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More than 40 variations are played around the world today, although the core tiles and the way the tiles are shuffled and stacked to begin the game remain the same.

The Asian Game of Mahjong, Which Creates Order Out of Chaos, Is Trending in the West

The 200-year-old tile game is popping up in clubs, hotels and parties as a way for Gen Zers and millennials to connect

The palm oil industry in Indonesia has led to widespread deforestation, making it hard to find remaining signs of archaic life.

The Search to Find the Remains of Homo Erectus in a Vanishing Landscape

A paleontologist journeys through Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago in search of our earliest ancestors, and uncovers how environmental devastation has erased much of the region’s history

With their eyes nearly front and center, owls don’t benefit much from peripheral vision, but their heads can rotate 135 degrees in any direction, giving them a great field of view.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

See 15 Stunning Photos of Superb Owls to Kick Off This Year’s Super Bowl Weekend

These snapshots of the majestic bird in flight and in trees will leave your soul soaring

A Harper's Weekly illustration of Confederate soldiers driving Black Americans south in 1862

Untold Stories of American History

After Confederate Forces Captured Their Children, These Black Mothers Fought to Reunite Their Families

During the Civil War, Confederates targeted free Black people in the North, kidnapping them to sell into slavery. After the conflict ended, two women sought help from high places to track down their lost loved ones

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There's More to That

Why Auroras Are Suddenly Everywhere All at Once

Auroras have long mystified humanity. Now that we know what they are and why they happen, we can better predict how best to experience them

The coast horned lizard (Phrynosoma blainvillii) depends on chaparral habitat to survive. It has declined across much of its range due to habitat loss, whether from development or invasion of non-native grasses. After fires, non-native grasses often fill in habitat and create problems for the species.

Here’s How the Los Angeles Wildfires Are Affecting Animals, From Fish to Snakes to Birds

While scientists were able to save and move some creatures in the aftermath, researchers are worried about the prospects for other species

A view of "The Sims 4" during the EA press conference for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 9, 2014, in Los Angeles, California

‘The Sims’ Turned Mere Mortals Into Gods. Twenty-Five Years Later, the Addictive Computer Game Is Still Going Strong

The audience for the trailblazing life simulation game has stuck around through new editions, expansion packs and designs to keep playing

Herbert O. Yardley claimed that the Black Chamber deciphered more than 45,000 diplomatic code and cipher telegrams of foreign governments between 1917 and 1929.

Untold Stories of American History

The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the Black Chamber, One of America’s First Code-Breaking Organizations

In 1931, Herbert O. Yardley published a tell-all book about his experiences leading a covert government agency called the Cipher Bureau

The Tyrannosaurus at Spain’s Jurassic Museum of Asturias offer a speculative take on how dinosaurs mated.

Everything You Want to Know About Dinosaur Sexual Anatomy and Reproduction, From Their Genitalia to How They Laid Eggs

Paleontologists continue to find fossils that help revise our understanding of how dinosaurs did it

Six of the 24 Orthodox Christian monasteries strewn across Meteora, a collection of massive stone pillars and rounded boulders in northwestern Greece, are still active more than 700 years after the first was founded in the 14th century.

Ten Isolated, Gravity-Defying Monasteries You Can Visit Around the World

Monks have been seeking spiritual enlightenment at these sites on steep cliffs, inside caves and atop an extinct volcano for centuries

Ray Fearon plays Macbeth and Tara Fitzgerald plays Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare's Macbeth directed by Iqban Khan at the Globe Theatre in June 2016 in London, England.

Businesses Have a Lot to Learn From the Impromptu ‘Teaming’ That Happens in Theater

A Shakespeare scholar at Harvard University explains how the creative collaboration that happens in theater can be a model for companies developing innovative new products

Embers from the Eaton Fire fly down a residential street in Altadena, California, on January 8.

How A.I. Can Help Humans Battle Wildfires, From Advanced Camera Systems to Forecasting Models

A variety of new technologies aim to improve wildfire detection and help map the spread of blazes

View of the S.S. Pacific anchored near Fort Tongass in Alaska in 1868

Hundreds Died When This Steamship Sank in the Pacific Northwest in 1875 With Gold Worth Millions On Board

A century and a half later, the sinking of the S.S. Pacific remains one of the deadliest maritime disasters in the region’s history

A tiger keelback feeds on poisonous toads and stores the poison for its own use.

Six Clever Snakes to Celebrate as We Slither Into the Lunar New Year

These fascinating serpents embody acclaimed qualities including cunning and intelligence

A firefighter works as the Hughes Fire burns north of Los Angeles on January 22.

Welcome to the Pyrocene

Human use of fire has produced an era of uncontrolled burning

Togo and his owner, musher Leonhard Seppala, in 1927

Discover Alaska

This Heroic Dog Raced Across the Frozen Alaskan Wilderness to Deliver Life-Saving Medicine—but His Contributions Were Long Overlooked

Togo, not Balto, was the driving force behind the 1925 Serum Run to Nome, which found teams of mushers and sled dogs delivering antitoxin to children suffering from diphtheria

Laminella venusta is a state land snail endemic to Molokai.

How a Hawaiian High School Student Inspired Nine New State Animals

Researchers hope the designation of several species of land snails, or kāhuli, will lead to conservation

A view of the "In Slavery's Wake" exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Vast Geographic Scope of Slavery Is Hard to Fathom. One Groundbreaking Exhibition Shows Its True Scale Around the Globe

At the National Museum of African American History and Culture, “In Slavery’s Wake” tells the international history of slavery and Black freedom

A skin diver swims with a sperm whale in the Caribbean off of Dominica.

Eight Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling for in 2025

You won’t regret experiencing bioluminescence, swimming with sperm whales or witnessing the rush of a horizontal waterfall

Male giant panda Bao Li plays on a wooden climbing structure. Beginning on January 24, visitors to the National Zoo can finally see Bao Li and Qing Bao in person.

Pandamonium

The National Zoo’s Giant Pandas Are Finally Making Their Public Debut

Bao Li and Qing Bao, both 3 years old, are the latest black-and-white bears to call the nation’s capital home

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