Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

Portrait of Eleanor Garnier Hewitt, who co-founded Cooper Hewitt with her sister Sarah, painted in 1888 by Antonia de Bañuelos and an iBook Laptop Computer designed in 1999 by the Apple Industrial Design Team.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

7 Funky Backgrounds For Your Next Virtual Happy Hour

Jill Heinerth, a Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer and filmmaker, shares stories from her expeditions in a live-streamed event on Aug. 12. (Jill Heinerth)

Smithsonian Associates

Exploring Underwater Caves and 22 Other Smithsonian Programs Streaming in August

Scientists plan to piece together the genetic code of all plants, animals, fungi and protists within the next ten years as part of the Earth BioGenome Project.

National Museum of Natural History

Scientists to Read DNA of All Eukaryotes in 10 Years

Smithsonian Geologist Liz Cottrell answers your questions in the National Museum of Natural History’s YouTube series, “The Doctor Is In.” (Smithsonian Institution)

National Museum of Natural History

How Do Volcanologists Predict Eruptions and Other Questions From Our Readers

The author in her natural habitat.

Office of Academic Appointments and Internships

What Fish Collections Reveal About Oceans of the Past

The Hope spacecraft of the United Arab Emirates' Emirates Mars Mission during testing.

National Air and Space Museum

Launching Hope to Mars

Joshua Bell is the curator of globalization at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. He is working on a new exhibit about the global history of cellphones. (Smithsonian)

National Museum of Natural History

Meet the Scientist Studying How Cellphones Change Societies

Saba Ali, right, and Contemporary Muslim Fashions on view at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

How Contemporary Muslim Fashions are Having Their Day in the Sun

The neotropical rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus, inhabits at least 11 South American countries. This species of viper is widespread and thrives in dry climates. (Carla da Silva Guimarães)

National Museum of Natural History

Viper’s DNA Reveals Ancient Map of South America

A black-tailed prairie dog stands near its burrow.

National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Ecologists Dig Prairie Dogs, And You Should Too

A US flag flies over the captured U-858 as it receives a K-ship escort to Lewes, Delaware. (Official US Navy photograph via National Archives and Records Administration.)

National Air and Space Museum

K-Ships vs. U-Boats

Group of red, yellow, orange, green peppers. (Biomuseo)

Smithsonian Affiliations

How A Plant from the Americas Conquered the World

65 Squadron received eight new Spitfires through the sponsorship of the East India Fund in July 1940. These new Spitfires featured de Havilland constant-speed propellers.

National Air and Space Museum

Better Propellers for “The Few”: Desmond Cooke’s Legacy in the Battle of Britain

Gallery view of the Heard Museum exhibition,

Smithsonian Affiliations

Reunited And It Feels So Good

Staff from the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative lead a workshop in Nebraska. (Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative)

Smithsonian Affiliations

How Unprecedented Flooding Brought a Community Together

Navy pilot Edward Lewis “Whitey” Feightner (National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution)

National Air and Space Museum

Remembering Edward Lewis “Whitey” Feightner

People protest against the name of the Washington, D.C., NFL team before a game between Washington and the Minnesota Vikings. Minneapolis, November 2, 2014. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

National Museum of the American Indian

Ending the Use of Racist Mascots and Images

Krystal Quiles, “Girlhood (It’s complicated).” Image courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

Office of Academic Appointments and Internships

The Zine Teens Take on Girlhood

The Chaco Canyon chocolate-drinking jars have a distinct shape, with connections to similarly shaped Mayan vessels. After testing distinguishable jar fragments from an excavated trash pile in in the canyon, archaeologists determined all of the drinking jars were used to consume cacao. (A336494, A336499, A336493, James Di Loreto, Smithsonian)

National Museum of Natural History

What Chocolate-Drinking Jars Tell Indigenous Potters Now

Normee Ekoomiak (Inuit, 1948–2009).

National Museum of the American Indian

A Curator’s Fourth of July Message on the Long, Shared Work of Creating a Better America