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Remembering Tulsa

The Unrealized Promise of Oklahoma

How the push for statehood led a beacon of racial progress to oppression and violence

Newbery Honoree Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again and the new picture book Jump at the Sun, the first biography of Zora Neale Hurston written for children.

Smithsonian Voices

How Alicia D. Williams Is Reviving Storytelling for Black Children

Williams wanted a different story for her daughter—and for herself. So, she set out to write it

Wildlife often reclaims areas deemed uninhabitable for humans, such as Nomans Land, Massachusetts, which was once a US Navy testing site.

This Uninhabited Island Off of Massachusetts Is Littered With Bombs

Whether wildlife refuge, research destination or restored traditional homeland, the fate of Nomans Land is up for debate

A fulgurite made of fused quartz found in Florida

Ancient Lightning May Have Sparked Life on Earth

More than a billion strikes a year likely provided an essential element for organisms

A young male in Lassen County, California, wears a collar that transmits his location. He was in a litter of four pups born in the area in 2019.

Planet Positive

The Wolf That Discovered California

Nearly a century after the last wolf was eradicated in the state, a lone female arrived and established a pack. Not everyone is cheering

Panamanian golden frogs—such as F1, seen here—are native to the rainforests and cloud forests of Panama but haven't been seen in the wild since 2009. Each creature's bright coloration warns predators of its deadly skin, which contains enough toxins to kill 1,200 mice.

Panama

A Small Band of Panamanian Golden Frogs Is Saving Their Species From Oblivion

Victims of a deadly fungus, the amphibians are now being selectively bred through a program at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Because of their honeycomb shape, the huts can fit together like a beehive, expanding to fit growing needs.

Innovation for Good

The World’s First 3-D Printed School May Soon Be a Reality

Thinking Huts, a nonprofit founded by a 15-year-old, plans to kick off construction in Madagascar this summer

Ida Holdgreve answered an ad for "plain sewing"–a typo that turned a new page in women’s history.

Women Who Shaped History

How Ida Holdgreve’s Stitches Helped the Wright Brothers Get Off the Ground

In 1910, Orville and Wilbur Wright hired an Ohio seamstress, who is only now being recognized as the first female worker in the American aviation industry

Partially protected areas are often proposed as a way to bolster marine life and to improve people’s enjoyment of the ocean—neither of which seems to be happening.

Partially Protected Marine Areas Have Little Benefit, Scientists Say

Compared to fully safeguarded marine protected areas, the zones don’t show a lot of positive effects for marine life or people’s enjoyment

Children participate in a hands-on science activity with the Smithsonian Latino Center for a Dia del Niño festival hosted by LA Plaza de Cultura y Arte in Los Angeles, California.

Smithsonian Voices

How to Take the Museum to Learners Who Can’t Be There

Educators can make a big difference in the lives of young students who have never met a scientist, seen a microscope, or been to a museum

Smithsonian Summer Virtual Adventures will be held from June 21 through Aug. 27.

Smithsonian Voices

Smithsonian Summer Virtual Adventures Offer Live Learning Experiences for Kids

These online experiences offer children opportunities to explore, discover, create and go behind the scenes at the museums—online

Grooming miles of track is a job that starts long before January, when drivers start taking to the ice.

Why Automakers Flock to This Small Swedish Town Every Winter

From January to April, the population of Arjeplog more than quadruples, as almost every brand test drives its vehicles on the region’s frozen lakes

The dictionary documents the “core” vocabulary of science fiction that turns up again and again, both in stories and in the real world.

A Dictionary of Science Fiction Runs From Afrofuturism to Zero-G

The long-running project found a new online home, one that showcases the literary genre’s outsized impact on popular culture

On March 13, 1996, a gunman murdered 16 students and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland. Pictured: the class of 5- to 6-year-olds and their teacher, Gwen Mayor

History of Now

How the 1996 Dunblane Massacre Pushed the U.K. to Enact Stricter Gun Laws

A devastating attack at a Scottish primary school sparked national outcry—and a successful campaign for gun reform

Sylvester Musembi Musyoka, a Kenyan colleague and field crew leader, recording a large mammal fossil bone during a virtual field project to collect fossils in Kenyan excavation sites that were in danger of being damaged by severe weather.

Smithsonian Voices

How the Pandemic Changed Scientific Exploration

Seven Smithsonian scientists continued to discover the secrets of the natural world safely during the pandemic

Although this sign was used in Connecticut, similar quarantine signs were used across the United States.

Smithsonian Voices

How Failed Quarantines Led to 20th-Century Measles Outbreaks

In 1904, measles epidemics were spiraling across the state of Connecticut

Sea beans, otherwise known as sea asparagus and pickleweed, belong to the genus Salicornia, marsh plants that thrive in salty soils.

How One Farmer Is Introducing Americans to Sea Beans

In Charleston, South Carolina, Heron Farms is attempting to grow a gangly, salt-tolerant plant in the face of sea level rise

Foster mother, BD, feeds her adopted vampire bat pup in a captive bat colony at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama.

Smithsonian Voices

Baby Vampire Bat Adopted by Mom’s Best Friend

The strong relationship formed between two female adult vampire bats may have motivated one of the bats to adopt the other’s baby

What if literature was an invention for making us happier and healthier?

Eight of Literature’s Most Powerful Inventions—and the Neuroscience Behind How They Work

These reoccuring story elements have proven effects on our imagination, our emotions and other parts of our psyche

Aviation pioneer Henry “Hap” Arnold (above: with the Fly Fortress "Memphis Bell") lead the Army Air Force to victory in World War II and later establish the U.S. Air Force as the best in the world.

How Gen. Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, the Architect of American Air Power, Overcame His Fear of Flying

Despite his phobia, the five-star general built the U.S. Air Force

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