Social Sciences
The social sciences study cultural artifacts, innovations, language and behaviors to discover how humans relate to each other and to society
Czar Treasures From the East
A trove of spectacular objects from the Kremlin’s collection highlights Ottoman opulence
June 11, 2009 |
By Katy June-Friesen
Via Aurelia: The Roman Empire's Lost Highway
French amateur archaeologist Bruno Tassan fights to preserve a neglected 2,000-year-old ancient interstate in southern Provence
June 2009 |
By Joshua Hammer
Brain Cells for Socializing
Does an obscure nerve cell help explain what gorillas, elephants, whales—and people—have in common?
June 2009 |
By Ingfei Chen
The Cat’s 10,000-Year Journey to Purring on Your Lap
Most of the time, it feels quite natural to have a kitty prowling your home or curled up on the bed. On occasion, though, you might look at one and wonder how it got there. A new article in Scientific American plots out the journey:~10,000 years ago (ya): The house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) t...
May 27, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Dreading the Worst When it Comes to Epidemics
A scientist by training, author Philip Alcabes studies the etymology of epidemiology and the cultural fears of worldwide disease
April 28, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Buckle Up Your Seatbelt and Behave
Do we take more risks when we feel safe? Fifty years after we began using the three-point seatbelt, there's a new answer
April 2009 |
By William Ecenbarger
Genghis Khan’s Treasures
Beneath the ruins of Genghis Khan’s capital city in Central Asia, archaeologists discovered artifacts from cultures near and far
March 25, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Roman Splendor in Pompeii
Art and artifacts reveal the elaborate maritime pleasure palaces established by Romans around the Bay of Naples
March 16, 2009 |
By Jason Edward Kaufman
Lincoln's Pocket Watch Reveals Long-Hidden Message
The Smithsonian opens one of its prized artifacts and a story unfolds
March 11, 2009 |
By Beth Py-Lieberman
Digging up the Past at a Richmond Jail
The excavation of a notorious jail recalls Virginia's leading role in the slave trade
March 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Solving a 17th-Century Crime
Forensic anthropologists at the National Museum of Natural History find answers to a colonial cold case
March 2009 |
By Joseph Caputo
Who Discovered Machu Picchu?
Controversy swirls as to whether an archaeologist's claim to fame as the discoverer of Machu Picchu has any merit
March 2009 |
By Peter Eisner
Libraries' Surprising Special Collections
Tucked away in libraries across the country are unexpected archives and world-class treasures
March 01, 2009 |
By Kristin Ohlson
The Tomb of Queen Sesheshet
A recently discovered pyramid and tomb in Egypt may shed light on a dark episode in a pharaonic tradition of court intrigue
February 03, 2009 |
By Stephen Glain
The Basques Were Here
In arctic Canada, a Smithsonian researcher discovers evidence of Basque trading with North America
February 2009 |
By Anika Gupta
Bodies of Evidence in Southeast Asia
Excavations at a cemetery in a Thai village reveal a 4,000-year-old indigenous culture
February 2009 |
By Andrew Lawler
The Journey to Elsewhere, U.S.A.
A professor explains how new technology drastically altered the modern American family unit
January 29, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
History of the Hysterical Man
Doctors once thought that only women suffered from hysteria, but a medical historian says that men were always just as susceptible
January 05, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
The Tragic Tale of the Pygmy in the Zoo
In 1904, several Pygmies were brought to live in the anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair. Two years later, a Congo Pygmy named Ota Benga was housed temporarily at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City—and then exhibited, briefly and controversially, at the Bronx Zoo...
December 02, 2008 |
By Sarah Zielinski
