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Pat's King of Steaks cheesesteaks (left to right): pizza cheesesteak, steak with provolone and onions, steak with cheez whiz and onions and the steak with mushrooms, onions and cheez whiz topped with hot peppers.

Virtual Travel

Far From Home? These Regional Comfort Foods Can Be Shipped to Your Door

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a surge in nationwide shipments of specialities from legendary restaurants

Featured insects include the Picasso moth, the violin beetle, the green milkweed grasshopper and the cuckoo wasp.

The World’s Most Interesting Insects

A new title from Smithsonian Books highlights the diversity of Earth’s 10 to 100 million insect species

Herbert Spencer introduced the phrase "survival of the fittest" in his 1864 book, Principles of Biology.

The Complicated Legacy of Herbert Spencer, the Man Who Coined ‘Survival of the Fittest’

Spencer’s ideas laid the groundwork for social Darwinism, but scholars say there was much more to the Victorian Age thinker than that

On April 22, 1970, a local community rose up after many unwanted intrusions into their neighborhood, including the building of the I-5 freeway. Today, Chicano Park with its monumental murals is a National Historic Landmark.

Fifty Years Ago, Fed Up With the City’s Neglect, a San Diego Community Rose Up to Create Chicano Park

Making Tierra Mía, says the director of the Smithsonian Latino Center, proved transformative in giving voice to the people

In the past ten years, we’ve found fossils that widen both the geographic and time range of several early human species.

Smithsonian Voices

These Are the Decade’s Biggest Discoveries in Human Evolution

Celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Smithsonian’s “David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins” with some of the biggest discoveries in human evolution

An engraving by Levasseur after Jules-Elie Delaunay depicts the angel of death at the door during the 165 A.D. plague in Rome.

What Rome Learned From the Deadly Antonine Plague of 165 A.D.

The outbreak was far deadlier than COVID-19, but the empire survived

Honduran scarlet macaws.

How the Stunning Scarlet Macaw Came Back From the Brink

The bird, decimated by poachers and smugglers, is making a big comeback in the Central American rainforest

A five-week course, "Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City," focuses on the building of the ancient city of Rome and how it laid the groundwork for the construction of cities throughout the world.

Virtual Travel

Six Online Courses About Europe to Take Before You Can Safely Travel There Again

Sheltering in place doesn’t mean you can’t study up for your next European adventure

Artist's impression of the Chicxulub impact.

After the Dinosaur-Killing Impact, Soot Played a Remarkable Role in Extinction

The famous impact 66 million years ago kicked up soot into the atmosphere that played an even bigger role in blocking sunlight than experts had realized

Former First Lady (and bestselling author) Michelle Obama has teamed up with PBS Kids and Penguin Random House for a live story time every Monday at noon.

Education During Coronavirus

A Read-Along With Michelle Obama and Other Livestream Learning Opportunities

Schools are shuttered, but kids can dance with New York’s Ballet Hispánico and listen to a story from a certain former First Lady

Catch Bill Weir's new show, The Road to Change: America's Climate Crisis, Saturday April 25, 2020 on CNN at 10PM ET.

Smithsonian Voices

CNN’s Bill Weir Offers Solutions for How to Talk Climate Change in a Contentious World

Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism Summit features CNN’s Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir

A distribution of essential supplies from the Navajo government to residents in the Jeddito, Arizona area.

Covid-19

How the Pandemic Is Affecting the Navajo Nation

A conversation about the challenges facing—and the resilience of—the largest reservation in the country, which has become a COVID-19 hotspot

This week's selections include The Women With Silver Wings, Tombstone and The Restaurant.

Books of the Month

A 2,000-Year History of Restaurants and Other New Books to Read

The fifth installment in our weekly series spotlights titles that may have been lost in the news amid the COVID-19 crisis

"Our planet faces the challenge of a lifetime," says Bunch. "Let’s work together to imbue our future with all the hope and healing we have to offer.

Planet Positive

In a World Facing Grim Challenges, Hope Still Reigns Supreme

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III says: ‘It’s time to put our heads down, and work’

Worshippers, some of them wearing protective masks, take part in the Friday prayers at Mecca's Grand Mosque on March 6, 2020, a day after Saudi authorities emptied Islam's holiest site for sterilization.

Covid-19

This Pandemic Isn’t the First Time the Hajj Has Been Disrupted for Muslims

Plague, war and politics have altered the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca throughout history

Mangroves line a channel connecting the Belize River to the coastal lagoon system. These trees are hundreds of years old and provide important habitat to both terrestrial and marine species.

Smithsonian Voices

Here’s How Local Communities Can Help Save Mangroves

The Global Mangrove Alliance has a goal of increasing the world’s mangrove cover by 20 percent over the next decade

A street art piece by artist Pony Wave depicts two people kissing while wearing face masks on Venice Beach in Venice, California.

Virtual Travel

How Street Artists Around the World Are Reacting to Life With COVID-19

Graffiti artists and muralists are sending messages of hope and despair with coronavirus public art

Stream live or watch repeated broadcast overnight.

Planet Positive

LIVE NOW: Watch the Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism Digital Summit

The two-day virtual event will bring scientists and many other experts to highlight success stories in conservation

A policeman stands over a graffiti drawn to bring awareness to social distancing as a preventive measure against COVID-19 in Chennai, India, on April 9, 2020

Covid-19

How ‘Social Distancing’ Can Get Lost in Translation

Governments around the world grapple with how to deliver important guidelines on minimizing the spread of COVID-19

A nurse (left) operates a robot used to interact remotely with coronavirus patients while a physician looks on.

Covid-19

How Robots Are on the Front Lines in the Battle Against COVID-19

Helping health care workers treat patients and public safety officials contain the pandemic, these robots offer lessons for future disasters

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