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Princepajaro, a male California sea lion, swims in a pool during treatment for leptospirosis at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA. When a leptospirosis outbreak occurs, the Center’s scientists study the disease to learn more about what causes an outbreak and how we can improve treatment for infected animals.

Major Disease Outbreak Strikes California Sea Lions

Leptospirosis afflicts sea lions on a semi-regular cycle, but warming waters and migrating fish could make the marine mammals more susceptible

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Special Project

The Scars of World War I

One hundred years after the end of the bloodshed, one photographer finds personal connections to the war

A silica sphere with a radius of 50 nanometers is trapped levitating in a beam of light.

Optical Tweezers Give Scientists a Tool to Test the Laws of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum superposition is one of the great mysteries of physics—a mass existing in two states at once—and scientists hope to probe the phenomenon

Six accomplished pilots would lose their lives before Charles Lindbergh (above, atop the cockpit) became the first to fly nonstop from New York to Paris—in May 1927 and win the Orteig prize of $25,000 [about $350,000 today].

What Are the Economic Incentives to Invent?

Prizes and patents may fulfill different needs, but together they fuel innovation

This painting of a cattle-like animal in a Borneo cave has been dated at at least 40,000 years old, making it the oldest known figurative rock art in the world.

World’s Oldest Known Figurative Paintings Discovered in Borneo Cave

Dated to at least 40,000 years old, the depiction of a cattle-like animal has striking similarities to ancient rock art found in other parts of the world

Neither is the U.S.

There’s a New Ranking System For Best Countries to Live In, and Norway Isn’t Number One

Most researchers use the UN’s Human Development Index to measure each country’s progress, but that system has flaws. A new index aims to do it better

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Ingenious Minds

Could 3-D Printing Save Music Education?

D.C. chef Erik Bruner-Yang interviews Jill-of-all-trades Kaitlyn Hova about her plan to infuse STEM education with open source, 3-D printable instruments

In the five generations since the treaty was signed and broken, the Sioux Nations have steadily lost reservation lands to white development.

In 1868, Two Nations Made a Treaty. The U.S. Broke It, and Plains Indian Tribes Are Still Seeking Justice

The American Indian Museum puts the 150-year-old Fort Laramie Treaty on view in its “Nation to Nation” exhibition

Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto during the autumn season at dusk,

Forget Cherry Blossoms — Why Fall May Be the Best Time to Visit Japan

From mid-October to early December, Japan’s gorgeous gardens burst with color

Pulse Tank by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, 2008

This Art Show Is Taking the Literal Pulse of America

Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer uses biometrics to make breathtaking spectacle

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Ingenious Minds

Restaurateur José Andrés Dreams of Milking the Clouds

In a conversation with architect David Rockwell, the philanthropic chef urges an invested effort in technology that could collect water from the clouds

Renia in Skole in the 1930s

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

Learn About Renia Spiegel, the Author of an Unforgettable Holocaust Diary, by Hearing From Her Family Who Survived

In an event held at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Bellak recalls the remarkable story of her sister

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus.

History of Now

Lessons in the Decline of Democracy From the Ruined Roman Republic

A new book argues that violent rhetoric and disregard for political norms was the beginning of Rome’s end

Zelia Nuttall, who began an academic career in archaeology after she divorced her archaeologist husband in 1888, is best known for her work on ancient Mexican manuscripts.

Women Who Shaped History

The Archaeologist Who Helped Mexico Find Glory in Its Indigenous Past

Disrupting a stereotype of Mesoamerican savagery, Zelia Nuttall brought the ingenuity of Aztec civilization to the fore

The new research is geared to helping clinicians, not replacing them.

Can Artificial Intelligence Detect Depression in a Person’s Voice?

MIT scientists have trained an AI model to spot the condition through how people speak rather than what they tell a doctor

From left to right: Sgt. Harold J. Higginbottom, Brigadier General Amos A. Fries, 2nd Lt. Thomas Jabine

World War I: 100 Years Later

How Three Doughboys Experienced the Last Days of World War I

The end of the war was a welcome reprieve for these three American soldiers, eager to return home

With elaborate coiffures and scarves and ceremonial garb, all the way down to beautifully designed sandals and the tinkling of gold bracelets, Senegalese women usefashion for sociopolitical and economic ends as well as celebrating their own history.

In Senegal, Female Empowerment, Prestige and Wealth Is Measured in Glittering Gold

The African Art Museum’s new exhibition delves into a tradition that is both ravishingly beautiful and hauntingly fraught

Leif Asp envisions a car with a body that acts as an energy source.

Let’s Build Cars Out of Batteries

If batteries could make up the very structure of our vehicles and electronics, those products would be far lighter and more efficient

Freddie Mercury performing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in August, 1980.

How Close Does ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Come to Showing the Real Freddie Mercury?

While the movie has been critiqued for flattening the legacy of Queen, see the band come to life in historic photos

“What I also want people to understand is that as difficult as this history is, it's ripe with optimism," says the museum's director Lonnie Bunch. "Because if you can survive that cabin, there's a lot more you can survive.”

This South Carolina Cabin Is Now a Crown Jewel in the Smithsonian Collections

The 16- by 20-foot dwelling once housed the enslaved; a new podcast tells its story

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