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Articles

An 1851 map of the United States shows Texas and the New Mexico, Utah and Indian Territories.

History of Now

For More Than 150 Years, Texas Has Had the Power to Secede…From Itself

A quirk of a 19th-century Congressional resolution could allow Texas to split up into five states

The cartoon by Thomas Nast shows the battles between President Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction.

Document Deep Dive

The Political Cartoon That Explains the Battle Over Reconstruction

Take a deep dive into this drawing by famed illustrator Thomas Nast

“Music is a way of looking at someone in a different way,” says ethnomusicologist Ben Harbert. “You see them as a singer, not a prisoner.”

Finding Music Behind Prison Bars

At the Louisiana State Penitentiary and at a maximum-security prison in Malawi, the benefits of music are far-reaching

Cunitz was among the few who saw the truth in Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, which stated that planets moved in elliptical orbits around the sun. Here, a concept drawing of the Earth and moon in orbit around the sun.

Space Hub

The 17th-Century Lady Astronomer Who Took Measure of the Stars

Astronomer Maria Cunitz might not be such an anomaly, were other women given the same educational opportunities

Emissions from steel production in eastern China are fertilizing nearby oceans.

Age of Humans

Human Pollution May Be Fertilizing The Oceans. That’s Not a Good Thing

Our iron emissions from coal and steel may be fuelling ocean life, and trapping carbon in the process

Achievement unlocked: Rewritable paper.

Reprintable Paper Becomes a Reality

Coating paper with an inexpensive thin film can allow users to print and erase a physical page as many as 80 times

Susan, far left, with her husband (seated with puppy) at their Bancroft, Nebraska, home.

The Incredible Legacy of Susan La Flesche, the First Native American to Earn a Medical Degree

With few rights as a woman and as an Indian, the pioneering doctor provided valuable health care and resources to her Omaha community

What thorny ethical issues await us once we make it to Mars? A composite image of the red planet, composed by processing about 1000 Viking Orbiter red- and violet-filter images have been to provide global color coverage at a scale of 1 km/pixel.

Think Big

When Humans Begin Colonizing Other Planets, Who Should Be in Charge?

The biggest threat humans pose to other worlds is what we don’t know—or what we think we know, but don’t

Unlike the Apollo spacecraft, Orion will have solar panels to help power longer space journeys, as shown in this concept art of the spacecraft orbiting Earth.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

What’s Really Changed—and What Hasn’t—About Getting Humans to the Moon

NASA’s Orion will combine vintage tech with massive advances in computing power and electronics we’ve made since 1972

Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo, 2016

Follow the Polka Dots to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms That Are Breaking Museum Records

“Polka dots are a way to infinity,” says Japan’s most successful artist, now at the Hirshhorn

Statuary inside the salt cathedral.

Step Inside This Underground Cathedral, Carved Into the Walls of an Abandoned Salt Mine

An old mine has transformed into a subterranean worship space, 650 feet underground

Two vessels rendezvous off the coast of Argentina in a likely transshipment.

Fighting Illegal Fishing With Big Data

Global Fishing Watch is using satellite data to monitor suspicious ship activity on the high seas

A collage of the work distributed by the British propaganda effort.

History of Now

The Fake British Radio Show That Helped Defeat the Nazis

By spreading fake news and sensational rumors, intelligence officials leveraged “psychological judo” against the Nazis in World War II

Follow the Path of the Freedom Riders in This Interactive Map

These civil rights activists showed true courage in telling the nation about the segregated South

The beauty of this mutant strain of the fungus Trichoderma reesei belies the organism’s potential for dismantling biomass.

Art Meets Science

Scientists Make Art From Objects Invisible to the Naked Eye

Sophisticated microscopes, satellites and other instruments can create stunning images in experts’ hands

Ace Harlyn (active ca. 1930–40), Charlie Wagner tattooing Millie Hull, 1939, oil on canvas

Tattooing Was Illegal in New York City Until 1997

The New-York Historical Society’s newest exhibit delves into the history of the city’s once-turbulent ink scene

During more peaceful times, two female baboons sit next to a collared male baboon holding an infant.

New Research

Baboons Are Ruthless Reproducers

These monkeys do whatever it takes to pass on their genes, including killing others’ offspring

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