Social Media

So much potentially misleading information, so little time.

How Fake News Breaks Your Brain

Short attention spans and a deluge of rapid-fire articles on social media form a recipe for fake news epidemics

Don't even bothering searching for snaps like this.

Tourists Are Now Banned from Photographing This Swiss Village

It's a blatant—if somewhat brilliant—press play

Meet Steve—a strange band of light first spotted by amateur skywatchers.

Amateur Skywatchers Spot New Atmospheric Phenomenon

Its name is Steve, and it’s more common than you might think

The lush, rugged landscape of Japan's island of Hokkaido is a major draw for amateur photographers—but do Flickr photos really represent the most important conservation sites?

Is #Hashtagging Your Environment on Instagram Enough to Save It?

Location-based data might help pinpoint key ecosystems—or make conservation a popularity contest

Social Networks May Give Runners a Motivational Leg Up to Hit the Pavement

Friends' running habits may have more influence on your workouts than you might think

Sirocco, currently MIA, has helped millions connect with the island’s endangered wildlife.

Seduced By a Rare Parrot

What can conservationists learn from New Zealand’s official “spokesbird,” a YouTube celebrity who tries to mate with people’s heads?

Surfers take to the water in Montauk, where a shark nursery was discovered offshore last summer.

Can Social Media Give Sharks a Better Reputation?

A nonprofit called Ocearch is naming tagged sharks and giving them Twitter and Instagram accounts to ease fears and aid in conservation

How a Soap Opera Virus Felled Hundreds of Students in Portugal

The “Strawberries With Sugar” outbreak is just one example of mass hysteria, which goes back centuries

A woodcut from 1482 is yours for the coloring in a book by the Bodleian Library.

#ColorOurCollections Is Back, Turning Your Favorite Cultural Institutions Into Coloring Books

In its second year, it's more vibrant than ever

German-Jewish refugees are shown at the rail of the German Liner St. Louis in Havana Cuba on June 1, 1939.

Haunting Twitter Account Shares the Fates of the Refugees of the St. Louis

In 1939, Cuba and the United States turned back a ship full of German Jews, 254 of whom were later killed during the Holocaust

Every new year is a new opportunity for the "worst year ever."

Why 2016 Is Only the Most Recent Worst Year Ever

This year has been miserable for many, but it has plenty of competition from its predecessors in the 20th century

Violence can spread like an epidemic among impressionable teenagers, according to new research.

Violence Among Teens Can Spread Like a Disease, Study Finds

Surveys of thousands of American teens add evidence to the theory that violence spreads in communities like a contagion

Flickering images can induce seizures in people with epilepsy.

Why Do Flashing Images Cause Seizures?

For people with epilepsy, a flashing screen can be more than a passing annoyance

Social media is changing the nature of personal communication

How the Cell Phone Is Forever Changing Human Communication

An ongoing study by Smithsonian anthropologists investigates the dramatic shifts wrought by the smart phone

President Coolidge conducts the first official transatlantic phone call with the king of Spain in 1927

From the Telegram to Twitter, How Presidents Make Contact With Foreign Leaders

Does faster communication cause more problems than it solves?

What Happens to Obama's Social Media Accounts When He Leaves Office?

The White House and National Archives have come up with a strategy to smoothly transition the POTUS Twitter and other communications channels

This photo by Girma Berta on Instagram helped win the photographer a $10,000 grant.

Getty Instagram Grant Winners Document the Drama of the Everyday

From teen moms to slices of street life

New Movie Posters Turn Scientists Into Superheroes

The Center for Infectious Disease Research recasts the fight against disease in a series of movie and comic book-style posters

Black Tweets Matter

How the tumultuous, hilarious, wide-ranging chat party on Twitter changed the face of activism in America

Karl Marx by John Collier, 1977

Karl Marx, My Puppy ‘Max,’ Instagram and Me

A historian tries hard to understand modern society and buys a #cutepuppy

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