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Even large equines can get a little hoarse.

New Research

Even Mild Cases of Asthma Can Slow Down Elite Racehorses

Researchers found 80 percent of racehorses surveyed suffered from airway inflammation that impacts performance

Folk musician Pete Seeger performing at the Bread and Roses III benefit concert in 1979.

From the Archives: Pete Seeger on What Makes a Great Protest Song

To mark the centennial birthday of the late folk icon, Smithsonian Folkways has released a six-CD collection featuring 20 previously unreleased tracks

With nowhere to grow, densely packed coastal cities like Singapore are looking to expand onto the water.

Singapore Wants to Build New Suburbs on Giant Floating Rafts

The trick would be to design a system that could support apartment buildings and minimize seasick-inducing swaying

Lead curator Tom Joyce traveled to Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, the Republic of Bénin and Togo (above: blacksmiths Kao Kossi and Ide Essozimna) to conduct research, film a half-dozen videos and help amass the 225 objects in the show.

How Blacksmiths Forged a Powerful Status Across the Continent of Africa

Iron tools, weapons, musical instruments and sculptures tell a tale of centuries of the craft’s influence

At nearly 91, Dr. Ruth is still committed to the cause

Women Who Shaped History

Dr. Ruth Changed the Way America Talked About Sex

A new documentary chronicles the revolution Ruth Westheimer brought to the air

The Awakening, February 20, 1915 Chromolithograph

Nine Women’s History Exhibits to See This Year

Museums around the country are celebrating how the contributions of remarkable women changed everything from human rights to mariachi music

Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 (in green) budding from cultured lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell). Multiple round bumps on cell surface represent sites of assembly and budding of virions.

Scientists Identify Factors That Make People Naturally Resistant to H.I.V.

Studying key points on the H.I.V. virus that are weak to immune system attacks could lead to new treatments or H.I.V. vaccines

Colorized photographs bring a 21st-century approach to the 19th-century technology that changed how Americans understood war.

A New Civil War Museum Speaks Truths in the Former Capital of the Confederacy

Against the odds, historian Christy Coleman merged two Richmond institutions, forging a new approach to reconciling with the nation’s bloody past

The Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky is home to nearly 1,000 dummies once belonging to ventriloquists from around the world.

Inside the World’s Only Museum Dedicated to Ventriloquism

The Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky is home to nearly 1,000 dummies once brought to life by ventriloquists

Simcha and Leah Fogelman both endured World War II and took two different paths of surviving the Holocaust.

How the Definition of Holocaust Survivor Has Changed Since the End of World War II

For decades, Jews who were forced east into the uneasy confines of the Soviet Union were excluded from the conversation about the trauma of genocide

The first test of a thermonuclear weapon, or a hydrogen bomb, codenamed Ivy Mike and conducted by the United States in 1952 over the island of Elugelab in Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

Particles From Cold War Nuclear Bomb Tests Found in Deepest Parts of the Ocean

Crustaceans in the Mariana Trench and other underwater canyons feed on food from the surface laced with carbon-14 from Cold War bomb tests

The fossil Eremotherium was from south Georgia. And it was an important one, since it firmly establish the presence of the giant ground sloth, which had previously been unknown in the United States.

A Giant Sloth Mystery Brought Me Home to Georgia

A new book from former Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough describes his journey into the collections in search of connections to his heritage

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Smithsonian Voices

Museum Sleepovers and Other Things to Do at the Smithsonian in May

Quilting, chamber music, garden tours and lectures

"My job as an artist is to inspire and heal," he says. "Around the election, my listeners were so distraught and I was distressed, too... so I felt compelled to create a piece of music ["Marigolds"] that would heal and educate."

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

Kishi Bashi on Turning Hard History Into Memorable Music

Plus, listen to an exclusive debut of ‘Marigolds’ off his new album, ‘Omoiyari’

Washington State Ferries, Washington

Seven of the Most Scenic Ferry Rides in the United States

Skip the bridges and tunnels, and board a boat on your next road trip

Jaume Plensa, Behind the Walls, 2019, presented by Richard Gray Gallery and Galerie Lelong, Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center, New York 2019

The Striking New Artworks That Follow Rockefeller Center’s Grand Tradition of Public Art

Frieze Sculpture, on view for just two months, sparks a conversation between works created more than 80 years apart

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine talks about getting American astronauts to the moon in the next five years while participating in a Future Con panel discussion at Awesome Con.

Future Con

This Year’s Future Con Showcased Cutting-Edge Science and Real-Life Superheroes

A part of Washington, D.C.’s Awesome Con, the dynamic presentation series blends entertainment and education

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Smithsonian Voices

Was the Loch Ness Monster a Plesiosaur and Other Questions From Readers, Including Slash (Yes, THE Slash)

Cat-loving paleontologist answers your questions in the National Museum of Natural History’s YouTube series, “The Doctor Is In”

A map of DNA with the double helix colored blue, the landmarks in green, and the start points for copying the molecule in red. David Gilbert/Kyle Klein, CC BY-ND

New Nanotechnology Imaging Technique Sheds Light on DNA Structure

The new technology could help pinpoint how errors occur in DNA replication, which can cause cancer and other diseases

The Baker Hotel’s lobby was one of the most magnificent in the nation, but after years of decay it has been left in a moldy and derelict state.

American South

These Photographers Venture Into Derelict Buildings in Texas So That We Don’t Have To

In a new book, Shane and Jessica Steeves capture some of the state’s abandoned churches, schools and hotels

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