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A group of revelers are seen wassailing at Redbyrd Orchard Cider in New York.

New York’s Cideries Bring the Tradition of Wassailing to the Finger Lakes

Common in England, the practice of toasting to the health of the orchard has hopped the pond

The headline of the San Francisco Call details the ouster of police chief George Wittman

The Courtroom That Literally Relitigated History

For San Francisco’s Court of Historical Opinion, no case was too frivolous or too controversial

In the past decade or so, the number of podcasts to choose from has soared.

Education During Coronavirus

Eighteen Podcasts to Listen to in 2020

Need podcast recommendations for travel or the treadmill? Here’s what Smithsonian experts listen to

An artist's illustration of Dendromaia unamakiensis, a 310-million-year old land-dwelling vertebrate that looked a like a modern monitor lizard, pictured here with its offspring

Lizard-Like Fossil May Represent 306-Million-Year-Old Evidence of Animal Parenting

Shortly after transitioning from sea to land, our egg-laying ancestors may have started parenting their young

Farley Granger and Jeanne Crain star in 'The Gift of the Magi', one of five stories by O Henry grouped together under the title of 'O Henry's Full House.'

The History of O. Henry’s ‘The Gift of the Magi’

The beloved Christmas short story may have been dashed off on deadline but its core message has endured

It’s all about having faith in the purity of the process.

How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

Crisco’s main ingredient, cottonseed oil, had a bad rap. So marketers decided to focus on the ‘purity’ of factory food processing

With two fingers Babe Ruth pointed (above: a re-imagined illustration of Babe Ruth calling his shot in the fifth inning of the third game, 1932 World Series). Some thought he was scolding the Cubs’ bench, many more believed he was pointing toward centerfield, where he hit a soaring home run.

When the Yankees Got the Larger-Than-Life Babe Ruth

It was a fateful December a century ago, when the Red Sox-Yankees trade launched a dynasty; a Smithsonian curator reflects on the legendary home-run hitter

When the special finally aired in 1964, it became such a hit that it has been rebroadcast every year since, making it the longest-running Christmas special in history.

The Magical Animation of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’

The Christmas television special—the longest running in history—was groundbreaking in its use of stop-motion animation with puppets

The 1966 Honda CB77, or Super Hawk, that Robert Pirsig rode on his 1968 trip from Minnesota to California that inspired the book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The Cycle From ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ Comes to the Smithsonian

The 1966 Honda Super Hawk featured in Robert Pirsig’s book on values was recently acquired by the National Museum of American History

From Christmas to Chinese New Year to San Sebastián Street Festival, here are the beverages that people around the world will be sipping on this holiday season.

Nine Delicious Holiday Drinks From Around the World

Bored of eggnog? Sick of cider? Here are nine scrumptious end-of-year beverages to sip on from across the globe

The film opens on Christmas Day.

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind the ‘1917’ Movie

A story shared by director Sam Mendes’ grandfather, a veteran of the Western Front, inspired the new World War I film

An aerial view of a fossil of Archaeopteris, a 385-million-year-old tree with surprisingly modern-looking roots.

The World’s Oldest Forest Has 385-Million-Year-Old Tree Roots

A trove of arboreal fossils pushes back the origin of modern forests and sophisticated tree roots

Scenes From a Reenactment of a Slave Uprising

Earlier this year, a group of organizers led by a daring performance artist donned 19th-century clothes and recreated the 1811 revolt

Fuggerei, built for the poorest residents of the city, dates back to 1519.

After Almost 500 Years, the World’s Oldest Social Housing Complex Is Still Going Strong

The rent of less than one Euro per year at the Fuggerei, located in Augsburg, Germany, hasn’t changed either

The North Island brown kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird that lays the biggest egg relative to its body size.

What Bird Lays the Biggest Eggs Compared to Its Body Size? Where Does ‘Lame Duck’ Come From? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got question. We’ve got experts

The Blue Mountains of Niger. Arable land in the fast-growing country shrank nearly 50 percent per capita from 1996 to 2016.

Photographs From One of the World’s Most Troubled, and Least Understood, Regions

A photojournalist journeys to the Sahara-Sahel desert of remote northern Africa to catalogue the state of emergency on the ground

Strains of Streptomyces bacteria, found in soil, grow in a lab at Swansea University in Wales. They're so new to science they haven't been named.

Soil From a Northern Ireland Graveyard May Lead Scientists to a Powerful New Antibiotic

An ancient legend could provide a new weapon in the fight against deadly bacteria

New Yorkers celebrate the end of Prohibition in 1933.

Breaking Down the Numbers of Americans’ Drinking Habits

A century after Prohibition, we uncork a history of the nation’s shifting relationship with booze

Alfredo Ramos Martínez’s 1929 Calla Lily Vendor is one of 200 works on view at the Whitney Museum by Mexican artists and the U.S. artists they influenced.

The Unheralded Influence of Mexico’s Muralists

These painters, the focus of a new exhibition at the Whitney, put their own stamp on 20th-century art

A melanistic Indian leopard in Nagarhole National Park.

Why Are Black Leopards So Rare?

Several species of cat have members with all-black coats, but the evolutionary advantages and disadvantages are just starting to be understood

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