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Articles

The Desert Pavilion at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

This Friday, You Can Visit More Than 150 of the Best Gardens in the U.S. for Free

Celebrate National Public Gardens Day May 11

A young Walden resident, circa 1974, appears none too happy about being kept inside, or having her picture taken.

This Photographer Spent 46 Years Documenting the Vanishing World of Vermont’s Remote Northeast Kingdom

A Hangover Pill Is Working on Drunk Mice

The new antidote may lower blood alcohol levels, helping a hangover and preventing alcohol overdose deaths

Nisarg Desai observes wild chimps known as Sandi, Ferdinand and Siri in Tanzania.

What Can Chimpanzee Calls Tell Us About the Origins of Human Language?

Scientists follow and record chimps in the wild to find out if they talk to each other—and to fill in details about how and why language evolved in humans

American girl Samantha Smith (center) visited the U.S.S.R. on the invitation of General Secretary Yuri Andropov in July 1983. Here, she's visiting the Artek pioneer camp.

The Surprising Story of the American Girl Who Broke Through the Iron Curtain

Samantha Smith was only 10 when she wrote to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov about the Cold War. In response, he invited her for a visit

The long-barreled pistols will be on view at the Postal Museum from May 25 through June 24.

Hamilton and Burr’s Dueling Pistols Are Coming to Washington, D.C.

Don’t throw away your shot to see these infamous flintlocks, and an incredible assortment of other Hamilton memorabilia, at the National Postal Museum

The City Market Catacombs are located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Beneath Indianapolis’ Bustling City Market Lies a Forgotten Underground Expanse

Once used as a spot to store goods, the subterranean expanse is all that remains of Tomlinson Hall

George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook, 1975, Robert Colescott, acrylic on canvas

What Happens When Art History Gets Refigured

A museum in Seattle shows the incredible power of subverting the traditional course of representation

The enthralling c. 1993 portrait of Anthony by ADÁL (detail above), face and palms to the sky, captures the performer’s signature flair.

Marc Anthony Garners the Big Win in the Portrait Gallery’s People’s Choice Award

A portrait of salsa music’s all-time top-selling artist is on display on the museum’s “Recognize” wall

Though the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may seem pronounced, scientists didn't always embrace the idea that humans evolved from other species.

How Do Scientists Identify New Species? For Neanderthals, It Was All About Timing and Luck

Even the most remarkable fossil find means nothing if scientists aren’t ready to see it for what it is

Sumit Bhatnagar, a PhD student in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, inspects tumor cells used in developing a new diagnostic pill.

Could a Pill Help Detect Breast Cancer?

University of Michigan researchers are developing a pill that when ingested causes tumors to glow under infrared light

Tenant associations lead a march up Columbia Road N.W. in protest against threats of eviction at a time when land speculation and residential displacement were growing more common in the Adams Morgan neighborhood and across Washington, D.C.

A New Show About Neighborhoods Facing Gentrification Offers a Cautionary Tale

As cities face multi-billion-dollar developments, the question remains “Who Owns the City?”

After the 1943 publication of Ayn Rand's book "The Fountainhead," she amassed a cult-like following that spread her message far and wide.

The Literary Salon That Made Ayn Rand Famous

Seventy-five years after the publishing of ‘The Fountainhead’, a look back at the public intellectuals who disseminated her Objectivist philosophy

Once touted as the Paris of the East, Ross Island has now been reclaimed by nature.

India’s Abandoned Island of Colonial Horror

Eerie and desolate, Ross Island harbors a tale of oppression and disaster

Guzmán and his team were only able to pinpoint the whale shark's whereabouts when it rose to the surface to feed.

What the Longest Known Whale Shark Migration Ever Tells Us About Conservation

Researchers in Panama tracked a specimen via satellite over an unprecedented 12,516 miles

“We design the garments around what parents want for their children, what occupational therapists are asking for, what children are saying they’re most comfortable in,” says Sasha Radwan, founder of SpecialKids.Company.

Designing “Adaptive Clothing” For Those With Special Needs

Companies are releasing new inclusive lines that solve some of the dressing challenges that people with physical and mental disabilities face

Charles Darwin was an avid fossil collector and during his expedition on the HMS Beagle, he was one of the first to collect remains of extinct South American mammals.

How Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Evolved

A new Smithsonian Book highlights firsthand accounts, diaries, letters and notebooks from aboard the HMS Beagle

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