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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 Aeronauts offers a beautiful glimpse at the excitement that ballooning brought to the 19th century.

The True Story Behind ‘The Aeronauts’ From the Smithsonian’s Curator of Balloons, Blimps and Airships

Ballooning expert Tom Paone says the film brings the bravado of balloon flight, but takes some artistic license

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 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

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

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

Exposed stone-built features in shallow water at the archaeological site of Tel Hreiz.

Oldest Known Seawall Discovered Along Submerged Mediterranean Villages

Archaeologists believe the 7,000-year-old structure was intended to protect settlements as sea levels rose

Microneedle patches, like this one that measures about a centimeter across, could be used to deliver nanoparticles when pressed to the skin for two minutes.

This Spiky Patch Could Invisibly Record Vaccination History Under Skin

But the technology raise several ethical concerns that could stymie its progress

Several Homo erectus skulls were recently identified as the youngest known fossils of the species, some 108,000 to 117,000 years old. These fossil replicas are housed at the University of Iowa.

Fossils From Some of the Last Homo Erectus Hint at the End of the Long-Lived Species

Homo erectus, one of the first species of the Homo genus, survived for longer than any other close human ancestor

Louisa May Alcott is no longer regarded as a sentimental author for girls, but as a pioneering writer of the first rank.

The New ‘Little Women’ Brings Louisa May Alcott’s Real Life to the Big Screen

More so than in previous film adaptations, writer and director Greta Gerwig weaves the American writer’s own experiences into the classic story

Yayoi Kusama, "Forlorn Spot," 1953, watercolor, pastel, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Benton and The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, 2019.32.4

How Four Watercolors by Groundbreaking Artist Yayoi Kusama Were Discovered at the Joseph Cornell Study Center

These unexpected treasures have now been transferred into the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

By digging through archives, researchers can piece together the life stories of the millions of people who were enslaved in the Americas.

A Massive New Database Will Connect Billions of Historic Records to Tell the Full Story of American Slavery

The online resource will offer vital details about the toll wrought on the enslaved

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