Ben Panko

Ben Panko is a staff writer for Smithsonian.com

A still from the 1991 film "Anna Göldi, Last Witch"

Last Person Executed as a Witch in Europe Gets a Museum

Beheaded in 1782, Anna Göldi fell victim to a system that prized the views of powerful men over justice

This clay tablet written around the year 1800 B.C.E. may represent the oldest known use of trigonometry

Ancient Babylonian Tablet May Hold Earliest Examples of Trigonometry

If true, it would mean the ancient culture figured out this mathematical field more than a millennia before its known creation

Glenn Kaino's "Hollow Earth" installation uses a trick of light to show an lit tunnel delving into the ground

Relive the Great American Eclipse With Art That's Out of This World

The site-specific Wyoming exhibit uses the occasion of the Sun going dark over a small resort town to reckon with commercial tourism and history

Salmon aquaculture often uses large nets like this one in a Salmon farm in Norway.

Thousands of Invasive Salmon Escape From Farm in Pacific Northwest

Officials are urging fishers to catch the salmon in the waters off Washington

Astronauts traveling to Mars may be able to pack a little lighter with microbes that could make nutrients and the building blocks of plastic.

Could Astronauts Harvest Nutrients From Their Waste?

A new study suggests that modified yeast feeding on human waste can make useful byproducts for long missions in space

A symbol that existed on typewriters is now a hallmark of the internet age

A Decade Ago, the Hashtag Reshaped the Internet

From humble origins, this ancient punctuation mark has gained new life as a symbol to connect us all on social media

Metin Eren recreates ancient arrowheads to see how they respond when fired with bows like this

This Lab Replicates Weapons to Reveal Stone Age Feats of Engineering

A Kent State archaeologist is testing the innovative engineering of the Clovis people, one of the earliest communities to inhabit North America

The Sun is seen setting through the Martian atmosphere by the Curiosity rover. Nighttime can bring turbulent snowstorms in the planet's atmosphere

Violent Snowstorms May Rack the Martian Night

Simulations show how the water snow falling on Mars may fall much differently than we're used to here on Earth

One of the best-known paintings of the doomed Franklin expedition. Full title: "They forged the last link with their lives: HMS ‘Erebus’ and ‘Terror’, 1849–1850."

A Dentist Weighs in On What Really Doomed the Franklin Expedition

Addison’s disease may have blackened the explorers' gums and hastened their demise, proposes a history-obsessed dentistry professor

"Ignorance = Fear / Silence = Death" by Keith Haring, 1989

New Exhibit Captures Nearly Eight Decades of Protest Art

The show incorporates the various ways artists have responded to the politics and social problems of their times since the 1940s

This series was captured over the course of three hours from St. Louis Missouri. Look closely at the right edge of the fully eclipsed sun and you can see a large solar flare.

Stunning Photos Capture the Solar Eclipse Across America

This stellar phenomenon delighted millions today as it transited across the United States

A Russian scientific institute unveiled a statue in 2013 to an unsung hero of science - the lab mouse

This Russian Monument Honors the Humble Lab Mouse

A peculiar Russian monument praises the scientific achievements of a tiny mammal

Usually the massive creatures rest between hunting dives on floating ice. But as ice becomes increasingly scarce, the creatures are forced ashore.

Melting Sea Ice Forces Walruses Ashore in Earliest Gathering Yet Observed

As ice melts, the Pacific walruses are losing their icy resting platforms

The fossil was found to actually comprise bones of three living penguin species, including the Snares crested penguin.

This 'Extinct' Penguin Likely Never Existed in the First Place

DNA analysis helps untangle the species behind a jumble of bone fragments

A screenshot of William Wheeler's VR creation showing a barren, sandy landscape to explore

Reach Out and Touch This Virtual Reality Art Installation

"The Sands," currently on view at Essex Flowers, projects elaborate creations in a physically empty space

Astronaut Sunita Williams enjoying ice cream the last time it was sent to the International Space Station in 2012

ISS Astronauts Get a Sweet Taste of Real Ice Cream

The latest shipment to the station includes some frozen goodness for the crew

A rendering of how a performance on the Floating Museum's moving exhibit "River Assembly"

Catch the Museum Floating Through the Chicago River

On a converted barge, the Floating Museum reflects on Chicago's industrial past and cultural present

AI is now able to synthesize new sounds from old ones, and even compose original music

AI Is Edging Into the Art World in Psychedelic Ways

The team at Google is using neural networks to create tools that they hope will inspire and channel creativity

An ancient knee joint that shows signs of grinding between the bones, a result of osteoarthritis

What a 6,000-Year-Old Knee Can Teach Us About Arthritis

By studying bones dating back thousands of years, researchers find that the disease may not be just a part of getting old

Artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker sought to incorporate exotic elements into their art in Germany's colonial era, such as the bananas shown in this 1905 painting

German Art Museum Tackles Legacy of Colonialism

Looking hard at its own collection, Kunsthalle Bremen aims to challenge the racism of colonialism that persists today

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