Articles

A detail of Toledo’s self-portrait Eye of the Beholder (2017) uses gold leaf in a grid of refracted identities. All artwork used with permission of the artist.

What Makes Francisco Toledo 'El Maestro'

Mexico's most important living artist mixes magical realism with passionate rebellion

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Riveting Footage Captures the Destruction of Last Year’s Volcanic Eruptions in Hawai‘i and Guatemala

A new documentary from Smithsonian Channel shows the explosive activity at the Kilauea and Fuego volcanoes

Coney Island Boardwalk, Day to Night, 2011

How Photographer Stephen Wilkes Captures a Full Day in a Single Image

In his new book 'Day to Night,' the photographer uses technology to play tricks on the eye

Rutgers student on move-in day in the early 1960s

How College Dorms Evolved to Fit America's Gender and Racial Politics

Ever since the 17th century, educators and architects designed university housing with societal mores in mind

A photograph of a red slipped ware globular pot placed near the head of the skeleton that yielded ancient DNA. There are lines as well as indentations on the upper right side, just below the rim. The indentations on the body of the pot could be examples of ancient graffiti and/or "Indus script."

Rare Ancient DNA Provides Window Into a 5,000-Year-Old South Asian Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization flourished alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt, but the early society remains shrouded in mystery

Children cross the street in front of a yellow school bus in 1965.

The History of How School Buses Became Yellow

Rural educator Frank Cyr had the vision and pull to force the nation to standardize the color of the ubiquitous vehicle

By comparing the skulls of extinct dinosaurs to those of living relatives, such as crocodiles and wild turkeys, researchers have conclude that the prehistoric beasts had sophisticated thermoregulation systems in their skulls.

Special Skull Windows Helped Dinosaur Brains Keep Cool

Dinosaur skulls had many cavities and openings, some of which may have held blood vessels to help cool off the animals' heads

Gladstone’s Library welcomed its first overnight guests on June 29, 1906.

I Spent the Night at a Library in Wales, and You Can Too

Housing more than 150,000 written works, Gladstone's Library is the only residential library in Great Britain

By day the members of the Megatherium Club, united by youth, ambition, intelligence and a deep and abiding love of the natural world, hunched over jars of marine worms in alcohol or endless trays of fossils…At night they were ready to cut loose.

The Hard-Drinking Early Smithsonian Naturalists of the Megatherium Club

William Stimpson created a fraternity of young scientists and named it for an extinct North American sloth

The Mustansiriya was built during the 13th century.

What the Restoration of Iraq’s Oldest University Says About the Nation's Future

The Mustansiriya has withstood centuries of war, floods and architectural butchery, but can it survive its own restoration?

The remote-controlled 3-D-printed raptor known as RoBird, built by a Dutch firm, swoops and soars.

These High-Tech Scarecrows Will Keep Pesky Creatures Away

From robots to digitized recordings, farmers are upping their game when it comes to protecting their crops

Using heavy picks, Smithsonian researchers in 1923 worked on excavations in Dinosaur National Monument on the border of Colorado and Utah.

How to Discover Dinosaurs

Smithsonian paleontologist Hans Sues reveals some of his tips for finding and excavating a Mesozoic monster

In groundbreaking clinical trials, researchers are trying to treat patients by editing the genetic makeup of cells with a tool called CRISPR.

Four U.S. CRISPR Trials Editing Human DNA to Research New Treatments

Breaking down how the gene editing technology is being used, for the first time in the United States, to treat patients with severe medical conditions

In July 2016, a solar-powered airplane flying over the desert region of Andalusia in Spain photographed breathtaking images of the Gemasolar concentrated solar power plant.

How Engineers of New Energy Technology Are Taking Cues From Nature

From sunflower spirals to schooling fish, renewable energy innovators are uncovering ideas for improving efficiency and output in natural phenomena

The site of Brattahlid, the eastern settlement Viking colony in southwestern Greenland founded by Erik the Red near the end of the 10th century A.D.

A Warming Climate Threatens Archaeological Sites in Greenland

As temperatures rise and ice melts, Norse and Inuit artifacts and human remains decompose more rapidly

A small but vocal group of Molokai residents has aggressively opposed plans for economic development, including cruise ship visits.

Why Molokai, With All Its Wonders, Is the Least Developed of Hawai‘i's Islands

Even centuries before Captain Cook’s arrival, its resources were exploited by outsiders

When the Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2000, more than 250 million had been sold to date.

The Accidental Invention of the Slinky

The idea for the timeless toy sprung to mind when Naval engineer Richard James dropped some coiled wires

Marine archaeologists explore the HMS Terror on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. To get a look inside the ship, divers deployed a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV.

Divers Get an Eerie First Look Inside the Arctic Shipwreck of the HMS Terror

Marine archaeologists exploring the 19th-century vessel could discover clues about what befell the sailors of the Franklin expedition

The remarkably complete skull of a human ancestor of the genus Australopithecus fills in some of the gaps in the human evolutionary tree.

A 3.8-Million-Year-Old Skull Puts a New Face on a Little-Known Human Ancestor

The cranium of a male <i>Australopithecus anamensis</i>, a close relative of Lucy, provides clues about one of the earliest hominins to walk on two legs

Mining amber at the Kaliningrad Amber Combine in Russia

Follow the Ancient Amber Road

See the remnants and relics of key routes between Venice and St. Petersburg for transporting amber through the ancient world

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