reef

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Rediscovering the American Art of Baskets

“A Measure of the Earth: A Cole-Ware Collection of American Baskets” opens at Renwick Gallery

101 Objects that Made America: America in the World

Pulled from the Smithsonian collections, these items range millennia, from pre-historic dinosaurs to the very first supercomputer

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What the Buffalo Tells Us About the American Spirit

Playwright David Mamet writes that whether roaming free or stuffed, this symbol of the West tells a thousand stories

Author David Sibley writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: As a young man John James Audubon was obsessed with birds, and he had a vision for a completely different kind of book. He would paint birds as he saw them in the wild "alive and moving," and paint every species actual size. He travelled the U.S Frontier on foot and horseback seeking birds of every species known to science. He wrote of his time in Kentucky, around 1810, "I shot, I drew, I looked on nature only; my days were happy beyond human conception, and beyond this I really cared not." As Jonathan Rosen points out in The Life of the Skies, these paintings promoted a romantic vision of the wilderness of the New World, to be viewed by people who would never see these birds in real life. Perhaps that is one reason Audubon found more success in England than in the young United States, and why his work still holds its appeal today, as the wilderness he knew and loved recedes further into the past. Read more of Sibley's essay.

How James Audubon Captured the Romance of the New World

An amateur naturalist’s unparalleled artworks still inspire conservationists and collectors alike

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How the West Was Drawn

Explorer John Wesley Powell filled in “great blank spaces” on the map – at times buoyed by a life preserver

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A Close, Intimate Look at Walt Whitman

A haunting image captures America’s quintessential poet, writes author Mark Strand

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How Cesar Chavez Changed the World

The farmworker’s initiative improved lives in America’s fields, and beyond

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Abraham Lincoln’s Top Hat: The Inside Story

Does the hat that links us to his final hours define the president? Or does the president define the hat?

Author Mark Bowden writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: Though unmanned, remote-controlled drones had been used in times of war since World War II, they were revolutionized in 1995. The Gnat, developed by the San Diego defense contractor General Atomics, carried something new: video cameras. Soldiers had long coveted the ability to see over the next hill. Manned aircraft delivered that, from gas-filled balloons in the Civil War and from airplanes in the 20th century, but only until the pilot or his fuel was exhausted. Satellites provide an amazing panorama but they are expensive, few in number and not always overhead when needed. The Gnat gave commanders a 60-mile panorama from a platform that could stay airborne more or less permanently, with vehicles flown in 12-hour shifts. Later renamed the Predator, it quickly became the U.S. military's preferred surveillance tool. Read more of Bowden's essay.

How the Predator Drone Changed the Character of War

Mark Bowden investigates how the unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft altered the battlefield forever

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The Clovis Point and the Discovery of America’s First Culture

Beautifully crafted blades point to the continent’s earliest communities

Author Martha Stewart writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: Isaac Merritt Singer's sewing machine was a vast improvement upon earlier versions, capable of 900 stitches a minute -at a time when the most nimble seamstress could sew about 40. Though the machine was originally designed for manufacturing, Singer saw its domestic potential and created a lighter weight version, which he hauled to country fairs, circuses and social gatherings, dazzling the womenfolk. Read more of Martha Stewart's essay.

Martha Stewart on How the Singer Sewing Machine Clothed the Nation

The master of home entertaining takes a look at one of the most game-changing inventions of the 19th century

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The Brief History of the ENIAC Computer

A look back at the room-size government computer that began the digital era

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Andrew Sullivan on What Sets the AIDS Quilt Apart From All Other Memorials

The Daily Dish recalls his first experience seeing the quilt

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John Deere Was a Real Person, His Invention Changed the Country

His plow turned the Midwestern mud into the nation’s breadbasket

Author Frank Deford writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: Negro baseball leagues allowed African-Americans the chance to play the national pastime for pay (if not for much). The heyday of the Negro Leagues was the '30s, the cynosure of most seasons the East-West All-Star Game, which was usually played in Chicago at Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox. Indeed, in 1941, just before America entered the war, that fabled season when Ted Williams batted .406 and Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 straight games, the Negro League All-Star Game drew a crowd of more than 50,000 fans. Read more of Deford's essay.

A Long Toss Back to the Heyday of Negro League Baseball

Sportswriter Frank Deford looks back at the games that opened the national pastime to African-Americans

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It’s Time to Cut Barbie a Little Slack

Writer Sloane Crosley asks if the doll really represents such a menace to society

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