Articles

A bikini-clad "Dinah" in Vernal, Utah

Dinosaur Sighting: Let’s Swim!

The sign makes me smile every time. It was made when the massive sauropod dinosaurs were thought to spend most of their time in water

Colonel Sanders, a great Halloween costume idea

Stuck for a Halloween Costume Idea? Think Food

Paula Deen, Colonel Sanders, the Swedish Chef—the food world is rife with costume potential

Flying insects are usually creepy, but many people love dragonflies.

14 Fun Facts About Dragonflies

#12: Hundreds of dragonflies of different species will gather in swarms, either for feeding or migration

Former Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart on the drum kit

The Mickey Hart Collection in Rhythm with the World

Former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's curates a 25-album series of world music for Smithsonian Folkways that drops next week

In a video clip from the 1930s, old Confederate soldiers step up to a microphone and let loose with the howling yelp that was once known as the fearsome "Rebel yell."

The Civil War

Civil War Veterans Come Alive in Audio and Video Recordings

Deep in the collections of the Library of Congress are ghostly images and voices of Union and Confederate soldiers

Historian Alfred W. Crosby coined the term "Columbian Exchange" in reference to the impact of living organisms traded between the New World and Old World.

Alfred W. Crosby on the Columbian Exchange

The historian discusses the ecological impact of Columbus’ landing in 1492 on both the Old World and the New World

The eight cotton hoods worn by Confederate conspirators after Lincoln's assassination

The Civil War 150 Years: The Washington Eight

After plotting to kill Lincoln and other Union leaders, a group of Confederate conspirators was put on trial

"Airships may give us a birds eye view of the city."

The Boston Globe of 1900 Imagines the Year 2000

A utopian vision of Boston promises no slums, no traffic jams, no late mail deliveries and, best of all, night baseball games

A crowd gathers at the scene of the Wall Street bombing in September 1920.

Anger and Anarchy on Wall Street

In the early 20th century, resentment at the concentration of wealth took a violent turn

How will you be working with pumpkins in your kitchen this fall?

Five Ways to Cook With Pumpkin

It's time to think outside the pie crust and consider other ways you can put pumpkin on your table

A restoration of the pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus by ДиБгд

Terra Nova, Take Two

The show's setting in a lush, 85-million-year-old jungle may be unique, but the tempo follows many of the standard TV tropes

Turkish tea

Tea and Bear Talk in Turkey

"It's too dangerous," said a villager. "There are bears." His boys growled and clawed the air

There are 200 million European starlings in North America

The Invasive Species We Can Blame On Shakespeare

There are 200 million European starlings in North America, and they are a menace

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Custer, Mich.

Population: 400

New apps and gizmos are helping pets out.

Pet Tech Gears Up

Pet products are already a huge business. Innovations like pet GPS and remote feeding devices are making it even bigger

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Six Secrets of Polonium

This rare and dangerous element, discovered by Marie Curie, is found in cigarettes and was used to poison an ex-KGB agent

The juvenile tyrannosaur puppet at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

What It’s Like Inside a Dinosaur

Visit the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum

Events Oct. 3-6: Butterfly Pavilion, Quiltmaking Demonstration, America in Black and White and African Drumming

This week, see exotic insects, learn a new craft, be part of a thought-provoking discussion on race and join a drum circle

Always beware of sharp knives.

Inviting Writing: Independence Won By Blood

My first meal alone in a new city was delayed due to an unexpected test of survival skills

The 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Washington, D.C. on August 23 caused damage to the Washington Monument.

Scaling the Washington Monument

Mountaineering park ranger Brandon Latham talks about how engineers investigated the monument from hundreds of feet above the ground

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