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Actor James Madio played Easy Company T-4 Frank Perconte.

Based on a True Story

‘Band of Brothers’ Stars Reflect on the Epic Miniseries’ Evolving Legacy

HBO’s beloved World War II drama premiered 20 years ago this month

Moai statues at the Rano Raraku site on Easter Island

Genetic Study Maps When and How Polynesians Settled the Pacific Islands

Mysterious stone figures on far-flung islands may have been erected by descendants of seafaring explorers from the same archipelago

Ultrasound of a 4-month-old fetus

A Brief History of the Sonogram

In the mid-1950s, a Scottish obstetrician became the first to apply ultrasound technology to a pregnant human abdomen

Aaron Bolds, a former college basketball player, graduated from medical school in 2018. He’s now a doctor at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, specializing in rehabilitation medicine.

To Boost Black Men in Medicine, Advocates Turn to Sports

High-performing athletes possess many of the skills and attributes that physicians need, supporters of the strategy say

During the 2017 Grocery Walk, more than 500 protestors demanded greater investment in food access programs and healthy food retail options in a local Washington D.C. community.

In a City Flush With Power and Wealth, D.C.’s Ward 8 Faces Food Inequity

Eleven percent of U.S. households experience hunger; an expansive, new exhibition focuses how a local community manages this national problem

Courtney Gallaher’s Women in Science students at Northern Illinois University created quilt blocks representing astrophysicist Margaret J. Geller, biologist Rachel Carson, and mathematician Ada Lovelace.

Inside the Growing Movement to Share Science Through Quilting

The classic medium allows researchers, students and artists to tell stories about science, technology, engineering and math

Riders outside the Patee House Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri, the route's eastern terminus. Every year the National Pony Express Association conducts an annual re-ride of the famous delivery route.

Six Stops on the Pony Express That You Can Still Visit

Established 160 years ago, the short-lived route was once the quickest way to deliver mail across the United States

A diver swims over a bleached section of the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island.

The Planet Has Lost Half of Its Coral Reefs Since 1950

A new study finds dramatic declines in coral reef cover, biodiversity and fish abundance

Natural disasters do not destroy buildings evenly. By studying which fall and which are left standing, engineers can develop new strategies for the future.

When a Natural Disaster Hits, Structural Engineers Learn From the Destruction

StEER engineers assess why some buildings survive hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, and why others do not

A bone tool from Contrebandiers Cave likely used for making clothes out of the skin of predators.

Evidence of Fur and Leather Clothing, Among World’s Oldest, Found in Moroccan Cave

Humans likely sported clothes made of jackal, fox and wildcat skins some 120,000 years ago

L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (Project for Paris, Place de l’Étoile-Charles de Gaulle) is almost ready to enact its transformative magic on Paris from September 18 through October 3.

The Arc de Triomphe Is Wrapped in Fabric, Just as the Late Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude Planned It

Beginning September 18, the pair’s posthumous work will be on full display in Paris for 16 days

The microCOVID project was started by a group of friends and housemates who wanted to be more equitable about safety precautions.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

This Calculator Estimates Your Risk of Getting Covid-19

The online tool draws on recent data to approximate your chances of contracting the virus in different scenarios

Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Omai, circa 1776

The Polynesian ‘Prince’ Who Took 18th-Century England by Storm

A new nonfiction release revisits the life of Mai, the first Pacific Islander to visit Britain

Children head back to school in August even as the Covid-19 delta variant makes its rounds. For reasons that aren’t fully understood, kids do not get as sick from Covid-19 as adults do. The role of schools in fostering spread of the virus is also under study.

Covid-19

Why Don’t Kids Tend to Get as Sick From Covid-19?

Some children have been hospitalized and some have died, but at a tiny fraction of the adult rate. Scientists are trying to find out why.

Over the span of two years, Washington visited all 13 original states (14 if you count Maine, which was then part of Massachusetts), traveling on horseback and by carriage along rutted dirt roads and over rising rivers.

When George Washington Took a Road Trip to Unify the U.S.

Nathaniel Philbrick’s new book follows the first president on his 1789 journey across America

Can a machine be taught to understand the plant world?

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Is This Weed-Spotting, Yield-Predicting Rover the Future of Farming?

The robot, developed by Alphabet Inc.’s X, will make its public debut at the Smithsonian

Boats arrive at Manhattan's Battery to rescue New Yorkers from the devastation wrought by the 9/11 attacks.

On 9/11, a Flotilla of Ferries, Yachts and Tugboats Evacuated 500,000 People Away From Ground Zero

Amidst the terror and tragedy of the day came these everyday heroes who answered the call when the city needed them most

Firefighters walk towards one of the towers at the World Trade Center before it collapsed on September 11, 2001.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

9/11 Changed How Doctors Treat PTSD

New research in the 20 years since the September 11th attacks has led to better therapies for those diagnosed with trauma disorders

This damaged floor marker, labeled “Stairwell C, Floor 102,” was recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center and is now housed in the National Museum of American History's National September 11 Collection.

September 11

Commemorate 9/11 With Free Virtual Programs, Resources From the Smithsonian

Here’s how the American History Museum, the National Postal Museum and more are reflecting on the tragedy

Clockwise from top left: Charity Adams Earley, Harriet Tubman, Edith Nourse Rogers, Lori Piestewa and Mary E. Clarke

Women Who Shaped History

Five Women Veterans Who Deserve to Have Army Bases Named After Them

The U.S. Army has 10 installations named after Confederate generals. Zero are named after women

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