Alicia Ault

Alicia Ault

 

Alicia Ault is an independent journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Medscape Medical News, WebMD and Wired. She splits her time between St. Petersburg, Florida, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, exploring the rich variety of food, music, art and culture on offer in those cities.

Ask Smithsonian: What’s the Point of Earwax?

Earwax has a job to do; but many are not hearing the message

Ask Smithsonian: When Did People Start Keeping Pets?

The human-pet timeline is still being put together, but turns out man’s best friend might also be his oldest

Ask Smithsonian: How Does the World Look to the Color Blind?

Most people who are color blind can see colors, they just have trouble distinguishing between specific kinds

Ask Smithsonian: What Is a Dimple?

Michael Jordan, Vanessa Hudgens and all those celeb dimples to die for? Just a result of a double zygomaticus major muscle

Ask Smithsonian: Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?

Humans cling to the idea that the beasts of the field could help to make earthquakes predictable, but prognosticators they are not

Maialen Lujanbio wears the large trophy txapela, or beret, after becoming the first female to win the National Championship in 2009.

What Is Bertsolaritza and Who Are the Basque Poets Who Know It?

At the Folklife Festival, be sure to catch the singing, improvisational poetry slam that’s keeping a language alive

Ask Smithsonian: Why Does My Nose Run When It’s Cold?

The nose knows that runny flows are necessary in the cold

Campaign collections include boxes of Macaroni and Cheese for both parties.

What Ten Artifacts from the Smithsonian Collections Can Tell Us About the Crazy History of American Politics

A massive collection of campaign materials dating from 1789 reveals that little has changed in how America shows its affection for their candidate

Ask Smithsonian: Why Do We Kiss?

According to philematology, or the science for the study of kissing, romance has little to do with it

Ask Smithsonian: Can Elephants Jump?

The question is why would an animal weighing up to 16,000 pounds need to jump?

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Ask Smithsonian: What Is Wind?

Whether arriving on a gentle breeze or a stiff gale, air moves like water responding to high and low pressures around the Earth

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Ask Smithsonian: Why Do We Sneeze?

Whether you sneeze because of a cold, or after sex or a good meal or in sunlight, the good old Achoo is the body's way of ridding itself of irritants

Ask Smithsonian: How Do Colors Affect Our Moods?

Whether you are feeling green with envy or you're singing the blues, the link between color and feeling is a highly individual thing

Ask Smithsonian: How Do Spiders Make Their Webs?

Learning exactly what those spinnerets are doing might just generate a whole new web of understanding

Anonymous Donor looms, at more than ten feet tall. “As you are walking through it you’re just engulfed by the object,” says curator Nicholas Bell.

Artist Chakaia Booker Gives Tires a Powerful Retread

Booker empowers her monumental sculptures with new life, shaped by the shearing and bending and folding of repurposed rubber

Ask Smithsonian: What Is a Freckle?

Those adorable and charming spots splayed across the nose and cheeks might also be an indicator of sun damage

Dawe says he loved having to work with the Renwick building’s 19th-century architectural details as a backdrop.

Artist Gabriel Dawe Made a Rainbow Out of 60 Miles of Thread

The artwork is an optical illusion that delights the senses; as if the artist embroidered the air

A detail of Jennifer Angus' work In the Midnight Garden, 2015

How Thousands of Dead Bugs Become a Mesmerizing Work of Extraordinary Beauty

With much love for the insect world, artist Jennifer Angus crafts an installation made entirely out of beetles, cicadas, katydids and weevils

Ask Smithsonian: How Do You Make a Mummy?

Mummification has been practiced for eons and the Egyptians are the best known, but not the only practioners

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Ask Smithsonian: Is the World Due for Another Massive Plague Outbreak?

It is highly unlikely, experts say, but a plague-based bioterror assault is another matter

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