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In San Sebastián (where condos dot the beach), a real-estate boom reflects a region betting on long-term stability.

Peace at Last?

Though political tensions linger, terrorists agreed to a cease-fire this past March. Will it mean peace at last?

Samuel Johnson

Doctor Feelgood

Stricken by “vile melancholy,” the 18th-century critic and raconteur Samuel Johnson pioneered a modern therapy

These sequined shoes were worn by 16-year-old Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. One of several pairs used during filming, these size-five, felt-soled shoes are well-worn, suggesting they were Garland's primary pair for dancing scenes.

Treasures Trove

America’s most singular sensations are at the National Air and Space Museum

Barbed Wire was designed for "preventing cattle from breaking through wire-fences," Glidden writes in his application.

Patent Pending

The Supreme Court may soon reinvent the rules for invention

Small but cherished, the Grand Teton herd faces a growing number of man-made obstacles—including more than 100 fences (this one near Pinedale, WY) thrown up along the migration route that it has followed for millennia.

End of the Road?

Development threatens to block the migration of pronghorn antelopes. Without new protections, conservationists say, the animals are running out of time

Though sundials have been around 3,000 years, William Andrewes (indicating the lateness of the hour in his garden in Concord, Massachusetts) is perhaps the first to build one showing the time in multiple places simultaneously.

The Shadow Knows

Why a leading expert on the history of timekeeping set out to create a sundial unlike anything the world has ever seen

Beyond Time

A unique sundial marks places as well as hours

Lake Champlain's Isle La Motte is rich in marine fossils, some of which are 450 million years old.

Paleozoic Vermont

What’s the world’s oldest communal ocean reef doing in the Green Mountain State?

The South American monkey frog and some other tree frogs can endure sunlight and dry air for long periods.

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Tree frogs, conservation maps and the northern swordtail fish

The new removable inks are made from safe pigments and trapped in nano-sized, harmless polymer shells.

The Tattoo Eraser

A new type of body art ink promises freedom from forever

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

Smithsonian diamond expert Jeffrey Post discusses conflict diamonds, colored diamonds and synthetic gems grown in the lab

Prague's astronomical clock has marked time since the 15th century. Legend holds that local officials ordered the maker of this famous timepiece blinded to prevent him from duplicating his great achievement elsewhere.

Time for a Change

One professor’s mission to revise the calendar

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 final installment of this three-part series, diamond expert Jeffrey Post discusses the histories behind the Smithsonian collection

"Baltimore had once been a cosmopolitan jewel," writes Frank Deford.

Bleeve It, Hon

The tentative city the sportswriter grew up in has regained a bit of swagger

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Mixing Terrorism and Tourism

In this Q & A, Josh Hammer, author of “Peace at Last?,” discusses the change from war reporting to travel reporting

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Travelin’ Man

Nailing stories from Timbuktu to the Basque Country

A late-19th-century sled fashioned from eight buffalo ribs—as simple, utilitarian and elegant as a Shaker chair—was made by members of South Dakota’s Lakota Sioux tribe.

Was a Native American Actress the Inspiration for the Enigmatic Sled in ‘Citizen Kane’?

A sled in the Smithsonian collections just might provide a clue to Hollywood’s most celebrated symbol

Stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, "Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galille" has not been recovered. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Rembrandt at 400

Astonishing brushwork, wrinkles-and-all honesty, deep compassion. What’s the secret of his enduring genius?

An Almost Mystical Feeling

Master painter Rembrandt was also a talented draftsman and printmaker

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Man of the Century

But 100 years after writing his classic memoir, the question about Henry Adams remains: Which century?

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