Articles

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The Day Henry Clay Refused to Compromise

The Great Pacificator was adept at getting congressmen to reach agreements over slavery. But he was less accommodating when one of his own slaves sued him

Prehistoric humans correctly depicted the gait of four-legged animals, such as this bull in the famous cave paintings of Lascaux, France, more frequently than modern artists.

Cavemen Were Much Better At Illustrating Animals Than Artists Today

A new study finds that prehistoric humans correctly depicted the gait of four-legged animals much more frequently than modern artists

“Nothing tells us more about the spread of humans across the Earth than city lights” – NOAA.

Black Marble, Interrupted: Our Mark on the Night Sky, From Space

NASA scientists created global composite images using cloud-free nights to reveal an unprecedented look at how our planet appears at night

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Your Genetic Future: Horse-Dogs, Plantimals and Mini-Rhino Pets

A kids' magazine in the '80s hoped that by now we'd have a whole new array of pets to choose from

Our curators and researchers recommend a little something for everyone.

Holiday Gift Guide: Must-Reads from the Smithsonian’s Curators

We asked the institution team for their picks from the past year, from art to poetry to science

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Scientists Discover Oldest Known Dinosaur

A fragmentary skeleton pins the emergence of dinosaurs more than 10 million years earlier than previously thought

Not Besse Cooper’s hands

Besse Cooper, World’s Oldest Person, Passes Away

Born in 1896, Besse Cooper was came into a world that was vastly different than the one she just left

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Nine Gift Ideas For the Science-Loving Art Enthusiast on Your List

Be it a book, movie, calendar or game, these picks are perfect for the hardest-to-shop-for people on your list

A reconstruction of Homo erectus, the first hominid to reach a modern height.

How Death Played a Role in the Evolution of Human Height

A longer life expectancy might have allowed members of the genus Homo to grow taller than earlier australopithecines, researchers propose

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Birds Harness the Deadly Power of Nicotine to Kill Parasites

And city birds are stuffing their nests with cigarette butts to poison potential parasites

Blame Napoleon for Our Addiction to Sugar

Prior to 1850, sugar was a hot commodity that only society's most wealthy could afford

The articulated, almost-complete hand of Hagryphus giganteus.

H is for Hagryphus

An articulated hand found in southern Utah complicates the story of North America's feathery, beaked oviraptorosaurs

Photography by Diana Zlatanovski. Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology malacology collection.

Collecting the World’s Collections of Small Oddities One Day at a Time

A Q&A with Diana Zlatanovski on how she came to collect collections, what they say about design, and how to be a collector without becoming a hoarder

Popcorn and cranberry chain

Five Ways to Deck Your Halls With Food this Christmas

There are lots of ways to use goods in the pantry to make your digs a little merrier

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Take Two Pills and Charge Me in the Morning

Health and medical mobile apps are booming. But what happens when they shift from tracking data to diagnosing diseases?

Elroy and Grandpa Jetson play “spaceball” (1962)

Grandpa Jetson is Way Cooler Than Grandpa Simpson

Montague Jetson is 110 years old--and loving it

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Sick of Fluorescents? New Technology Provides Flicker-Free Light

A new advance in lighting could soon bring a silent, consistent glow that's easy on the eyes to an office near you

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UPDATE: Spidernaut Dies at Natural History Museum

After 99 days in space, the museum's new jumping spider made it only five days before dying of natural causes

Dining aboard the RMS Caronia, from a 1950s World Cruise brochure.

Dress Codes and Etiquette, Part 3: The Death of the Dinner Jacket on Open Water

Are the days of wearing just a tuxedo t-shirt just over the horizon?

It took many, many long sea voyages and much tedious charting to produce the first crude maps of the world. Today, travelers are increasingly abandoning even the best maps in favor of electronic navigation devices.

Have GPS Devices Taken the Fun out of Navigation?

With the rise of the digital age, the fascinating skills of map reading and celestial navigation are becoming lost arts

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