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New York City, 1984. Advertising is a recurring theme in Friedlander’s photography, and no figure appears more often in store windows than Old St. Nick. 

A Famed Street Photographer Chronicled What Christmas Looks Like Across America Over the Course of Decades

Lee Friedlander’s new book, “Christmas,” collects his work from all over the country on the topic of our sentimental and materialistic connection to the holiday

Why is the Midwest covered with prairies instead of forests? 

Why Aren’t There Forests in the Midwest? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve Got Questions. We’ve Got Experts

The Palos Verdes Kelp Forest Restoration Project near Los Angeles forms an ecosystem that is home to many creatures.

Underwater Forests Return to Life off the Coast of California, and That Might be Good News for the Entire Planet

Wondrous kelp beds harbor a complex ecosystem that’s teeming with life, cleaning the water and the atmosphere, and bringing new hope for the future

New research strives to understand what happens in the brain at the transitions between sleeping and being awake.

At the Mysterious Boundary Between Waking Life and Sleep, What Happens in the Brain?

Neuroscientists studying the shifts between sleep and awareness are finding many liminal states, which could help explain the disorders that can result when sleep transitions go wrong

This vase, made by Salviati & Company around 1960, shows how well Murano glass accommodated itself to modernism. To create the concentric colors, the glassmakers used successive layers of molten glass—first purple, then blue, then clear. The staggered color effect emphasizes and echoes the gourd-like shape of the whole.

Just as the Italian Art of Glassblowing Was on the Verge of Shattering, a Talented Craftsman in Murano Emerged to Revive It

Antonio Salviati opened his glass factory in 1859 to help restore a local landmark to its former glory. A vase at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum tells its story

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An Industrious Grocer in the 1930s Wanted to Make It Easier for His Customers to Buy More. They Just Needed a Push

There was a time when shoppers could buy only as much as they could carry. And as ubiquitous as shopping carts are today, it initially took some convincing to use them

Chubby the macaw arrived with self-plucking injuries, which are typically caused by stress, boredom, anxiety or life changes. Chubby was 22 at the time of being photographed in 2025, and she has since been adopted.

The Nation’s Biggest Animal Sanctuary Operates Under a Mantra to ‘Save Them All.’ How Could That Be Controversial?

Best Friends Animal Society has a sprawling campus in the canyons of Utah, but its influence has grown to reach almost every shelter in the country

The Tugunbulak settlement was inhabited between the 6th and 11th centuries. 

Archaeologists May Have Found the Lost Iron City of the Silk Road in the Remote Highlands of Uzbekistan

Researchers are uncovering what they think is the metropolis of Marsmanda, an iron-making city that could rewrite the history of the famed trade route

The Green Dragon Tavern, a coffeehouse in Boston that served as a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty

America's 250th Anniversary

In Colonial America, Patriots Flocked to Coffeehouses to Debate Politics and Sow the Seeds of Revolution

These storied establishments served up more than just hot drinks. They acted as intellectual hubs and meeting places for dissenters

Legendary actor Toshiro Mifune, defiant, in a 1954 French poster for Seven Samurai.

Even If You’ve Never Seen ‘Seven Samurai,’ You’ve Certainly Seen Movies Influenced by It

Director Akira Kurosawa broke all the rules—and budgets—of Japanese filmmaking with his 1954 classic. But the final product influenced a generation of directors

A Currier & Ives print, published in the mid- to late 19th century, depicts Crow’s Nest, a mountain along the Hudson’s west bank.

The History of America Flows Through the Hudson River, and the Country’s Aquatic Superhighway Is on the Rebound

The bucolic river is famous for reversing its current a few times each day. Now, an ongoing cleanup effort is reversing decades of industrial contamination

Hyper-realistic reconstructions of Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy foreground, Selam background) by Élisabeth Daynès in the National Museum’s “People and Their Ancestors” exhibition, Prague

Meeting Lucy: How a World-First European Exhibition Brought Visitors Face to Face With the Fossil That ‘Shrinks Time’

Two Australopithecus fossils named Lucy and Selam made a rare trip out of Ethiopia for a 60-day display at the National Museum in Prague

Boise Whitewater Park includes two adjustable wave features spread over a mile apart. The first is suitable for those beginning to surf, while the second phase is better for advanced levels to put on a show.

Rooted in the American West: Food, History and Culture

How Landlocked Idaho Became a Leader in Urban Surfing

Boise’s wave park is attracting outdoor adventurers—and the innovative public works project is inspiring other cities

A John Trumbull painting of the death of General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton in 1777

America's 250th Anniversary

Ken Burns Says His New Documentary Forced Him to Revisit Everything He Thought He Knew About the American Revolution

Ahead of the PBS production’s premiere, the legendary filmmaker and co-director Sarah Botstein share insights on their research process and the surprising, long-overlooked stories featured in the six-part series

The new world of information supplied by drones hovering above is allowing researchers to more easily measure whale size, body condition and health; to identify individual animals from features on their bodies; and more.

From Collecting Whale Snot to Capturing Surprising Behaviors, Aerial Drones Are Giving Scientists a New View of Sea Life

The robots can hover over marine mammals and gather all sorts of information in a way that’s less invasive to the animals than researchers trying to approach them by boat or plane

A bee buzzes by a hybrid magenta-and-yellow snapdragon.

Colorful Snapdragons in the Valleys of the Pyrenees Offer a Rare Window Into How Evolution Happens

Studying the ways that magenta and yellow flowers intermingle paints a vibrant picture of how the plants exchange genetic information—and what keeps each color variety unique

The Edmund Fitzgerald measured 729 feet long and had a gross tonnage of 13,632.

Nobody Knows What Sank the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald.’ But Its Doomed Final Voyage Will Always Be America’s Defining Shipwreck

Fifty years after the freighter disappeared into the depths of Lake Superior, the mystery of its demise—and the mournful ballad it inspired—still haunt the popular imagination

For more than four decades, the Athabascan Fiddle Festival has filled community halls in Fairbanks with a sound that is both global and distinctly Native.

How Old-Time Fiddle Music Took Root in Indigenous Alaska

In Fairbanks, fiddling thrives—bridging cultures, sustaining traditions and filling the dance floor with life

A population of black-and-white ruffed lemurs on Madagascar is experiencing changes in the cadence of its breeding, researchers say.

Lemurs Are Having a Mysterious ‘Baby Boom’ in Madagascar. Here’s Why That Might Not Be a Good Thing

Researchers are investigating a sudden spike in pregnancies in one black-and-white ruffed lemur population that might signal environmental stress to the mammals

Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in Nuremberg, a new film written and directed by James Vanderbilt

Based on a True Story

The True Story Behind ‘Nuremberg,’ a WWII Drama About Hermann Göring’s Cat-and-Mouse Game With an American Psychiatrist

Starring Russell Crowe as the high-ranking Nazi and Rami Malek as Army officer Douglas M. Kelley, the film dramatizes the intense dynamic between its central characters during the Nuremberg trials

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