Pop culture

Good luck getting this out of your head.

Before the 'Baby Shark' Song Made the Hot 100, 'Silly Symphonies' Were All the Rage

The “musical novelty” series of shorts achieved critical and popular success, too

Basquiat Painting Has Hidden Black-Light Images

An art conservator found the arrows on an untitled 1981 work and believes there may be more "secret" imagery hidden away on other works

From L to R: Gymnetis drogoni, Gymnetis rhaegali and Gymnetis viserioni

These New Beetle Species Are Named After the ‘Game of Thrones’ Dragons

Daenerys Targaryen's dragons—Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion—provided the inspiration for these three beetles' new names

Dear Evan Hansen comes to the Smithsonian

'Dear Evan Hansen' Recognized as Part of America's Cultural Heritage

Artifacts from the Broadway musical come to the collections of Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Janelle Monáe at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on her summer Dirty Computer tour

What Makes Janelle Monáe America's Most Revolutionary Artist

The musical virtuoso leaves her old persona behind with her third album, <em>Dirty Computer</em>

Stan Lee Helped Shape the Story of What It Is to Be American

Smithsonian curator Eric Jentsch weighs into the legacy of the comic-book mastermind

The Cleaver family of "Leave It to Beaver"

The Dawn of Television Promised Diversity. Here’s Why We Got “Leave It to Beaver” Instead

Using original archival research and FBI blacklist documents, a new book pieces together the intersectional narratives that never made it on air

Millennial mainstays like “twerk,” “emoji” and “listicle" have been included in the official Scrabble dictionary.

"OK," "Sheeple" Says Scrabble, Which Added 300 New Words to Official Dictionary

“For a living language, the only constant is change,” says Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster

Real Planet Discovered Where Vulcan Home World in "Star Trek" Is Set

"Fascinating, Captain"

Objects Conservator Dawn Wallace examines the recovered pair of Ruby Slippers. Chief Conservator Richard Barden and Curator Ryan Lintelman also spent hours looking at the shoes in detail.

How the Smithsonian Helped Sleuth Out the True Identity of a Pair of Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers

When the FBI asked museum conservators at the American History Museum for assistance, they discovered the two pairs are twins

Alan Smith-Allison poses with his collection

A New Exhibition Is Here to Spice Up Your Life

Do you really, really, really wanna see it?

Mamma mia!

What's Behind ABBA's Staying Power?

Don't call it a comeback. With a new movie and new music on the way, ABBA remains as relevant as ever

The History and Psychology of Roller Coasters

Researchers take you on a wild ride through endorphins, brain chemistry and stress science to explain the allure of theme park thrill

Only 17 percent of the more than 130,000 frames have been previously printed

Thousands of Unseen Photos Featuring Andy Warhol and Celebrity Pals to Be Digitized

The trove of the pop artist’s personal snapshots includes 130,000 frames, which will also be featured in an upcoming show and monograph

Reebok marketed their slim, pliable Freestyle shoes to aerobics lovers in the 1980s.

A Brief History of America’s Obsession With Sneakers

Invented for athletics, sneakers eventually became status symbols and an integral part of street style

Voiced by Josh Brolin, the hulking alien aggressor Thanos moves and speaks precisely as Brolin did on set, thanks to state-of-the-art performance-capture technology.

How the 'Infinity War' Directors' Childhood Gave Them the Guts to Pull Off That Ending

Marvel comes to D.C. to delve into Avengers spoilers and make a Smithsonian donation

Sam and his true love Suzy navigate the wilds of New Penzance in Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

Wes Anderson’s Fastidious Whimsy Has Delighted Moviegoers for Decades

A Smithsonian retrospective breathes fresh life into Anderson’s kaleidoscopic filmography

Awesome Con provided an opportunity for science fiction and real-life science to play off of one another. The Robot from Netflix's Lost in Space reboot (center) illustrates the former, while the NASA jacket of the con attendee on the right nods to the latter.

The Real Science Behind Your Favorite Nerd Culture at Awesome Con

Astrophysicists, vehicle technicians and biologists joined the party to bring cutting-edge research to fictional worlds

DropReg, President of the East Bay Chevs group, in his ride during a video shoot in downtown Oakland.

New Exhibition in Oakland Traces the History of Hip-Hop

“RESPECT: Hip-Hop Style & Wisdom” celebrates the 45th anniversary of hip-hop culture

The Temptations

Library of Congress Adds ‘The Sound of Music,’ ‘My Girl’ to National Recording Registry

Each year since 2002, 25 recordings that impacted American culture are chosen for inclusion in the growing database. Read about the class of 2017

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