Articles

The National Museum building, now known as the Arts and Industries building, wouldn’t open to the public until October 1881, but made an exception for a big debut: President James A. Garfield’s inaugural ball on March 4, 1881. The building’s West Hall, which faces the central Rotunda, was decorated with “festive buntings, state flags and seals.” Workers constructed a temporary wooden floor for the event’s 7,000 guests (and 10,000 bins for their hats and coats).

The Arts and Industries Building: Innovation Through The Years

A look at the evolution of the second-oldest building on the National Mall

Image courtesy of Christie's Images Ltd.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

Document Deep Dive: Francis Crick Explains the ‘Secret of Life’

In a heartfelt letter to his son, the scientist who helped discover DNA explains his earth-shattering findings

A green sea turtle

Sea Turtles Are Nesting in Record Numbers

Once pushed to endangerment, nesting sea turtle numbers are soaring

Chromosomes Aren’t Actually X Shaped

So much for all that memorizing you did in high school

There Are Obese Dogs, So, Naturally, There Are Dog Weight Loss Camps

For these companions, shedding hair is easy, shedding the pounds, not so much

Osmia chalybea, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia

Bee-utiful! The Stinging Insect Gets a Close-Up

Biologist Sam Droege's sharply-focused photographs of bees, used for identifying different species, make for fine art

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Listen to the Entire Evolution of the Guitar Solo in Six Minutes

The guitar is a symbol for rock and roll, and the lead guitarist its champion

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There Used to Be an Entire Museum Full of Weird, Old Robots, And You Can Still Take a Video Tour

Today, people can get their old creepy robot fix on the internet. But there was once a whole museum devoted to old bots

The Pepsi Pavilion at Expo ’70

When PepsiCola Allowed a Team of Artists to Wreak Creative Havoc

In 1970, the soft drink company commissioned artists, musicians, and engineers to design an interactive pavilion that could disappear in a puff of smoke

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Remembering an Iconic Era Lost to Time: The Stars and Films of the Silent Pictures

Curator Amy Henderson reminds us of power and influence and glory of the celebrities that pioneered the silent film era

“Another Voice for Cleveland,” September 1884

President Cleveland’s Problem Child

Not even a specific allegation of philandering, illicit pregnancy and coverup barred Grover Cleveland from the White House

Rolly-polly trilobite

Meet the First Creature Ever to Roll Up in a Ball for Self-Defense

A species of tiny trilobite has taken the ball-rolling champion lead by millions of years

Archaeologists Looking for a Sultan’s Buried Heart Found a Whole Town Instead

Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's missing heart still has not been found, but archeologists searching for it did discover a lost, ancient Ottoman town

This ancient fossil, just discovered in China, could upend our understanding of how all vertebrates evolved over time.

This 419-Million-Year-Old Fish Has the World’s Oldest Known Face

The ancient fossil, just discovered in China, could upend our understanding of how all vertebrates evolved over time

On view in Philadelphia at the National Museum of American Jewish History: “Crunch, crunch, crunch, his feet sank into the snow.”

Seven Must-See Museums to See for Free on Museum Day Live!

Smithsonian magazine and Smithsonian.com invite readers to download a free ticket for two to visit more than 1,500 museums around the country

Scientists Show That Naps Really Are the Best

You should nap before, and after, trying to learn anything

These Tattoos Honor Lost, Not-So-Loved Species

To overcome how people tend to care only about cute endangered animals, Samantha Dempsey designed and distributed temporary tattoos of ugly extinct species

Hemingway’s 1943 letter to his first wife, Hadley Mowrer

Ernest Hemingway Taught One of His Many, Many Cats to Drink Whisky

Ernest Hemingway: author, journalist, crazy cat guy

A creative mind at work?

What Your Messy Desk Says About You (It’s a Good Thing)

Recent research suggests that working in a sloppy setting may actually help inspire creative thinking

Almaty, Kazakhstan, will be home to a new $102 million dollar biosecurity lab.

This U.S.-Backed Lab Is Meant to Keep Talented Kazakh Scientists From Making Biological Weapons

The unassumingly-named Central Reference Laboratory is slotted to open in 2015 and will securely store and study highest risk diseases

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