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The cyanobacteria species that produces gatorbulin-1, tentatively identified as Lyngbya confervoides, forms these reddish-green, hair-like structures which are a collection of connected single cells rather than a true multicellular organism.

Smithsonian Voices

Scientists Find Blue-Green Algae Chemical With Cancer-Fighting Potential

The discovery shows how studying marine biodiversity can enhance biomedical research.

A hallmark of our cognitive abilities is to be able to calculate and respond to future probabilities. We will have to adapt to this pandemic reality, but adaptation is something that humans are famously good at.

Covid-19

Why This Pandemic Won’t Be the Last

Smithsonian biological anthropologist Sabrina Sholts says Covid-19 illustrates that what makes us human also makes us more vulnerable to global contagions

The first cheetah cub born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute celebrated his 10th birthday last year, marking a decade of the facility's successful cheetah breeding program.

Smithsonian Voices

Five Cheetah Stories From the National Zoo

Take a look back at some of the milestones the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s cheetah team has celebrated since the program began

Anthony Fauci, age 80, says museum director Anthea Hartig, “defines service at the highest level and exemplifies the true meaning of a great American.”

Covid-19

Anthony Fauci Donates His 3-D SARS-CoV-2 Model to the Smithsonian

The nation’s doctor is awarded the Great Americans Medal by the National Museum of American History in virtual ceremony

Virgin's hyperloop system uses magnetic levitation technology to reduce friction and low-pressure sealed vacuums along the track that minimize air resistance.

Futures

Smithsonian’s ‘Futures’ Exhibition to Feature Virgin Hyperloop’s Record-Breaking Transportation Pod

Virgin Hyperloop’s Pegasus vehicle will be on display for viewers to take a closer look at its interior this fall

In 1794, angered by the inaccurate reporting of the work black Philadelphians had contributed, Richard Allen (above) and Absalom Jones published "A Refutation," detailing how the community cared for the sick.

How the Politics of Race Played Out During the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic

Free blacks cared for the sick even as their lives were imperiled

Theodore Roosevelt scholar and historian Clay Jenkinson tells the story of Roosevelt’s beloved west and the national park that bears his name in a Smithsonian Associates Streaming program on March 4.

Smithsonian Voices

Theodore Roosevelt’s North Dakota and 27 Other Smithsonian Programs Streaming in March

Multi-part courses, studio arts classes and virtual study tours produced by the world’s largest museum-based educational program

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives invites you to a series of four Adopt-a-Book Salons in March and April.

Smithsonian Voices

Calling All Bibliophiles: Here’s How to Adopt a Book

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives invites you to a series of four Adopt-a-Book Salons in March and April

Studio family portrait, 1960–1970s, by Rev. Henry Clay Anderson

How the Smithsonian Can Help African American Families Research Their Ancestors

The National Museum of African American History and Culture offers service and tips for genealogy efforts

Artist’s conception of the Perseverance rover sampling rocks on the floor of Jezero crater. The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter (not shown) that can fly in advance of the rover and scout out high priority rocks and outcrops for the rover to visit.

Smithsonian Voices

Is There Life on Mars?

Smithsonian scientist John Grant says we have to know what to look for and where to go on the planet for evidence

The exhibition is on view near a neighborhood recreation center that holds classes and homework time, even during the pandemic, and an all-boys high school. "I just feel like this block amplifies all of the messages expressed in the exhibit," says one of the show's organizers.

In a Covid-Affected Washington, D.C. Neighborhood, Black History Is Reinterpreted on a City Block

A powerful outdoor exhibition amplifies a message of “pride, tenacity and possibility”

Artist’s rendition of Ingenuity flying on Mars.

Smithsonian Voices

How the Perseverance Rover Paves a Path Into the Future

Three new (and particularly challenging) aspects of the Mars 2020 mission that distinguishes it from previous missions

Chosen for the 2021 inauguration, this 1859 painting by the African American artist Robert Duncanson depicts the promise of America.

Secretary Lonnie Bunch on Healing a Divided Nation

We must use the lessons of the past to help our country grow and move forward

Artist's rendering of "Futures," an upcoming exhibition at the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building

Futures

From Floating Cities to Biodegradable Burial Pods and Flying Cars, the Smithsonian Envisions a Multitude of Futures

The Arts and Industries Building will reopen this November with a thought-provoking exploration of what lies ahead for humanity

Album cover, Sound, 1966; Designed by Laini Abernathy (American) for Delmark Records (Chicago, Illinois); Lithograph on folder paper; 31.8 × 31.8 cm (12 1/2 × 12 1/2 in.)

Smithsonian Voices

Why Cooper Hewitt Is Seeking Works by the Innovative Black Graphic Designer Laini Abernathy

Cooper Hewitt is collecting album covers designed by this important designer, who contributed to the Black cultural scene in the late 1960s

Many contemporaries argued that Black men had more than earned the right to vote through their military service in the Civil War.

Smithsonian Voices

How the Unresolved Debate Over Black Male Suffrage Shaped the Presidential Election of 1868

At the height of the Reconstruction, the pressing issue was Black male suffrage

Could humans be visiting Venus in the future?

Ask Smithsonian

Will We Ever Send Humans to Venus?

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Waikiki, by Hawaiian filmmaker Christopher Kahunahana, will kick off this year’s Mother Tongue Film Festival, a free, Smithsonian-sponsored event that begins Sunday, February 21.

Pandemic Can’t Stop the Mother Tongue Film Festival

The much-loved event kicks off this weekend online with the first indigenous film from Hawaii and extends through May with 45 offerings

Engineers concluded that the museum building (above: the Assyrian Hall in February 2019) was structurally sound and could be repaired. But much work would need to be done.

Iraq’s Cultural Museum in Mosul Is on the Road to Recovery

The arduous process, says the Smithsonian’s Richard Kurin, is “a victory over violent extremism”

This fossilized dinosaur head and vertebrae were discovered in 1883 but only recently gained its name, Smitanosaurus agilis.

Smithsonian Voices

Scientists Name Old Dinosaur for the Smithsonian

A new study has reclassified a fossil discovered in 1883 as a dicraeosaurid—a family of long-necked dinosaurs rarely found in North America

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