Articles

¡Así Kotama! is out July 2, on Smithsonian Folkways Records.

Listen to the Flutes of Ecuador, Then Catch Them Live

A new album on Smithsonian Folkways Records captures the effort to sustain a fading musical tradition

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These Contact Lenses Can Zoom In and Out, Give You Telescopic Vision

These contact lenses can switch your vision back and forth from regular sight to a 2.8x zoom

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Obama Tackles Illegal Wildlife Trade

Obama's plan will specifically address poaching of elephants and rhinos, though he has also reportedly begun conversations with China about curbing demand

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Yoga a “Distinctly American Cultural Phenomenon,” California Judge Decrees

Though its roots are in India, American yoga is a whole different thing

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The Past and Future of the Baseball Bat

The evolution of the baseball bat, and a few unusual mutations

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One Thousand Robots Face Off In a Soccer Tournament

The roboticists behind RoboCup want their team of bots to beat the World Cup champions on a level playing field by 2050

How do we resist when burgers and bacon beckon?

Can We Be Tricked into Not Eating So Much?

Just posting calorie counts isn't very effective. What may work, though, is framing overeating in terms everyone understands

Gwyneth Glyn, a Welsh singer who performs original and folk songs in her native tongue, will perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year as part of the “One World, Many Voices” program.

Can Musicians and Educators Bring Welsh Back?

The Welsh language is spoken by few, but people like Gwyneth Glyn, a Welsh folk musician, are helping to revitalize it and renew interest in the culture

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These Bright Webs Depict Flight Patterns Around Major Airports

Software engineer Alexey Papulovskiy has built Contrailz, a site that generates visuals of flight data over cities around the world

Happy 315th Birthday to the Steam Engine

Three hundred and fifteen years ago today James Savery's patented the steam engine

A Museum in New York City Is Exhibiting Fragments of a Melting Glacier

After the exhibition concludes, the ice will be relinquished to its original fate - a melted puddle

Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, which ranks as one of the countries with the highest amount of biodiversity but the least funding to protect it.

Funding Biases Affect Wildlife Protection in the Developing World

Forty countries that receive low levels of aid for environmental conservation contain about one-third of the world's threatened species

First Death During Cirque du Soleil Performance

For 29 years, Cirque du Soleil had defied death, never seeing a performer die on the job. Until this past weekend

Plant impressions found underneath a pair of ancient humans (at left) indicate they were buried atop a bed of flowers (as depicted at right).

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Flowers Buried in a 12,000-Year-Old Cemetery

Plant impressions found underneath a pair of ancient humans in Israel indicate they were buried ceremonially, atop a bed of flowers

A 1963 ad featuring the Postal Service’s Mr. Zip.

Happy 50th Birthday, ZIP Codes

Half a century ago today the U.S. Post Office introduced the ZIP Code

Flying high at one of the Folklife Festival’s many stages.

Dancing, Catwalking and Crafting: Photos From Folklife

The first weekend was full of colors and cultures from around the globe

Firefighters stand near the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona over the weekend.

19 Veteran Firefighters Die in Arizona Blaze, the Worst Wildfire Disaster in 80 Years

A fire at Yarnell Hill, Arizona over the weekend killed 19 experienced firefighters

Witness a cultural performance of Garifuna songs and drumming at the Folklife Festival Wednesday, July 3. The Garifuna are an ethnic minority in Central America with a diverse background and distinct culture and language.

Events July 2-4: Discover Genetic Coding, Experience Garifuna Culture and Watch ‘March Point’

This week, check out an exhibit on genes, witness a Central American song and dance performance and watch Native American film "March Point"

Researchers don't have to turn back the clock with this new stem cell breakthrough.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

The Rise of the Multi-Talented Adult Stem Cell

A new type of cell could lead to dramatic cures—and avoid ethical controversy

The ATLAS detector, one of two experiments to spot the elusive Higgs boson in particle smashups at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, weighs as much as a hundred 747 jets and houses more than 1,800 miles of cable.

How the Higgs Boson Was Found

Before the elusive particle could be discovered—a smashing success—it had to be imagined

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