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Articles

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First Vertebrate Species Description with a DNA Barcode

A Hard Day’s Work

A Summer of Blockbusters and Sleeper Hits

Wanted: Mitten Crab—Dead or Alive

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Wal-Mart Art

Climate Change Forced Humans to Evolve

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Smithsonian Says No to “Lucy”

Nicotine

Feeding on Nicotine

Getting Your Kicks

Karl Struss (1886-1981). "Two women in front of a vine covered country store," c. 1910.

In Living Color

An obscure photographic process unveiled 100 years ago opens a fresh window on the past

This view of the Brooklyn Bridge, looking east, was taken on May 6, 1918.

“It Felt Like a Real Discovery”

Six decades after the death of an unheralded New York City municipal photographer, a researcher stumbles upon his forgotten negatives

In Mexico, the molinillo stirs passions as well as chocolate.

A Historic Kitchen Utensil Captures What it Takes to Make Hot Chocolate From Scratch

A 1930s tool was used to whip chocolate beverages into a frothy blend

Ojibwa tribe members gather 50,000 pounds of wild rice each fall on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota (Ryan Stevens "knocks" grains into a canoe while James Frederick poles).

Going With the Grain

On Minnesota lakes, Native Americans satisfy a growing hunger for “slow food” by harvesting authentically wild rice the old-fashioned way

Kerouac (with the author in Greenwich Village in 1957) was as unprepared as anyone else for his novel's surprise impact.

Remembering Jack Kerouac

A friend of the author of “On the Road,” published 50 years ago this month, tells why the novel still matters

"The Places in Between," by Rory Stewart

The New Civil Service

An excerpt from Rory Stewart’s “The Places in Between”

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The Real Frida Kahlo

A new exhibition offers insights into the Mexican painter’s private life

Louis Castro (bottom row, left) played 42 games as a second baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics during the 1902 season. Because his birthplace is questioned by baseball historians, he may or may not have been the first Hispanic player in the Major Leagues.

Debating Louis Castro

Was he the first foreign-born Hispanic in the Major Leagues?

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What’s Up

Jim Henson, photojournalist Lola Alvarez Bravo and the heaviest bird that can fly

Because of Portugal's explorations, Europeans were also made aware of exotic animals ("The Rhinoceros," by Albrecht Dürer, 1515).

When Portugal Ruled the Seas

The country’s global adventurism in the 16th century linked continents and cultures as never before, as a new exhibition makes clear

Against the British, both Washington and Lafayette (left and right, at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78) had to learn how to lead citizen-soldiers rather than mercenaries, motivating their men through affection and idealism rather than through fear.

Washington & Lafayette

Almost inseparable in wartime, the two generals split over a vital question: Should revolutionary ideals be imposed on others?

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