Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Michele Debczak

Michele Debczak

Michele Debczak is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. She appears in seasons four through six of History Channel’s “The Food That Built America,” and her work has been featured in Mental Floss, IndieWire, Eater and Vice.

Stories from this author

A digital rendering of new museum Dataland 

The World’s First Museum of A.I. Art Will Open in Los Angeles as the Art World Ponders Questions of Ethics and Sustainability

Dataland’s immersive exhibitions, generated with artificial intelligence, will debut to the public on June 20, with an inaugural show about rainforests trained on millions of images of nature

The Strait of Gibraltar 

In a Graveyard of Shipwrecks Between Europe and Africa, Archaeologists Discovered Vessels Doomed Over Thousands of Years

The “harbor” of the Strait of Gibraltar is the final resting place for shipwrecks from ancient Rome, the medieval era and World War II, according to a new archaeological survey

El Greco’s The Baptism of Christ, c. 1608-14

Can A.I. Determine Which Artist Made a Painting? This New Brushstroke Detection Tool May Have Solved a Mystery About El Greco

While debating the authorship of “The Baptism of Christ,” one of El Greco’s final works, art experts long relied on their own analysis of brushstrokes. A new study tapped artificial intelligence to peer at the paint at a microscopic level

The Spice Girls performed at the Brit Awards in 1997.

The Spice Girls Changed Pop Forever in 1996. Thirty Years Later, Their Iconic Outfits Are on Display in a New Exhibition in London

The Barbican Music Library is celebrating British pop culture with a show that features Mel B’s leopard catsuit, Emma Bunton’s blue dress and Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack boots

This coin was found near Chile’s Strait of Magellan.

Hundreds of Spanish Settlers Died at the ‘Port of Famine.’ This Newly Discovered Silver Coin Reveals Where the Doomed Colony Was Founded 400 Years Ago

Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe was established on the north shore of Chile’s Strait of Magellan in 1584. When an English navigator came across it several years later, few survivors remained

Archaeologists uncovered a Cold War bunker underneath an English castle.

Why Is a Cold War Bunker Buried Underneath This Medieval English Castle? In Case of Nuclear ‘Armageddon’

Archaeologists uncovered a relic of the 20th-century conflict beneath Scarborough Castle, decades after the bunker was sealed and its exact location was forgotten

Wishbone ready for his close-up

In the 1990s, a Dog Taught Kids About Shakespeare and Homer. A New Documentary Tells the Tale of ‘Wishbone’—From His Backflips to His Historical Hats

The film reunites the human cast and crew who saw the potential of a Jack Russell terrier to bring classic literature to life on PBS

Pearl Fryar in his topiary garden

Born to a Family of Sharecroppers, This Topiary Artist Overcame Discrimination to Become the ‘Picasso of Plants’

Self-taught artist Pearl Fryar, who died this month at age 86, got his start when he tried to win an award from his local garden club. He ended up becoming a celebrity in the horticultural world

Cecilia Oliver makes final adjustments to Quen Elizabeth II's coronation dress, designed by Norman Hartnell

From Sparkling Tiaras to Pastel Hats, New Buckingham Palace Exhibition Celebrates the Fashion of Elizabeth II

In addition to being a world leader, the British queen was a fashion icon. A new show at Elizabeth’s former residence highlights some of the most memorable looks and the history behind them

Across the Continent: “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way” (1868) by Frances Flora Bond Palmer is one of the artworks in the National Gallery of Art's new exhibition.

The National Gallery of Art Holds an Artistic Mirror Up to the United States for Its Big 250th Birthday

In celebration of the semiquincentennial this year, “Dear America” looks at the country’s land, communities and revolutionary history through artworks dating back to the late 18th century

Magawa the rat detected unexploded ordnance in Cambodia

A Small Rodent Hero Left a Giant Legacy. Now, Cambodia Honors This Famous Bomb-Sniffing Rat With a Seven-Foot Statue

Magawa the African giant pouched rat cleared more 1.5 million square feet of land mines during his five-year career, making him one of the most successful bomb-sniffing rodents in the country’s history

Frida Kahlo painted many self-portraits, including this piece, "Self-Portrait With Necklace," from 1933.   

Can Frida Kahlo Leave Mexico? Plans to Relocate a Trove of Paintings by the Famous Artist Spark a Heated Debate

Nearly 400 cultural heritage professionals signed an open letter protesting plans to move a collection featuring artworks by the renowned Mexican painter out of her home country

Archaeologists found these stoneware fragments in the wreckage of the Dannebroge.

This Danish Warship Exploded in Battle 225 Years Ago. Now, Archaeologists Are Racing to Recover Its Artifacts

The destruction of the “Dannebroge” was documented in art and history books. Now, thanks to a museum’s excavations, archaeologists can study the wreck up close for the first time

A replica of the rare Apple I is on display at the museum.

See a Colorful Wall of Vintage iMacs and a Re-creation of Steve Jobs’ Garage at a New Apple Museum in the Netherlands

The tech world changed forever when two college dropouts founded Apple on April 1, 1976. Fifty years later, a museum dedicated to the company’s history and evolution has opened in the city of Utrecht

Early examples of Native American dice discovered in the United States

Are These the Earliest Known Dice in the World? Native Americans May Have Used Them to Play Games of Chance More Than 12,000 Years Ago

A new study suggests that humans were playing with probability during the Ice Age—and that dice were invented 6,000 years earlier than previously thought

The two copies of Old Man With a Gold Chain

This Painting Was Thought to Be a Workshop Copy of a Rembrandt. Now, One Scholar Argues It’s the Real Deal

“Old Man With a Gold Chain” is on display beside a smaller copy for the first time in centuries. According to scholar Gary Schwartz, the Dutch master painted both himself

 Les Poissons, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1917

Art Thieves Steal Paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse Worth More Than $10 Million, Fleeing the Scene in Just Three Minutes

The Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Italy was the target of a shocking art heist—only five months after a high-profile theft at the Louvre in Paris

Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith at the Chelsea Hotel

These Long-Lost Photos of the Chelsea Hotel Reveal Intimate Portraits of Its Bohemian Residents—From Patti Smith to Bob Dylan

Photographer Albert Scopin documented the countercultural hub at its peak in the mid-20th century. Now, the recovered photos are the subject of a new book and exhibition celebrating the New York City landmark