Articles

We love candy, to eat and to look at. Big Suckers, from the portfolio Seven Still Lifes and a Silver Landscape. Wayne Thiebaud, 1971.

Candy From Halloween’s Past

From candy's lackluster beginnings to the Halloween boom, Smithsonian shares some tricks and treats

William H. Johnson donated his work to the American Art Museum, allowing for a look at the growing legacy of the late artist.

Events Oct. 31-Nov. 1: Empires, Spooky Stories and American Artists

This week, a look at changing relationships with Latin America, Halloween stories and the rise of the late William H. Johnson

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The Halloween Tradition Best Left Dead: Kale as Matchmaker

Be happy this Scottish tradition is passé, your future marriage may have depended on it

Fossil teeth, found by Ferdinand Hayden in Montana, which Joseph Leidy attributed to the dinosaur “Trachodon.”

Finding Hayden’s Dinosaurs

Thanks to some historical detectivework, a pair of researchers has relocated one of the earliest recognized dinosaur sites in the American west

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Women Who Shaped History

The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism

Their seances with the departed launched a mass religious movement—and then one of them confessed that "it was common delusion"

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Recapping ‘The Jetsons’: Episode 06 – The Good Little Scouts

A camping trip to the moon might seem fanciful, but 1960s advertisers were already promoting space tourism

Models indicate that climate change will cause more frequent hurricanes, but the overall trend can’t be linked with a particular event, such as Hurricane Sandy (above, on October 29).

Can We Link Hurricane Sandy to Climate Change?

Models indicate that climate change will cause more frequent and intense hurricanes, but the overall trend can't be linked with any particular storm

A mount of Cetiosaurus at the New Walk Museum in Leicester. While the neck of this sauropod is almost completely known, no skull has ever been described.

C is for Cetiosaurus

Sauropods are iconic dinosaurs, but the first of their kind ever found was initially thought to be a huge crocodile

Pumpkinhead and cat(?), date unknown

12 Creepy Kids in Halloween Masks

When their faces are obscured, these children transform into frightening little creatures

Fox Sisters

“A Very Common Delusion”: Spiritualism and the Fox Sisters

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Nikon Announces the Winners of its “Small World” Competition

See a selection of beautiful images captured by scientists gazing through light microscopes

Defying its reputation as aloof, this tortoiseshell cat was labelled “the friendliest cat we met”

Judging a Cat (Wrongly) by the Color of its Coat

Black cats aren't evil, and torties aren't always aloof. But people often think coat color and behavior are linked

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Why Are Humans Primates?

People may seem very different from lemurs, monkeys and apes, but all primates share a few key physical and behavioral characteristics

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Tracking the Twists and Turns of Hurricanes

Incredibly powerful supercomputers and a willingness to acknowledge that they're not perfect has made weather scientists become much more effective in forecasting hurricanes.

Part of a multi-step sequence by which Tyrannosaurus could have beheaded Triceratops, based on research by Fowler et al.

Did Tyrannosaurus Ever Battle Triceratops?

We love to imagine Tyrannosaurus fighting Triceratops to the death, but did such battles ever happen?

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Turning Your Hand Into a Remote Control

A Microsoft prototype called Digits could put the power to control everything from TV screens to smart phones in a device you wear on your wrist

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Scientific Illustrations: Your Go-To Guides for Halloween Costumes

The details are what separate a good outfit from an amazing one. The images in the Biodiversity Heritage Library can help you make the leap

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The Witches of Halloween Past

Sexy or scary, the outfit has cast a spell on costume wearers going back many years

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Scientists Use Cadaver Hands to Study the Dangers of Pumpkin Carving

A rigorous experiment compared pumpkin-carving tools to determine the safest way to carve a pumpkin

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Congratulations to (drum roll…) Jeffrey Davidson!

I'm pleased to announce the winner of the Smithsonian's Great American History Puzzle

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