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A Fuller-style geodesic dome known as Weatherbreak is gradually rising 25 feet in the air in the Flag Hall of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on the National Mall.

The Architectural Genius of the Geodesic Dome and the Challenge of Putting It All Back Together

A new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History puts the engineering innovation back on display after decades in storage

Data from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera were used to make this extremely detailed image of the Southern Ring Nebula.

Seven Amazing Accomplishments the James Webb Telescope Achieved in Its First Year

The observatory has yielded jaw-dropping shots—and surprising facts—about our universe

In the exhibition, Basquiat’s art and objects are described not in esoteric art world terms but in loving, even playful ways, often from the perspective of his sisters, Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux

For Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Family, This Exhibition Was a Means of Grieving

Visitors to “Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure,” now in Los Angeles, walk through the late artist’s studio and connect with him on a personal level

A Southern Barbecue, a wood engraving from a sketch by Horace Bradley, published in Harper’s Weekly, July 1887.

The Evolution of American Barbecue

How America’s meaty tradition grew from Caribbean roots to the four distinct styles we know today

Phoebe Waller-Bridge (left) and Harrison Ford (right) in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

An Archaeologist’s Take on What Indiana Jones Gets Right—and Wrong—About the Field

The movie franchise speaks to ethical issues at the very heart of anthropological thinking

On a June morning in 1864, Meade expelled Edward Crapsey from camp, ordering his men to seat the reporter backward on a mule, with a sign around his neck that read “Libeler of the Press.”

After Winning the Battle of Gettysburg, George Meade Fought With—and Lost to—the Press

The Civil War general’s reputation was shaped by partisan politics, editorial whims and his own personal failings

The 10th installment of the Renwick Invitational, "Sharing Honors and Burdens," is on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery. (Above: Memorial Beats by Lily Hope, 2021, thigh-spun merino and cedar bark with copper, headphones, and audio files, 16 × 4 × 10 in.)

Six Native Artists Share Their Honors and Burdens in This Year’s Renwick Invitational

The emerging and established Native American and Alaska Native creators bring innovation to traditional art practices

Flanked by drag queens while brandishing a .410-gauge shotgun on July 6, 1973, Broshears announced the establishment of a new vigilante group: the Lavender Panthers.

LGBTQ+ Pride

The Controversial Gay Priest Who Brought Vigilante Justice to San Francisco’s Streets

In response to anti-gay violence, the Reverend Raymond Broshears formed the Lavender Panthers, an armed self-defense group, in 1973

Plastics typically contain chemical additives like metals and dyes, which can leach out and affect organisms nearby.

Microplastic Exposure Makes Microbes More Virulent

Laboratory research shows that someway, somehow, PVC plastic breeds antimicrobial resistance

Losang Samten, a Tibetan American scholar and former Buddhist monk, will create, with the help of festivalgoers, a sand mandala.

The 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Explores the Many Ways Americans Express Their Spirituality

Tibetan Buddhist monks, Yiddish musicians and many more creatives will share their cultural practices with visitors to the National Mall

Protesters attend a rally in support of affirmative action in college admissions on October 31, 2022.

History of Now

The History Behind the Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Decision

The phrase, first used in early 20th-century employment laws, is at the center of two new rulings against its use in higher education

A variety of saber-toothed animals have evolved to fill different niches.

Eight Menacing Saber-Toothed Creatures That Stalked the Earth Long Ago

From before the dinosaurs to the Ice Age, several mammals and their forerunners sported the iconic, curved teeth

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Readers Respond to the June 2023 Issue

Your feedback on fireflies, Caribbean artisans and more

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How Graffiti Left a Mark on the Art Scene

Hip-hop’s street artists created a splashy new genre that burst into galleries and museums

The titular "Dial of Destiny" in the new Indiana Jones film is based on the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient device used to chart the cosmos.

Based on a True Story

The Real History Behind the Archimedes Dial in ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’

A device called the Antikythera mechanism is the true-life basis for the object at the center of the franchise’s latest installment

Big Boi in between verses at Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta on September 10, 2016.

A Rap Legend Looks Back on 50 Years of Hip-Hop

Outkast’s Big Boi traces the genre’s indelible impact on global music and culture

The artist’s rendering of the USS Indianapolis. Smith often draws highly detailed features, such as the guns, separately and only later places them onto the larger work.

A Veteran’s Artistic Tribute to Naval Might and Sacrifice

JD Smith has dedicated himself to creating incredibly detailed and historically accurate renderings of warships that fought in World War II

Unfinished pencils at the Musgrave plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee—“The Pencil City.”

See Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories

The family-owned facility in Tennessee produces more than 70 million pencils annually

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Can American Craft Sodas Save the Soft Drink Industry?

The sector is one of the few in the industry that are forecast to grow

Thomas Edison told journalists they would each receive a brief, private demonstration of the new light bulb’s capacities. They could marvel at what he had achieved before he swiftly ushered them away, ensuring they’d be out of the room long before the bulb burned out.

How Thomas Edison Tricked the Press Into Believing He’d Invented the Light Bulb

A year before he developed a working bulb, the “Wizard of Menlo Park” created the illusion that his prototype burned for more than a few minutes at a time

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