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Europe

Traveling to the Danube? Here’s What You Should Read, Watch and Download

Know before you go

Baby panda

Cute Baby Animals You Have to See This Spring

Check out what’s new at the zoo

Is Europe Returning to Pre Cold War Divisions?

Author Robert D. Kaplan notes the beginnings of a complex map, caused by Russian revisionism, the refugee crisis and a structural economic crisis in the EU

Atopodentatus used its odd-shaped head to vacuum up food from the sea floor hundreds of millions of years ago.

Weirdo Ancient Marine Reptile Had a Vacuum-Shaped Head

Animal probably slurped up plant material from the seafloor

How sleepy you are may depend on a number of factors, including age and where in the world you live.

Smartphone Study Uncovers Why So Much of the World is Short on Sleep

Age, gender and nationality impact how much we sleep, and social pressures rob many of needed rest

Pictured left: Cancun, Mexico on May 14, 2014; pictured right: Helen Frankenthaler, Canyon, 1965

These Photos Taken From Space Look Astonishingly Like Art Masterpieces

ASTER reveals how art imitates reality

10 Things Science Says About Being a Mom in 2016

For one, a nurturing mother can help her child’s brain grow

Trachymolgus purpureus

Enjoy Face Time with Seven of Earth’s 3 to 5 Million Mite Species

A Smithsonian collection of some one million species of mites is receiving its up close and personal

Washing your hands will make them clean, but it may not get rid of the microbes that live there.

Your Skin’s Microbial Inhabitants Might Stick Around, Even If You Wash

This tiny ecosystem is surprisingly stable from months to years, study reveals

Playing with your food requires talent.

Need a New Hobby? We Recommend Playing Musical Vegetables

From carrot flutes to to zucchini clarinets, vegetables have musical potential

Austria

These Black and White Images Reveal a Vienna Most Travelers Don’t See

Photographer Carl Yurttas captures the city’s many moods

Pangolin

Art Meets Science

These Eerie Portraits Capture Endangered and Extinct Animals in a Film That Is Also Vanishing

Denis Defibaugh uses Polaroid 55 film to give animal specimens an afterlife

Diamonds squeeze the truth about Earth's core out of experimental samples of iron and lighter elements like oxygen and carbon.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Crushing Pressures Start to Reveal the Truth About Earth’s Core

Iron makes up the bulk of our planet’s core. But now, researchers are getting closer to figuring out what else swirls at the center of the Earth

ABC's "Scandal" stars Jeff Perry as Cyrus Beene, Joshua Malina as David Rosen, Darby Stanchfield as Abby Whelan, Portia de Rossi as Elizabeth North, Tony Goldwyn as President Fitzgerald Grant, Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, Bellamy Young as Mellie Grant, Scott Foley as Jake Ballard, Katie Lowes as Quinn Perkins, Cornelius Smith Jr. as Marcus Walker and Guillermo Diaz as Huck.

Shonda Rhimes and the Cast of ‘Scandal’ Dish on the Show’s Behind-the-Scenes Secrets

The stars of the Washington, D.C.-inspired show reveal the method behind the magic

Can you tell the difference between bourbon and rye?

Can You Really Tell the Difference Between Bourbon and Rye?

Drexel University puts professional tasters to the test

Important information about a cheetah can be found in its feces.

A Fecal Pellet’s Worth A Thousand Words

Scientists can learn a surprising amount about an animal just by analyzing its poop

March on Washington, August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial

How the Redesign of U.S. Money Shows the Power of Protest

A Smithsonian curator notes how a heavy dose of social activism prompted the U.S. Treasury to honor historic social and political movements

Bottles of the two triumphant vintages 1973 Chateau Montelena chardonnay and 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars cabernet sauvignon are now held in the Smithsonian collections.

That Revolutionary May Day in 1976 When California Wines Bested France’s Finest

Forty years ago, a Copernican moment took place in viniculture when the world realized the sun didn’t always revolve around French wines

How do we measure a bird's IQ?

Describing Someone as “Birdbrained” Is Misguided, Unless You’re Talking About Emus

A new book about birds explores how birds think

How to Build a Mosquito Trap From an Old Tire

Canadian researchers hope to curb the spread of Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases by luring the pests into homemade traps

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