Articles

Izzy Einstein (left) and Moe Smith share a toast in New York City

Prohibition’s Premier Hooch Hounds

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The Civil War

How Newspapers Reported the Civil War

A collection of historic front pages shows how civilians experienced and read about the war

A Corythosaurus with skin impressions--similar to this one on display at the American Museum of Natural History--was lost when a German military vessel sank the SS Mount Temple on December 6, 1916.

Charles H. Sternberg’s Lost Dinosaurs

On December 6, 1916, a German military vessel sunk a highly-valued shipment of Canadian dinosaurs

Will the Ford EVOS remain just a concept car?

A Preview of CES: When Cars Become Smartphones

Is the day coming when your car will talk to your alarm clock and also check your heart rate?

See Warhol through an artist's eyes in Talking With Andy on January 11

Events January 10-12: Mission Impossible, Talking about Andy, Webby Talk

This week, experience Mission: Impossible in IMAX, rediscover the iconic work of Andy Warhol, and learn about the most innovative work happening on the Web

A reconstruction of Gigantopithecus

Did Bigfoot Really Exist? How Gigantopithecus Became Extinct

Dental, dietary and environmental clues help explain why the world's largest ape vanished

A biologist with a salmon tracking device

What Does Home Smell Like?

Salmon's powerful, ingrained sense of smell allows them to return to the exact stream of their birth for spawning.

Mauna Loa (as seen from nearby Mauna Kea) is tall enough to have snow, at least when the volcano isn't erupting

The Tallest Mountains in the Solar System

Mount Everest is a just a peewee when compared with such giants as Olympus Mons on Mars

Morse's 1837 telegraph receiver prototype, built with a canvas-stretcher

How Samuel Morse Got His Big Idea

On this day in 1838, Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated his telegraph for the first time. But how did he get the idea in the first place?

Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah in Joyful Noise

Seeing a New South in Joyful Noise and Undefeated

Two new films show how far we've come since The Birth of a Nation and In the Heat of the Night

Everyday Science and Mechanics (February, 1936)

Mobsters Tremble Before the Crime-Fighting, Red Flying Gondola

Science-fiction pioneer Hugo Gernsback predicted that, as long as police officers were stuck on terra firma, criminals always would have the edge

Richard Milner's 'Charles R. Knight: The Artist Who Saw Through Time.'

Charles R. Knight’s Prehistoric Visions

Charles R. Knight, one of the greatest paleoartists ever, battled his boss, artistic society and his own eyesight to bring prehistoric creatures to life

A good eye will spot the black-marble jawfish next to the mimic octopus's arm

Fish Mimics Fish-Mimicking Octopus

The black-marble jawfish takes advantage of its coloring to blend in with an octopus and stay safe from predators

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Julia Child’s Kitchen Closes This Weekend

January 8 will be your last chance to see Julia Child's kitchen for a while, so hurry by the American History Museum

An olive tree in Italy

Italy: Where the Olive Oil is the Most Flavorful

An organic farming network gave my niece the opportunity. Then she gave me the nectar of the gods

John Kress, a Smithsonian botanist, suggests Dominica's Morne Trois Pitons National Park for an evolution vacation.

A Smithsonian Botanist Suggests an Evotourism Site

We turned to John Kress, an expert on how plants and birds co-evolved over time, for his pick for an evolution vacation

Come make your own stamp collection at a drop-in workshop at the Postal Museum.

Weekend Events Jan 6-8: “This is Not a Film,” Stamps, Masterworks of Three Centuries

This weekend, watch an Iranian film, attend a stamp collecting workshop or listen to eclectic Baroque chamber music

How does free will function in the brain?

Just How Free is Free Will?

Researchers are finding that our behavior may be more hard-wired than we'd like to believe. If so, can we handle the truth?

Andrew Bland, brother of the author, shivers and shakes after a frigid abalone, or paua, dive in Akaroa Harbour.

Into New Zealand’s Strange Waters and Prehistoric Forests

The absence of native mammals, aside from bats and pinnipeds, gives the impression that New Zealand is still in the age of dinosaurs

Churros can be both delicious and dangerous.

Law and Order: Four Food Crimes

After stealing $1,500 worth of cooking oil from a Burger King, two men were apprehended siphoning off oil from a Golden Corral

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