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Pepper talks to a group of museum visitors on the lower level of the National Museum of African Art.

The Smithsonian Is Using a Swahili-Speaking Robot to Break Down Language Barriers

Pepper the Robot’s vocabulary lessons help visitors understand the great influence of southeast African art on global culture

The Tsimshian people first settled American land over 6,000 years ago. This image was captured in 1890, after the fateful arrival of European settlers.

New Research

Unraveling the Genetic History of a First Nations People

By looking at the DNA of Tsimshian people before and after European contact, researchers paint a more nuanced history

Undated photo of a Jewish store in Vienna with anti-Semitic slogans daubed on walls and store windows. Austrian authorities took more than 40 years to launch serious efforts at returning Jewish property plundered by the Nazis.

A 1938 Nazi Law Forced Jews to Register Their Wealth—Making It Easier to Steal

Eighty years ago, the edict marked a turning point in the Nazi party’s efforts to push Jews out of the German economy

The Smithsonian Craft Show in 2010

Future of Art

How the Work of a Sculptor and a Doctor Landed In the Nation’s Top Craft Show

More than 100 artists in the 36th annual Smithsonian Craft Show capture Asia’s influence on American design

Waldorf Astoria Hotel

What Made Oscar Tschirky the King of Gilded Age New York

During his long tenure as maître d’ at the famed Waldorf Hotel, Oscar had the city’s elite at his fingertips

Fake medicines are a lucrative global business. When it comes to malaria drugs that don’t work, they can be deadly.

Are Fake Drugs The Reason Malaria Sickens Millions a Year?

Fraudulent, expired and low-quality medicines contribute to the disease’s death toll—and could worsen drug resistance

Artists and poets have long been inspired by the mathematical patterns found in nature—for instance, the remarkable fact that a sunflower's seeds follow the Fibonacci sequence. But there are myriad other ways that the realms of poetry and mathematics can intersect.

Future of Art

How Poetry and Math Intersect

Both require economy and precision—and each perspective can enhance the other

Diane Arbus with her photograph A young Brooklyn family going for a Sunday outing, N.Y.C., 1966

A Window into the World of Diane Arbus

Photographs from the portfolio, “A box of ten,” reveal some of the photographer’s secrets

People – but maybe not computers – can tell whether this is a person’s face or the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

Future of Art

Just Like Faces, Buildings Have Features That Algorithms Can Recognize

An art historian explains how he uses ‘facial recognition’ to unlock architectural secrets

Theodore Roosevelt and his Big Stick in the Caribbean (1904)

Why Teddy Roosevelt Is Popular on Both Sides of the Political Aisle

A historian considers the forces that have shaped the Rough Rider’s presidential legacy in the decades since his death more than 100 years ago

Armenia

These Two Brothers Are Helping Keep Armenia’s Stone Carving Tradition Alive

Once-Abandoned ‘Wizard of Oz’ Theme Park Is Opening for the Summer

Here’s how to get tickets

An installation of Brand New SW in Washington D.C.'s L'Enfant Plaza.

Modern Takes on 80s Artwork Hit Washington D.C. Streets

The Hirshhorn Museum’s public art project ‘Brand New SW’ reflects a resurgence of retro aesthetics in contemporary art

Don the Talking Dog was a vaudeville hit.

When Don the Talking Dog Took the Nation by Storm

Although he ‘spoke’ German, the vaudevillian canine captured the heart of the nation

Robert Johnson (Kamal Naiqui) records some of his tunes that would later change rock music as we know it.

'Timeless' Recapped

Somebody’s Got a Case of the Blues: Timeless Season 2, Episode 6, Recapped

The time team’s humming a new tune after a run-in with one of the most influential men in American music history

In Yeghvard, Armenia, home bakers offered us a platter of cheese and herbs to eat with the fresh lavash.

Armenia

On the Lavash Trail in Armenia

The museum's situation on the National Mall gives it access to ample water and sunlight.

The African American History and Culture Museum Wins Gold for Going Green

How the Smithsonian’s newest museum set the bar for sustainability in architecture

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