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Articles

"Canopy Meg," pioneer of forest ecology, recalls her adventures in her new book, It's a Jungle Up There.

Interview: Margaret Lowman

Bugs in trees and kids in labs get their due in a new book by “Canopy Meg”

Peter Beard at Hog Ranch in 2014 feeding giraffes

Beard’s Eye View

When elephants began dying, Peter Beard suspected that poachers were not entirely to blame

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Mirror Image

The first evidence that elephants can recognize themselves

The fragments now rest in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Old World, High Tech

An ancient Greek calendar was ahead of its time

The surface of Wild 2 is pockmarked with craters.

Clues from a Comet

The first mission to collect space matter from beyond the moon offers insights into the solar system’s creation

Jeweler Harry Winston donated the famous Hope Diamond—the largest-known deep blue diamond in the world—to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. It arrived in a plain brown package by registered mail, insured for one million dollars. Surrounded by 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds and hanging from a chain with 45 diamonds, the rare gem attracts 6 million visitors a year to the Natural History Museum.

Diamonds Unearthed

In the first installment of a multi-part series, Smithsonian diamond expert Jeffrey Post explains how the rare crystals form

Zion's dwindling cougar population traces its roots to the late 1920s, when the park's management made efforts to increase visitation.

It All Falls Down

A plummeting cougar population alters the ecosystem at Zion National Park

Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman’s Mile-High Multiculturalism

Creator of savvy Native American sleuths, author Tony Hillerman cherished his Southwestern high desert home

Seemingly dreamed up by Dr. Seuss, Mount Erebus' improbable ice towers form around steaming vents, growing up to 60 feet before collapsing.

Antarctica Erupts!

A trip to Mount Erebus yields a rare, close-up look at one of the world’s weirdest geological marvels

Griswold has reported from the Middle East, West and East Africa and South and Southeast Asia.

An interview with Eliza Griswold, author of “Waging Peace in the Philippines”

Eliza Griswold discusses the U.S. approach on Jolo and applying these lessons to Iraq and Afghanistan

A gypsy moth larva crawls along a leaf.

Unwelcome Guests

A new strategy to curb the spread of gypsy moths

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Passion Fruit

Edward Weston quested for the perfect pepper

For his new book, Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity, economist David Galenson conducted a study of artistic greatness.

Interview: David Galenson

Pondering the nature of artistic genius, a social scientist finds that creativity has a bottom line

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Last Page: Strings Attached

“You want the greatest guitar ever?” Dad asked

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Ways of Seeing

Inviting artists to help showcase its collections is just one way the Hirshhorn Museum is expanding its vision

On their first flight together, Charles and Anne Morrow Lindberg flew more than 7,000 miles from the United States to China.

Sky Writer

Anne Morrow Lindbergh chronicled the flights made with her celebrated husband

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Q&A: Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless, star of Xena: Warrior Princess, which aired from 1995 to 2001, has given her signature costume to the Museum of American History

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What’s Up

Topper, 1st Class and No Popcorn

Marie-Antoinette, her children, and Madame de Tourzel face the mob at the Tuleries on June 20th, 1792.

Marie Antoinette

The teenage queen was embraced by France in 1770. Twenty-three years later, she lost her head to the guillotine. (But she never said, “Let them eat cake”)

The Pilgrims celebrated a harvest festival with their Native American neighbors in 1621—what we often call the first Thanksgiving.

Pilgrims’ Progress

We retrace the travels of the ragtag group that founded Plymouth Colony and gave us Thanksgiving

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