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Articles

Did ADHD Play a Role in George Gershwin’s Eclectic Style?

The composer himself seemed to see a link between his restlessness and his art

Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace Has an Evil British Twin

Meet the lovable American cartoon character’s sinister counterpart

The statue of Abu Bint Deimun, from third century B.C. Hatra, Iraq. A global network of preservationists are teaming up to protect the world’s antiquities.

Crash Courses Prepare Art Conservators for Catastrophic Disasters

Smithsonian experts train a brave band of conservators in northern Iraq to brace buildings and rescue artifacts in a hurry

Virtual reality headsets at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam allow visitors to view digital reconstructions of artifacts destroyed by ISIS.

The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments

Scholars create a virtual archive of antiquities destroyed by extremists in Syria and Iraq

On his property, Jones County’s J. R. Gavin points out a site that was a hide-out for Newt Knight. “The Confederates kept sending in troops to wipe out old Newt and his boys,” says Gavin, “but they’d just melt into the swamps.”

The True Story of the ‘Free State of Jones’

A new Hollywood movie looks at the tale of the Mississippi farmer who led a revolt against the Confederacy

Texting is blamed for ruining personal discourse and common courtesy.

Texting Isn’t the First New Technology Thought to Impair Social Skills

When Alexander Graham Bell introduced the telephone, skeptics worried about how it might affect people’s interactions

MIT’s moisture-sensitive sportswear might one day be genetically modified to glow in the dark.

The First Truly Breathable Fabric Contains Living Bacteria

Microbiology meshes with fashion to create a new kind of cool

Tulsi Yadav teaches Shoba Narayan about the application and design of mehndi, or henna, at the Dera Mandawa haveli in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Formerly a private mansion, the Dera Mandawa is now a hotel.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

A Quest to Master the Art of Henna

In anticipation of her daugher’s wedding, Shoba Narayan set out to hone her mendhi craft

New Graphic Novel Writes the Wright Brothers’ Sister Back Into History

Four students journey back to the birth of aviation in ‘The Wrong Wrights’

Meteorites embedded in ice sheets that run into the Transantarctic mountains can work their way to the surface, making it easier for scientists to collect these fragmented space rocks.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Iron Meteorites Play Hide-and-Seek Under Antarctic Ice

Meteorites give scientists a glimpse into our early solar system, but the sun’s rays and melting ice may make these extraterestrial crumbs harder to find

When Work Becomes a Game

Across corporate America, applying the principles of games to the non-game setting of the workplace is a growing phenomenon

2015 Champion and People's Choice

Family Travel

Learn the Secrets of the World’s Best Snow Sculptors

On the shores of Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva, teams of snow carvers turn chilly columns into masterpieces

The weather breaks in the Comox Valley, and Queneesh makes an appearance.

What Happens to a Town’s Cultural Identity as Its Namesake Glacier Melts?

As the Comox Glacier vanishes, the people of Vancouver Island are facing hard questions about what its loss means for their way of life

The mausoleum of Cyrus in a cyanotype from a glass plate negative from the papers of Ernst Herzfeld.

How a German Archaeologist Rediscovered in Iran the Tomb of Cyrus

Lost for centuries, the royal capital of the Achaemenid Empire was finally confirmed by Ernst Herzfeld

A human-headed winged bull from the eighth century B.C. Assyrian royal palace in Khorsabad. ISIS razed the city’s ruins last year.

The Race to Save Syria’s Archaeological Treasures

The deliberate destruction of antiquities by ISIS and others in the birthplace of human civilization is cultural genocide

The skeleton of a Steller's sea cow hangs in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

“Mermaid Ivory” Stirs Controversy Over How Extinct Species Are Studied

The carved bones of marine mammals highlight the squishy regulations around their trade and what that means for science

U.S. species, like this red salamander, may be at risk as a new form of deadly amphibian fungus spreads.

A Ban on Salamanders Is Just Part of the Fight Against This Deadly Fungus

Scientists are deploying a variety of weapons as new clues emerge about the fungal diseases killing off amphibians

Onlookers crowd King Street in Alexandria, recently named America's most romantic city.

What’s America’s Most Romantic City?

A new Amazon.com list finds true love in Alexandria, Virginia

George Washington seems to be crying as he stares at FDR.

American South

How 43 Giant, Crumbling Presidential Heads Ended Up in a Virginia Field

After an ambitious monument went bust, big dreams—and big heads—remain

In 1972, Ray Charles visited Richard Nixon in the Oval Office

Breaking Ground

Ray Charles Returns to the White House

The blind king of soul once sat down with Richard Nixon, now his music will be performed by a host of musicians for Barack Obama

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