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Cooking Up History, presented by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Associates, shares fresh insights into American culture past and present through the lens of food.

Smithsonian Voices

Cook Up Delicious Feasts With These Culinary Legends

Cooking Up History programs share fresh insights into American culture past and present through the lens of food

The Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a Schwalbe, meaning Swallow, held in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum was captured in 1945 by a special U.S. Army Air Force team led by Col. Harold Watson. The Americans and British, who were also developing jet aircraft, used captured Swallows to enhance their own programs.

The Day Germany’s First Jet Fighter Soared Into History

Allied pilots were surprised by the aircraft’s speed and armament; but it was a case of too little too late

Southern giant petrels have so far killed nearly 100 Atlantic yellow-nosed albatrosses on Gough Island in the South Atlantic.

Giant New Predators Killing Imperiled Albatrosses

Videos show southern giant petrels killing Gough Island’s beautiful endangered seabirds

Nine out of 10 malaria victims live in Africa, most of them children under the age of five.

Innovation for Good

West African Scientists Are Leading the Science Behind a Malaria Vaccine

Researchers in Mali have been working for decades on the treatment that’s now in the final phase of clinical trials

The ancient mammal Gobioconodon (right) squabbles with a therian mammal over a meal in the Late Cretaceous.

Other Mammals, Not Dinosaurs, Kept Our Ancestors Down

The asteroid impact that ended the Cretaceous gave our mammalian ancestors, the therians, an edge over their mammalian competitors

Map of Nova Scotia made in 1755 by provincial chief surveyor Charles Morris

Unraveling the Colonialist Myths of Nova Scotia

Planners saw the region as a blank space ripe for transformation: the perfect canvas for imperial fantasies

Chris Meyer, a marine invertebrate zoologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, dives around French Polynesia with equipment used to track coral reef health.

Future of Conservation

Meet the Reef Expert Collecting Environmental Time Capsules

Collecting DNA in waters worldwide can help scientists figure out which places are the most important for conservation

Rain, waves, and seeping groundwater can destabilize seaside bluffs, making them prone to collapse.

The Science of Predicting When Bluffs in Southern California Will Collapse

Researchers are using lidar to better understand the erosional forces that cause oceanfront cliffs to crumble

Moments that highlight the joy and excitement of scientific inquiry—such as this student using a Van de Graaff generator—can spark interest in a STEM-related career. Here are some career-focused resources that can supplement that interest.

Innovation for Good

Why These Myths Perpetuate Who Can Work in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Careers

Ask a child to draw a scientist, and research says they’ll often draw an older, usually white, man, with wild hair, wearing a lab coat and goggles

After L. A. Huffman, “A Dead Bull” from William T. Hornaday, “The Extermination of the American Bison, with a Sketch of Its Discovery and Life History,”

Smithsonian Voices

How Yellowstone Was Saved by a Teddy Roosevelt Dinner Party and a Fake Photo in a Gun Magazine

Chilling photos of slain buffalo in Yellowstone Park helped pass an act outlining punishment for poaching on public lands. But the photos were fakes

B.B. King is among the performers featured in the documentary Summer of Soul.

The Story Behind the Harlem Cultural Festival Featured in ‘Summer of Soul’

Jesse Jackson, Nina Simone, B.B. King and 100,000 spectators gathered for a concert worth remembering

An Atlantic White Shark Conservancy boat and crew work to tag a great white shark in the waters off the shore in Cape Cod, Massachusetts on July 13, 2019.

Can New Tools Help Beachgoers Predict the Likelihood That a Shark Is Nearby?

Great whites have returned to Cape Cod, and efforts are underway to help people coexist with them

A seabird known as the white tern or Manu-o-Kū has surprised birders by taking up residence in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

Future of Conservation

Meet the White Tern, a Seabird Surprisingly Thriving in a Big City

The bird—also known as Manu-o-Kū—has excited ornithologists, its population growing within Honolulu, the busiest of Hawai’i’s urban landscapes

Oluwaseyi at a Movie screening hosted by her organization in commemoration of Global Recycling Day 2021.

Smithsonian Voices

How Nigeria’s Oluwaseyi Moejoh’s Conservation Activism Is Spreading Across Africa and Beyond

The founder of U-recycle Initiative Africa, current law student, and all-around force for positive change is a powerful advocate for a sustainable planet

In 1939, at age 13, Villa played for the East Los Angeles girls’ community team, the Garvey Stars. Over the next few years, she played for the semiprofessional Orange Lionettes team in Southern California and was signed to play in the AAGPBL in 1946.

The Record-Setting Latina Player Marge Villa Leveled the Playing Field

The Mexican American utility player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League receives a curtain call

A black widow spider hangs from its web.

Eight Fun Facts About Black Widows

The venomous spiders are nimble, secretive and dangerous

Dorothy Gale, the lead character played by actress Judy Garland in 'The Wizard of Oz' served as a lodestone for gay culture

Smithsonian Voices

How Coded Language Like ‘Are You a Friend of Dorothy?’ Protected the LGBTQ Community

A Smithsonian folklorist explain how Dorothy Gale, played by actress Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” served as a lodestone for gay culture

Tourists head into the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum in Fall River, Massachusetts in 2015, when it was under its previous ownership.

With the Borden Murder House in New Hands, Will Real History Get the Hatchet?

For the amateur detectives who are still trying to solve the case, the recent developments are causing consternation

Citizen science can play a crucial role in helping solve the mystery of what’s happening to these birds.

Smithsonian Voices

Help Scientists Solve the Riddle of What Is Killing Birds in the Mid-Atlantic

Smithsonian bird researchers are calling on citizen scientists to help figure out the cause

Mice pups were borne out of freeze-dried mice sperm that had been stored on the International Space Station for up to six years. Some of those mice and their offspring are pictured here.

After a Six-Year Sojourn in Space, Freeze-Dried Mice Sperm Produce Healthy Pups

Scientists say the finding supports the idea that genetic material can be shipped to other worlds to help establish a diversity of life

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