Time
The past, present and future divided into geologic and historic eras, significant historic and cultural events, and centuries and decadesDiscover Smithsonian articles as they relate to the past, present and future.
Dear Science Fiction Writers: Stop Being So Pessimistic!
Neal Stephenson created the Hieroglyph Project to convince sci-fi writers to stop worrying and learn to love the future
April 2012 |
By Annalee Newitz
The Prehistoric Giants Hall of Fame
What were the largest species of all time? Does the Tyrannosaurus rex make the list?
April 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Richard Clarke on Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Attack
America's longtime counterterrorism czar warns that the cyberwars have already begun—and that we might be losing
April 2012 |
By Ron Rosenbaum
How Futurist Art Inspired the Design of a BMW
The Italian art movement that celebrated modernity still moves us 100 years later
April 2012 |
By Abigail Tucker
How Tenontosaurus Grew Up
Tenontosaurus is kind of a vanilla dinosaur, but paleontologists have collected a lot of them. A new study shows how they developed and might help explain the evolution of gigantic dinosaurs
March 29, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
“Kipper und Wipper”: Rogue Traders, Rogue Princes, Rogue Bishops and the German Financial Meltdown of 1621-23
It is tempting to think of the German hyperinflation of 1923 as a uniquely awful event, but it pales in comparison to what happened in the 17th century.
March 29, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Portrait of Sensitivity: A Photographer in Storyville, New Orleans’ Forgotten Burlesque Quarter
The Big Easy's red light district had plenty of tawdriness going on—except when Ernest J. Bellocq was taking photographs of prostitutes
March 28, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Document Deep Dive: What Does the Magna Carta Really Say?
A curator from the National Archives takes us through what the governing charter means
March 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
The Ottoman Empire’s Life-or-Death Race
Custom in the Ottoman Empire mandated that a condemned grand vizier could save his neck if he won a sprint against his executioner
March 22, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Case of the Headless Hadrosaur
After nearly a century, a mystery is solved and a skull has been matched to its skeleton
March 22, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Edward Curtis’ Epic Project to Photograph Native Americans
His 20-volume masterwork was hailed as "the most ambitious enterprise in publishing since the production of the King James Bible"—and he paid dearly for his ambition
March 21, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
On Heroic Self-Sacrifice: a London Park Devoted to Those Most Worth Remembering
In 1887, a painter was inspired by an idea: commemorate the everyday heroism of men, women and children who had lost their lives trying to save another's
March 19, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Paleontologists Announce Two Tiny Ceratopsians
A pair of mysterious, tiny dinosaur specimens have turned out to be new species of horned dinosaurs
March 19, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Life in the Time of Dinosaurs
What was life like for Canada's dinosaurs 70 million years ago? Paleontologist Annie Quinney can tell you
March 16, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Is it Too Late for Sustainable Development?
Dennis Meadows thinks so. Forty years after his book The Limits to Growth, he explains why
March 16, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Ten Inventions Inspired by Science Fiction
The innovators behind objects like the cellphone or the helicopter took inspiration from works like "Star Trek" and War of the Worlds
March 16, 2012 |
By Mark Strauss
A Baby Brachiosaur?
Brachiosaurus was once thought to be the ultimate prehistoric titan, but we know surprisingly little about this Jurassic dinosaur
March 15, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Clarence Dally — The Man Who Gave Thomas Edison X-Ray Vision
"Don't talk to me about X-rays," Edison said after an assistant on one of his X-ray projects started showing signs of illness. "I am afraid of them."
March 14, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Paris or Bust: The Great New York-to-Paris Auto Race of 1908
Even before there were roads, there were men who wanted to drive fast.
March 07, 2012 |
By Karen Abbott
A Dinosaur’s Pterosaur Lunch
The animal ingested by the Velociraptor may have been an azhdarchid, one of the long-legged, long-necked pterosaurs that included the largest flying animals of all time
March 05, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
