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After almost two centuries, the flag's frail state became plain. The icon's new high-tech home will protect it from exposure to bright light, humidity and ambient pollution.

Star-Spangled Banner Back on Display

After a decade’s conservation, the flag that inspired the National Anthem returns to its place of honor on the National Mall

Now seen as early evidence of prehistoric worship, the hilltop site was previously shunned by researchers as nothing more than a medieval cemetery.

Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?

Predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years, Turkey’s stunning Gobekli Tepe upends the conventional view of the rise of civilization

During the campaign, Lincoln confided he would have preferred a full term in the Senate "where there was more chance to make a reputation and less danger of losing it."

Election Day 1860

As soon as the returns were in, the burdens of the presidency weighed upon Abraham Lincoln

Author of "Banner Days," Robert Poole.

Robert Poole on “Banner Days”

Smithsonian magazine staff writer and author of "One Man's Korean War."

Abigail Tucker on “One Man’s Korean War”

Andrew Curry is a professional journalist based in Germany with degrees in international relations and Russian and East European studies and is a contributing editor to Archaeology magazine. You can find more of his work at www.andrewcurry.com.

Andrew Curry on “The World’s First Temple?”

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Fake Radio War Stirs Terror Through US: Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds turns 70

Seventy years ago, Orson Welles whipped millions of Americans into a martian-crazed panic with a radio play adaptation of H.G. Welles’ War of the Worlds

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Last-Minute Costume Ideas

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Dino Blog Carnival: Edition #1

Andy Warhol, Founding Collection, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.

Warhol’s Pop Politics

Andy Warhol’s political portraits anticipated today’s blurred boundaries between public office and stardom

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Dinosaurs of a Feather, Flock Together

The Whole Gory Story: Vampires on Film

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Scariest. Pumpkin. Ever.

A beach in Tayrona National Park, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

Colombia Dispatch 1: Revisiting Colombia

Journalist Kenneth Fletcher returns to Colombia to investigate how the government and its people hope to rise above their problematic past

Children pose for the camera in El Pozon, a slum on the outskirts of Cartagena.

Colombia Dispatch 2: The Slums of El Pozon

In a vast impoverished neighborhood near the Caribbean coast, Colombians invade vacant lots hoping to become landowners

Hector Salgado shovels sand in his yard while his girlfriend, Marisol Cardales Berrio, laughs.

Colombia Dispatch 3: The Pedro Romero Program

The government’s attempts to battle poverty reach communities of refugees from violence in the countryside

Students at Palenque’s Batata Dance and Music School perform a traditional dance with African roots.

Colombia Dispatch 4: Palenque: An Afro-Colombian Community

Four hundred years ago, escaped slaves formed Palenque. Today, the Colombian town celebrates its African roots

The new Kogi village of Dumingueka.

Colombia Dispatch 5: The Kogi Way of Life

Hidden in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a Kogi village built with government support combines modernity with ancient traditions

Students perform together at the vallenato music academy

Colombia Dispatch 6: Accordion Rock Stars in Valledupar

Andres ‘Turco’ Gil’s accordion academy trains young children in the music of vallenato, the folk music popular across Latin America

Cesar Lopez and cellist Sandra Parra perform in Bogota with his “escopetarra” at the launch of Colombia’s 2008 peace week

Colombia Dispatch 7: Turning Guns into Guitars

Musician Cesar Lopez invented a new type of guitar, made from the shell of an automatic weapon

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