Around the Mall Magazine

Homo heidelbergensis—one of five sculptures crafted for the new exhibition hall at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History—takes shape at a Baltimore foundry.

Sculpting Evolution

A series of statues by sculptor John Gurche brings us face to face with our early ancestors

Dinosaurs near Washington, D.C. (long-necked Astrodon johnstoni) left behind a trove of fossils overseen by Matthew Carrano.

A Dinosaur Graveyard in the Smithsonian's Backyard

At a new dinosaur park in Maryland, children and paleontologists alike have found fossils for a new Smithsonian exhibit

The Lunar Electric Rover is a prototype for the vehicle that NASA hopes to send with astronauts to the moon by 2020.

NASA's New Lunar Rover

The Smithsonian Institution pitches in to help NASA prepare for its next lunar mission with a new "home on wheels"

"If we don't do something," says Knowlton, who has earned the nickname Dr. Doom, "we could lose all corals by 2050."

A Coral Reef's Mass Spawning

Understanding how corals reproduce is critical to their survival; Smithsonian's Nancy Knowlton investigates the annual event

John Marshall began filming the Ju/'hoansi people in 1950. Later, he set up a foundation to help the tribe in its struggle for self-determination.

Recording the Ju/'hoansi for Posterity

For 50 years, John Marshall documented one of Africa's last remaining hunter- gatherer tribes in more than 700 hours of film footage

After Xiangmei Gu takes off the backing, she saves the brittle fragments in her record books, which date back two decades and line the shelves in her office.

Restoring Artwork to its Former Glory

With a steady hand, Xiangmei Gu wields paintbrushes and tweezers as the Smithsonian's only conservator of Chinese paintings

Brian Jungen is an installation artist who has a gift for seeing images in mundane objects.

One Man’s Trash is Brian Jungen's Treasure

Transforming everyday items into Native American artwork, Jungen bridges the gap between indigenous and mass cultures

"Now it's off to the races," botanist Dave Erickson says of a project to barcode 250 species of plant life on Plummers Island.

Cracking the DNA Code

On a small island near Washington, D.C., Smithsonian researchers have found a genetic code that could revolutionize botany

An Australian bull dog ant tends larvae.

The Hidden World of Ants

A new photo exhibit featuring the work of biologist Mark Moffett reminds us that we still live in an age of discovery

The Wright brothers inaugurated the aerial age with the world's first successful flights of a powered heavier-than-air flying machine.

Bringing the Wright Flyer to Life

In a movie first, curators and filmmakers collaborated to animate artifacts for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Suits like these worn in 1966 by Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell (right) were made to resist the extreme conditions of space travel for only a short period.

After Space, Saving Suits, Boots and Gloves

The spacesuits that kept U.S. astronauts alive now owe their survival to one woman

Bank manager Kellie Johnson says that recording the location, species and size of trees "puts things in perspective."

Bank Executives See the Forest and the Trees

In a Maryland forest, bankers trade in their suits and ties to study the environment with Smithsonian scientists

The boy's skeleton was crammed into a cellar pit with a broken ceramic milk pan lying across his rib cage.

Solving a 17th-Century Crime

Forensic anthropologists at the National Museum of Natural History find answers to a colonial cold case

Bill Fitzhugh maps the blacksmith’s shop’s floor, 2008. The Smithsonian research vessel PItsuilak rides at anchor in the bay. Fitzhugh and his team live aboard the boat, which takes its name from the Inuit word for a seabird, during their excavations.

The Basques Were Here

In arctic Canada, a Smithsonian researcher discovers evidence of Basque trading with North America

Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers from The Wizard of Oz are back on display at the National Museum of American History.

For Those Ruby Red Slippers, There's No Place Like Home

The newly reopened Smithsonian National Museum of American History boasts a rare pair of Judy Garland's legendary ruby slippers

Charles Harrison, who created a more affordable View-Master and the first plastic trash can, designed 8 to 12 Sears sewing machines ever year for 12 years.

Intelligent Designer

Charles Harrison, former industrial designer at Sears, Roebuck and Company, created practical innovations that touched many lives

Despite receiving critical acclaim, the Curtis film was a box office failure.

Around the Mall: Old Documentary on Western Tribes Restored

How a Film Helped Preserve a Native Culture

Michelle Delaney holding the original 1888 Kodak and Larry Bird holding a display of campaign buttons.

American History Museum: Pieces of Our Past

Smithsonian curators probe the meanings of telltale objects

"Spirits are taking up residence in the museum; nothing is as it seem, even in this photograph," says game director John Maccabee

Get Your Game On

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, tech-savvy players gather clues in the alternate reality game "Ghosts of a Chance"

A canoe Doug Chilton and other Tlingit artisans crafted using techniques mastered by their Alaskan ancestors

Spirit of the Sea

Tlingit artisans craft a canoe that embodies their culture's oceangoing past

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