Articles

Made from vinyls and plastics, these fake foods on display in Japan aren’t the only fakes around.

Don’t Get Duped: Six Foods That Might Not Be The Real Deal

Colored sawdust instead of saffron? Corn syrup instead of honey? It's all in the newly updated USP Food Fraud Database

A leaf grasshopper (Phyllophorina kotoshoensis).

Honey, I Blew Up the Bugs

Italian artist Lorenzo Possenti created 16 enormous sculptures of giant insects, all scientifically accurate, now on display at an Oklahoma museum

Syrian landscape. In “Up Close from Afar: Photographic Records of the Middle East,” two curators discuss how Western media’s depictions of the Middle East affect our perception of the region’s culture.

Events February 5-7: Tachyons, Middle Eastern Landscape and Ai Weiwei

Hear about the one thing in the world that may be faster than light, consider Western media's depictions of the Middle East and discuss Ai Weiwei's art

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Strange Ball in a Strange Place: Watching the Super Bowl in Ecuador

America's Biggest Game brings excitement, curiosity and some boredom to Ecuador

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Scientists See Insect Outbreaks From Space

A new tool uses satellite imagery to help researchers track small disturbances such as bug infestations, which may increase in scope as climate changes

The chicken wing, now a ubiquitous bar food, was often thrown out or cooked into stock as recently as the 1960s

A Brief History of the Buffalo Chicken Wing

How the wing went from a throwaway to a delicacy in 50 years

Andy Warhol’s Having a Really Big Few Months

Athletes Are Exceptionally Fast Visual Learners

Professional football, hockey, soccer and rugby players significantly better than amateurs or non-athletes at processing fast-moving, complicated scenes

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Primal Screens: How Pro Football Is Amping Up Its Game

Pro football is turning to screens--some massive, others on smart phones--to try to keep its fans entertained.

The Stealth Wear hoodie in thermal IR

Drone Couture: Designing Invisibility

While scientists work toward perfecting the invisibility cloak, one designer has already developed a line of clothing that makes people invisible to robots

Rod (left, holding child) and Ingrid (far right) McCarroll of Alberta, shown here in central Mexico, have traveled the world helping to bring a cheap and effective water filtration system to many thousands of people.

Faces From Afar: Two Canadian Travelers Bring Love, Goodwill and Water Filters to the Needy

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Solving the Mystery of Owls’ Head-Turning Abilities

New research shows how owls can swivel their heads around without cutting off blood supply to their brains

Melting sea ice is a threat to many Arctic species, including polar bears.

Anthropocene

How Climate Change Affects the Smithsonian

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough looks at how our scientists are studying our changing climate

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Lost and Found Again: Photos of African-Americans on the Plains

What would otherwise be a local-interest story became a snapshot of history integral to the American experience

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How Long Can Turtles Stay Underwater and Other Questions From Our Readers

You asked? We answered

Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley: The Original Folkways Recordings, 1960-1962

Listen to Doc Watson Picking Away at his Banjo

A new release from Smithsonian Folkways highlights the talent of a bluegrass master

Going back to the roots of English grammar to uncover its many myths

Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar Is Wrong

And ending sentences with a preposition is nothing worth worrying about

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A Nike Shoe, Now a Part of the Smithsonian

The Flyknit racer is currently in the collections of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

The watercolor above is an East African myth: Juok the Creator (shown twice) molding Egyptians from reddish brown clay and Southern Sudanese from the black earth. MacMillan says this image came faster than any of the others, "I literally did the entire thing in an hour and a half, just at home with no prior planning or sketching."

An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Creation Myths

Each culture has its own version of how the universe began. Artist Noah MacMillan brings this “visual vocabulary” to life

Lincoln sat at the back of the train in disguise to escape his assassins.

The Civil War

The Unsuccessful Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln

On the eve of his first inauguration, President Lincoln snuck into Washington at night, evading the would-be assassins who waited for him in Baltimore

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