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Articles

Reconstructed color patterns of Sinosauropteryx based on the pigmentation of fossil plumage. The dinosaur is portrayed in the predicted open habitat in which it lived around the Jehol lakes, preying on the lizard Dalinghosaurus.

The Colors of Dinosaurs Open a New Window to Study the Past

Old fossils and new technology are coloring in life’s prehistoric palette

Nazi officials use calipers to measure an ethnic German's nose on January 1, 1941. The Nazis developed a pseudoscientific system of facial measurement that was supposedly a way of determining racial descent.

Race in America

The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism

A new book explores how racist biases continue to maintain a foothold in research today

Scientists bioengineer living plants to emit light.

These Glowing Plants Could One Day Light Our Homes

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum gives us a glimpse into a world where we read by a natural greenish glow

The Smithsonian has completed its multi-year conservation project of the Neil Armstrong spacesuit, digitizing the historic Apollo artifact so that soon authentically realized duplicates can be downloaded for study and appreciation.

Apollo at 50: We Choose to Go to the Moon

In Celebration of 50 Years Since the Moon Landing, Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit Set to Return to Public View

Duplicates of the 3D scanned historic Apollo artifact will also tour Major League ballparks this summer

P-R-Z-E-... aw, forget it. P-horse!

Didn’t Make the National Spelling Bee? Play the Smithsonian Spelling Bee

We present a list of some of the toughest words to spell, pulled straight from the collections

The Apollo 10 Command Module, "Charlie Brown," as seen from the detached Lunar Module, "Snoopy."

A Smithsonian Curator Reflects on Apollo 10, the Mission That Made Landing on the Moon Possible

Fifty years ago, the astronauts who crewed the “dress rehearsal” for Apollo 11 paved the way for history to be made just a couple months later

A single counterfeit component in the supply chain is all it takes to turn a fine-tuned aircraft launching system from an asset to a safety hazard.

How Nanoscale ‘Signatures’ Could Keep Counterfeit Parts Out of Military Equipment

Navy scientist Alison Smith will describe her novel authentication system at Smithsonian’s Military Invention Day

Bedbugs, which were previously thought to be about 50 million years old, could be much older, new genetic and fossil evidence suggests.

Bedbugs Scurried the Earth Alongside the Dinosaurs 100 Million Years Ago

Researchers calculate that the pests evolved long before bats, which were thought to be their first hosts

Sensing threads prepared with bromothymol blue (top thread), methyl red (middle thread) and MnTPP (bottom thread) are exposed to ammonia at 0 ppm (left panel) 50 ppm (middle panel) and 1000 ppm (right panel).

Clothing May Soon Be Able to Change Color in the Presence of Harmful Gases

Tufts University engineers have developed dyed threads that change hues when exposed to carbon monoxide and other hazards

To all the looney lunar landing deniers and conspiracy theorists out there, NASA has just four words to say: "Apollo: Yes, We Did."

Apollo at 50: We Choose to Go to the Moon

Yes, the United States Certainly DID Land Humans on the Moon

Moon-landing deniers, says space scholar and former NASA chief historian Roger Launius, are full of stuff and nonsense

The original Mary Sue

Pop History

The Women Who Coined the Term ‘Mary Sue’

The trope they named in a ‘Star Trek’ fan zine in 1973 continues to resonate in 2019

A collection of Hominin teeth used to determine the rate of tooth evolution among human ancestors.

The Teeth of Early Neanderthals May Indicate the Species’ Lineage Is Older Than Thought

Some of the oldest known Neanderthal remains include teeth that could push back the split with modern human lineages, but not all scientists are convinced

Large ant colonies with tens or hundreds of thousands of members engage in all-out war with other colonies as they compete for resources.

When It Comes to Waging War, Ants and Humans Have a Lot in Common

In both humans and social insects, the capacity to engage in total war seems to hinge on population numbers

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Smithsonian Voices

Museum Director Discovers His Mother’s Childhood Visit to the Smithsonian

By raising her son to be curious about the natural world, this mother helped shape the trajectory of the National Museum of Natural History

Alon Gorodetsky, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and Erica Leung, a graduate student in that department, have invented a new material that can trap or release heat as desired.

How a Squid’s Color-Changing Skin Inspired a New Material That Can Trap or Release Heat

The stretchy ‘thermocomfort material’ has potential energy-saving applications in buildings and wearables

Smoked paprika, the finished product.

The Smoked Paprika Museum in Spain Honors a Family Tradition

In Extremadura, entire families participate in harvesting peppers and making smoked paprika

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