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Articles

A Panel from the Marvel Comics series ‘The 'Nam.’

How Comics Captured America’s Opinions About the Vietnam War

More than any other medium, comics closely followed the narrative arc of the conflict, from support to growing ambivalence

Capoeira roda in the Arts and Industries Building at the 2017 Folklife Festival.

How Brazilian Capoeira Evolved From a Martial Art to an International Dance Craze

The athletic movements may have inspired modern break dancing

Rescue workers search for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building in Mexico City. Structures throughout the capital were devastated during yesterday's earthquake.

How Mexico City’s Unique Geology Makes Deadly Earthquakes Even Worse

The entire country—but especially the capital—has all the ingredients for seismic catastrophe

Metropoles like Shanghai have survived and thrived in large part because of their massive populations. But what happens when people start to become a liability rather than an asset?

Can the World’s Megacities Survive the Digital Age?

Like companies, megacities must adapt

In the dress (now in the Smithsonian collections), on September 20, 1973, Billie Jean King crushed Bobby Riggs with her serve and volley game, winning the match 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

How Billie Jean King Picked Her Outfit for the Battle of the Sexes Match

King beat self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs and her victory still stands as an accomplishment for feminism

Victoria and Abdul: The Friendship that Scandalized England

Near the end of her reign, Queen Victoria developed a friendship with an Indian servant, elevating him to trusted advisor and infuriating her court

Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers’ Animals Might Be “Ungrateful,” But They Go to a Good Cause

The author discusses a return to art and his forthcoming book Ungrateful Mammals

“I felt strongly that it was cotton that killed Emmett Till,” says photographer Andrew Lichtenstein.

New Book of Photographs Recalls the Trauma of American History

Looking back at a lynching that shocked America and galvanized the civil rights movement

Salih reports that ISIS “looted all movable objects” from this tunnel at ancient Nineveh.

The Salvation of Mosul

An Iraqi archaeologist braved ISIS snipers and booby-trapped ruins to rescue cultural treasures in the city and nearby legendary Nineveh and Nimrud

Behind Saturn's icy rings is the moon Tethys, illuminated by the planet's reflected sunlight.

How Scientists Engineered Cassini’s Final Demise

After a rich scientific life, Cassini went out in a blaze, becoming one with the planet it had revolved around for so long

Armenia

Star-Studded Photos Reveal the Beauty of Armenia’s Ancient Landscapes

The photographer behind ‘Your beautiful eyes’ documents his country’s storied landscape beneath canopies of stars

Garfield Elementary's award-winning drumline performs with the cheerleading squad in celebration of the Anacostia Community Museum's 50th anniversary.

How This Washington, D.C. Museum Redefined What Museums Could Be

Fifty years after its founding, the Smithsonian’s beloved Anacostia Community Museum continues to tell stories heard nowhere else

The device is a pen-sized mass spectrometry device its developers are calling MasSpec Pen.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Scientists Invent a Pen That Can Detect Cancer in Seconds

This handheld mass spectrometer could make surgeries to remove cancerous tissue quicker and more accurate

Cypress Swamp. Middle Mississippi, 2014

Photographer Reconstructs 1,400-Mile Route Along the Underground Railroad

‘Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad’ traces a plausible path a freedom seeker could have taken North

A late 19th century photograph from Antwerp, Belgium shows a typical milk cart pulled by dogs.

Four Weird Ways Dogs Have Earned Their Keep

From pulling milk carts to herding reindeer, dogs have had some odd jobs

The recipes in late 19th-century American cookbooks—precise and detailed—met the needs of cooks in a highly mobile and modern country. Image from "Recipes: cards with text; depicting a woman in a kitchen reading, a server, meat, fish and a scale."

The Making of the Modern American Recipe

Scientific methods, rising literacy and an increasingly mobile society were key ingredients for a culinary revolution

The weight of record-setting giant pumpkins has ballooned nearly 500 percent since 1975.

Why Is America Losing Ground in the Contest to Grow the World’s Biggest Pumpkin?

Our most symbolic squash is now taking over the world

Calder, c. 1931

How Alexander Calder Became America’s Most Beloved Sculptor

In an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Calder: The Conquest of Time, Jed Perl reveals a hidden side of the artist

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