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Articles

Do Marine Mammals Yawn and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Royal swan uppers now wear scarlet jackets, but they still pilot traditional rowing skiffs. The 2018 swan upping will begin July 16.

An Artistic Reimagining of London’s Past in ‘Old River Thames’

Tally ho! Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten English looks at when swan lovers come to their census

Miqayel Voskanyan plays the tar, an Armenian folk instrument.

Armenia

These Soulful, Soothing Armenian Songs and Instrumentals Blend East With West

Performers from all over the globe gather with traditional instruments to perform at this year’s Folklife Festival

Contrary to popular beliefs, Neanderthals lived in complex societies and hunted prey cooperatively.

New Research

Neanderthals Hunted in Groups, One More Strike Against the Dumb Brute Myth

The skeletons of deer killed 120,000 years ago offer more evidence of cooperative behavior and risk-taking among our hominin relatives

Band members Yacine Belahcene Benet, Massinissa Aït-Ahmed, Gabriel Fletcher and Alexandre Guitart of "Yacine and the Oriental Grove" incorporate North African and Mediterranean musical traditions, as well as genres such as reggae and rock and roll.

Catalonia

Some of Barcelona’s Most Acclaimed Musicians Will Rock and Rumba Washington D.C.

Six acclaimed Catalan musical acts introduce Folklife Festival-goers to Mediterranean rock, habanera, rumbero and rumba

The Epic Quest to Ride the World’s Biggest Wave

Welcome to the new Mt. Everest of surfing, a notoriously dangerous break off the coast of Portugal

At Surf Ranch in May (where Kelly Slater leaned into a cutback), 5,000 spectators gathered to watch 25 world-class surfers compete for prize money.

Engineering the Perfect Wave

A technology breakthrough allows surf legend Kelly Slater to manufacture the same wave over and over again

McNamara (in 2013 in Nazaré) still surfs its monster waves, despite the risks. Last year, a fall broke champion British surfer Andrew Cotton’s back.

What It Took to Set the World Record for Surfing

Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa had to conquer PTSD before he was ready to break Garrett McNamara’s world record

In the foreground stand foundation remnants of a house where soldiers once searched for Jews. The family hid refugees in a secret compartment constructed between the interior walls.

The Dispossessed

This French Town Has Welcomed Refugees for 400 Years

For centuries, the people of the mountain village of Chambon-sur-Lignon have opened their arms to the world’s displaced

Standing Rock #2: Oil-pipeline protester Mychal Thompson in North Dakota, in November 2016. Her quote, in Navajo, reads, “To be of the people means you must have reverence and love for all of the resources and all of the beauties of this world.”

The Dispossessed

Pushed to the Margins, These Brave People Are Pushing Back

From the American West to the Middle East, the powerless face stark choices when confronted by the powerful

A home on the storm-battered southeastern coast. The words on the sign, “Yo voy a ti PR,” translate roughly to “I’m rooting for you, Puerto Rico!”

The Dispossessed

The Slow Recovery in Puerto Rico

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria approaches, Puerto Ricans feel not only devastated but abandoned

Fifty Years Ago, Airline Diplomacy Sought to Bring the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Closer Together

Hopes for a Cold War détente were sky high when the first American and Soviet flights took off 50 years ago

The first frozen margarita machine is in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

American South

The Uniquely Texan Origins of the Frozen Margarita

A Dallas restaurant owner blended tequila, ice and automation. America has been hungover ever since

Interior Views Light through windows in Main Concourse, Grand Central Terminal, 1929.

The Preservation Battle of Grand Central

Forty years ago, preservationists—including a former First Lady—fought to maintain the integrity of New York City’s historic railway station

From glow-in-the-dark squid to the terrifying stoplight loosejaw, creatures of the deep have evolved their own living light time and time again.

Why Bioluminescence Evolved to Be Red Light, and Blue

The laws of nature constrict living light to a few hues, which also happen to be quite patriotic

An artist's rendering of the Capitol dome as seen through Harvey Pratt's proposed "Warriors' Circle of Honor"

This Innovative Memorial Will Soon Honor Native American Veterans

The National Museum of the American Indian has reached a final decision on which design to implement

Arev Armenian Dance Ensemble

Armenia

How Armenian Dance Adapted Over Time and Place

Choreography, music and technique are on tap at a Folklife Festival Dance Summit

The charred papyrus scroll recovered from Herculaneum is preserved in 12 trays mounted under glass. Here is PHerc.118 in tray 8. The scroll was physically unrolled in 1883-84, causing irreparable damage.

Buried by the Ash of Vesuvius, These Scrolls Are Being Read for the First Time in Millennia

A revolutionary American scientist is using subatomic physics to decipher 2,000-year-old texts from the early days of Western civilization

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