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Articles

Landscape photographer Frank Gohlke has a new show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Q and A: Frank Gohlke

Abraham Lincoln's gold watch.

What’s Up

Newborn David B. Miller had the company of his mother (covered by sheets), grandfather (masked) and photographer father.

Family of Man’s Special Delivery

It took three generations to produce Wayne F. Miller’s photograph of his newborn son

It has been reported that by the end of the century, redheads will be extinct.

Requiem for the Redhead

The next great extinction—Carrot Tops

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Letters

Readers Respond to the December Issue

Partaking in an old but ambiguous rite, blue "devils" (in Paramin, with mouths colored by dyed bubble gum) offer spectators a deal: pay, or get rubbed with body paint.

Up Close at Trinidad’s Carnival

What’s behind the raucous pre-Lenten rite? An intrepid scholar hits the streets of Trinidad to find out

Higham (at Ban Non Wat) says villagers "don't relate to the bones they find."

Bodies of Evidence in Southeast Asia

Excavations at a cemetery in a Thai village reveal a 4,000-year-old indigenous culture

Charles Darwin

Evolution and Equality

What do Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and the Freedom Riders have in common with each other?

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Contested Legacy

Great Emancipator or unreconstructed racist? Each generation evokes a different Lincoln. But who was our sixteenth president?

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February Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

After a mob attacked a bus with protesters in Alabama in 1961, hundreds more joined the cause.

The Freedom Riders, Then and Now

Fighting racial segregation in the South, these activists were beaten and arrested. Where are they now, nearly fifty years later?

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin helped shape the modern world.

How Lincoln and Darwin Shaped the Modern World

Born on the same day, Lincoln and Darwin would forever influence how people think about the modern world

Despite the summer influx of tourists, says the author, the town "remains at heart a working harbor."

The Vineyard in Winter

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks delights in the allure of Martha’s Vineyard’s off-season

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Weekend Events: African Pearls, Another Inaugural Ball, and a String Quartet

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Hot and Cold Running Dinosaurs

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Hey! DC—and the Smithsonian—Are Too Cool

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Picture of the Week — Emperor Penguins

Can cuteness save the Emperor penguin?

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Wing Shortage Looms On Eve of Super Bowl

About 5 percent of the nation’s chicken wings are eaten on that day - the product of a staggering 300 million chickens

The Galapagos is no place for a mammal. But it's a great place to be a reptile. Land animals had to make the trip here via rafts of vegetation that broke loose from the mainland, which isn't so bad if you have scaly skin, are cold-blooded and can go for a long time without fresh water. A few rodents managed to colonize the islands, and there are some native bats, but reptiles rule. One of the weirdest reptiles is the marine iguana, the world's only seagoing lizard. It basks on lava rocks to warm up in the morning, then swims around in the surf eating seaweed. They get to be four feet long or more and look for all the world like Godzilla. Like other Galapagos creatures, they aren't particularly bothered by humans gawking at them.

A Naturalist’s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos

Smithsonian’s Laura Helmuth vacationed in the Galapagos Islands and returned with even more respect for Charles Darwin

Domestic cats are the most popular pet in America, numbering some 80 million.

Cats as Pets and Predators

Jake Page explores the evolution and enigmatic ways of the most popular pet in America — the house cat

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