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Did colonial Americans wear wristwatches? 

Did Colonial Americans Wear Wristwatches? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Between July 1776 and June 1826, Jefferson recorded weather conditions in 19,000 observations across nearly 100 locations.

Discover Why Thomas Jefferson Meticulously Monitored the Weather Wherever He Went

The third president knew that the whims of nature shaped Americans’ daily lives as farmers and enslavers

Illustration from a 16th-century Falnama, or Persian Book of Omens

How People of the Past Predicted the Future, From Spider Divination to Bibliomancy

A new exhibition spotlights the ways in which cultures around the world have sought answers in the face of uncertainty

An Olivetti Studio 46 typewriter that belonged to Octavia E. Butler. As the author recalled: "I wrote my first ten books on a manual typewriter."

In Her Inventive and Prescient Stories, Octavia Butler Wrote Herself Into the Science Fiction Canon

On her beloved typewriters, the literary legend mapped out a course for the future of the genre

Major Pierce Butler, a U.S. senator representing South Carolina and an original signer of the United States Constitution, left the 1,500-acre rice plantation—and its enslaved laborers—to his grandsons when he died. For locals whose ancestors were forced to work there, it’s considered a sacred place.

Inside the Struggle to Preserve Georgia’s Butler Island, Home to a Notorious Plantation

Descendants of people enslaved at the site are grappling with its complicated history while also honoring the region’s rich culture

A young chimpanzee looks on during an outing to an island in the Douala-Edea National Park in Cameroon, on December 15, 2024.

From Chimps Eating Medicinal Plants to Footprints Tracking Our Early Relatives, Here Are the Most Significant Human Evolution Discoveries of 2024

Smithsonian paleoanthropologists explore how the year brought us closer to understanding ancient human relatives and origins

One of the ceremonial double ikat textiles acquired by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in 2024

Eleven Fascinating Acquisitions That Joined the Smithsonian’s Vast Collections in 2024

This year, the Institution collected everything from the stunning shell of an extinct cephalopod to a Blue Origin rocket booster

In 2024, engineers used a fluorescent protein found in some jellyfish to create a non-toxic spray that highlights fingerprints at a crime scene.

Seven Scientific Discoveries From 2024 That Could Lead to New Inventions

From indestructible tardigrades to body-merging comb jellies, animals can teach humans so much about medicine, robotics, aging and survival

In Still Life With Brioche, c. 1890, Victoria Dubourg Fantin-Latour captures the buttery crust of a signature pastry. Known for her tablescapes, she met her artist husband Henri when both were copying the same painting at the Louvre.

Feast Your Eyes on These Paintings From the Impressionist Era

A new exhibition at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville will bring the food world of the late 19th century to its gallery walls

Loaded with leather and sheepskins, Salvatore Gungui tightens his headscarf. Although only men dress as Mamuthones, the scarf adds a feminine element.

Coastal Cities of Europe

See the Mysterious Winter Parade That Brings Tourists to the Remote Island of Sardinia

Since ancient times, a town on the Italian isle has marked the season with a grim costumed festival

Find your nearest dark-sky site and mark your calendars for these stunning astronomical spectacles in 2025.

11 Dazzling Celestial Events to See in 2025, From a Total Lunar Eclipse to Rare Planetary Alignments

Keep your eyes on the sky this upcoming year for a chance to spot breathtaking meteor showers, a special view of Saturn and a blood-red moon

A 1951 ad. The FDA informed Kraft in 2002 it could no longer market Velveeta as a cheese. 

The Gooey Goodness of Velveeta Was a Smash Hit From Its Very Cheesy Start

How Emil Frey whipped up a smooth dairy sensation after two years of tinkering

Martin Van Buren in 1860. 

Martin Van Buren Created America’s Partisan Political System. We’re Still Recovering

The eighth president of the United States, the so-called little magician, saw political parties as the key to achieving power

Works entering the public domain include The Sound and the Fury, the first recordings of Rhapsody in Blue, Popeye, Tintin and The Broadway Melody.

Happy Public Domain Day! Popeye, ‘Rhapsody in Blue,’ ‘The Sound and the Fury’ and Thousands of Other Captivating Creations Are Finally Free for Everyone to Use

On January 1, 2025, copyrights will expire for books, films, comic strips, musical compositions and other creative works from 1929, as well as sound recordings from 1924

James Earl Carter, Jr. by Robert Clark Templeton, 1980

The Lasting Legacy of Jimmy Carter, Dead at 100

Smithsonian curators remember and honor the 39th president’s uncompromising idealism

The Original Vienna Snow Globe Factory produces roughly 300,000 snow globes per year.

How an Experiment to Amplify Light in Hospital Operating Rooms Led to the Accidental Invention of the Snow Globe

The origins of the decoration lie in Vienna’s 17th district, where the inventor’s descendants are still making them for collectors around the world

Daniel Bachman at home in Madison County, Virginia, with his trusty Martin D-18 guitar.

A Brilliant Folk Musician Turned the Natural Sounds of the Blue Ridge Mountains Into Powerful Songs

Daniel Bachman is on a mission to evoke Virginia’s past through strange medleys of sounds

Fascinating finds unveiled in 2024 ranged from a jade Maya funerary mask to a Roman dodecahedron.

Cool Finds

Seventy-Seven Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2024, From a Mysterious ‘Anomaly’ Near the Great Pyramid of Giza to a Missing Portrait of Henry VIII

The year’s most exciting discoveries included musket balls fired in the early days of the American Revolution, a lost composition by Mozart and a medieval chess piece

Some people are genetically built to require less sleep than the rest of us.

Why Do Some People Thrive on So Little Sleep?

Short sleepers cruise by on four to six hours a night and don’t seem to suffer ill effects

Though they feed along coral reefs, hawksbills return to the beach to nest. Shane Gross, recently named 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, captured this image in Barbados.

Can a New DNA Database Help Save This Incredible Sea Turtle?

The shells of the hawksbill sea turtle have been used for luxury items for centuries, but with the species now endangered, new technology is pinpointing where protections are needed most

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