Arts & Culture

The Pearl of Dubai is half adventure park, half marine sanctuary.

Can Underwater Resorts Actually Help Coral Reef Ecosystems?

A Los Angeles company is designing artificial reefs to boost local economies and marine habitat

Bigelow Aerospace's proposed space station, Alpha, would be made up of sausage-link-esque blocks, each the size of a school bus.

Age of Humans

We Thought We'd Be Living in Space (or Under Giant Domes) By Now

An inflatable space habitat test highlights the futuristic visions we've had for housing, from cities under glass to EPCOT

A modern baptismal rite takes place in the same Paravur pond in which the Apostle Thomas reputedly baptized Indian nobility in the first century.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

The Surprisingly Early History of Christianity in India

Modern Syrian Christians of Kerala believe that the Apostle Thomas visited in A.D. 52 to baptize their ancestors

A woman performs the Namaskara gesture, a traditional Indian greeting with hands in front of chest and a slight bow.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

The Secret Language of Hands in Indian Iconography

Unlock the meaning of these ancient gestures

Artist Gary Staab and his team spent roughly 2,000 hours over five months to create the first of three models.

Art Meets Science

An Artist Creates a Detailed Replica of Ötzi, the 5,300-Year-Old "Iceman"

Museum artist Gary Staab discusses the art and science of constructing exhibition pieces

Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace Has an Evil British Twin

Meet the lovable American cartoon character’s sinister counterpart

On his property, Jones County’s J. R. Gavin points out a site that was a hide-out for Newt Knight. “The Confederates kept sending in troops to wipe out old Newt and his boys,” says Gavin, “but they’d just melt into the swamps.”

The True Story of the ‘Free State of Jones’

A new Hollywood movie looks at the tale of the Mississippi farmer who led a revolt against the Confederacy

Did ADHD Play a Role in George Gershwin’s Eclectic Style?

The composer himself seemed to see a link between his restlessness and his art

To Mapplethorpe, flowers offered a way to broaden his appeal. Parrot Tulips, 1988

Robert Mapplethorpe Could Make Even Tulips Erotic

LACMA and the J. Paul Getty Museum will be showcasing the photographer’s lesser known flower portraits

MIT’s moisture-sensitive sportswear might one day be genetically modified to glow in the dark.

The First Truly Breathable Fabric Contains Living Bacteria

Microbiology meshes with fashion to create a new kind of cool

Virtual reality headsets at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam allow visitors to view digital reconstructions of artifacts destroyed by ISIS.

The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments

Scholars create a virtual archive of antiquities destroyed by extremists in Syria and Iraq

The Super Cao Nguyen supermarket, founded by Vietnamese immigrants in 1979, offers fresh fish to landlocked seafood lovers.

Oklahoma City Is Becoming a Hotspot for Vietnamese Food

Southeast Asian immigrants are spicing up America’s fast-food capital with banh mi, curried frogs’ legs and pho

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Is the Earthworm Native to the United States and More Questions From Readers

You asked, we answered

The statue of Abu Bint Deimun, from third century B.C. Hatra, Iraq. A global network of preservationists are teaming up to protect the world’s antiquities.

Crash Courses Prepare Art Conservators for Catastrophic Disasters

Smithsonian experts train a brave band of conservators in northern Iraq to brace buildings and rescue artifacts in a hurry

Tulsi Yadav teaches Shoba Narayan about the application and design of mehndi, or henna, at the Dera Mandawa haveli in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Formerly a private mansion, the Dera Mandawa is now a hotel.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

A Quest to Master the Art of Henna

In anticipation of her daugher's wedding, Shoba Narayan set out to hone her mendhi craft

New Graphic Novel Writes the Wright Brothers' Sister Back Into History

Four students journey back to the birth of aviation in 'The Wrong Wrights'

The weather breaks in the Comox Valley, and Queneesh makes an appearance.

What Happens to a Town's Cultural Identity as Its Namesake Glacier Melts?

As the Comox Glacier vanishes, the people of Vancouver Island are facing hard questions about what its loss means for their way of life

A human-headed winged bull from the eighth century B.C. Assyrian royal palace in Khorsabad. ISIS razed the city’s ruins last year.

The Race to Save Syria's Archaeological Treasures

The deliberate destruction of antiquities by ISIS and others in the birthplace of human civilization is cultural genocide

Onlookers crowd King Street in Alexandria, recently named America's most romantic city.

What's America's Most Romantic City?

A new Amazon.com list finds true love in Alexandria, Virginia

George Washington seems to be crying as he stares at FDR.

American South

How 43 Giant, Crumbling Presidential Heads Ended Up in a Virginia Field

After an ambitious monument went bust, big dreams—and big heads—remain

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