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A spoon and bowl for dieters.

Austria

Embrace the Art of Failure at Austria’s Nonseum

From nosepickers to historic buttonholes, the Nonseum is full of failed inventions

Four engineering students from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada invented a printer that produces circuit boards in minutes.

This Year’s James Dyson Award Goes to a Circuit Board Printer

Four engineering students in Canada win the prestigious international award with their invention, which they hope will speed up electronics manufacturing

Marking the reopening of the Renwick Gallery, Donovan constructed 10 towers by stacking and gluing hundreds of thousands of index cards on top of each other.

The Renwick Reopens

What Do One Million Index Cards, Stacked Atop Each Other, Look Like? Artist Tara Donovan Does It Again

The artist’s looming installation recalls the volcanic fairy chimneys of Turkey’s Cappadocia region

This creamy expanse is Sputnik Planum, the western lobe of the heart-shaped feature on Pluto.

New Research

Pluto May Have Ice Volcanoes at the Bottom of Its Heart

Two southern peaks have depressions that hint they once spewed icy slurry onto the tiny world’s surface

A victorious commander rides in a chariot during a triumphal procession in ancient Rome.

What You Don’t Know About Ancient Rome Could Fill a Book. Mary Beard Wrote That Book

The British historian reveals some surprises about the ancient Roman people and their customs

Could This MIT Economist Make Banking Useful to the Poor?

Natalia Rigol is attempting to figure out if community information can help developing world banks decide who to lend to

The crew promised the donation of the iconic two-foot hourglass and the original audio tape of late cast member MacDonald Carey saying, “like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”

For 50 Years, Days of Our Lives Has Made History. Now, It’s a Part of the Smithsonian

The show’s iconic hourglass is among a host of donations the show’s producer and cast members made to the American History Museum

“The Chesapeake is one of my favorite waterways, partly because people outside of the area aren’t as familiar with it,” says Maya Lin, who created Folding the Chesapeake at the Renwick Gallery.

Maya Lin Used 54,000 Marbles to Model the Chesapeake Bay

The artist’s highly imaginative waterway was created using satellite imagery from NASA

A large display case holds the fossil of a plesiosaur at the Natural History Museum in London.

New Research

A Long-Necked Marine Reptile Is the First Known to Filter Feed Like a Whale

The bizarre Mortuneria used sieve-like teeth to strain tasty morsels from the muddy Cretaceous seafloor

Women observe anti-Semitic graffiti in Vienna in a film shot by an American in 1938.

Watch Rarely Seen Footage of Life in Nazi Austria, Thanks to a New Video Archive

The Ephemeral Films Project offers the public a chance to see what Jews experienced during the Anschluss

When You Sweat, Vents in These Clothes Automatically Open

Harnessing the power of bacteria, MIT researchers and New Balance have created breathable workout gear

Ribbons of light slash through the darkness that is New York City during the Giant power Failure November (th. The "ribbons" are formed by the lights of vehicles moving along a highway.

When New York City Lost Power in 1965, Radio Saved the Day

How the news was reported on the day of the famous blackout

A bird watcher walks through a dried-up riverbed in the Netherlands in 2007.

Age of Humans

A New “Drought Atlas” Tracks Europe’s Extreme Weather Through History

The data, based on tree rings, fills in details about past events and could help improve climate modeling for the future

Five hundred years ago, officials welcomed foreign Jews to Venice, but confined them to a seven-acre section of the Cannaregio district, a quarter soon known as the Ghetto after the Venetian word for copper foundry, the site’s previous tenant.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Centuries-Old History of Venice’s Jewish Ghetto

A look back on the 500-year history and intellectual life of one of the world’s oldest Jewish quarters

Hybrid Holism, dress, July 2012. 3D-printed UV-curable polymer. In collaboration with Julia Koerner and Materialise. High Museum of Art.

The Dutch Designer Who Is Pioneering the Use of 3D Printing in Fashion

In a new exhibition, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta shows how Iris van Herpen started a high-tech movement

A detail of Jennifer Angus' work In the Midnight Garden, 2015

The Renwick Reopens

How Thousands of Dead Bugs Become a Mesmerizing Work of Extraordinary Beauty

With much love for the insect world, artist Jennifer Angus crafts an installation made entirely out of beetles, cicadas, katydids and weevils

The site where workers found crypts just a few feet beneath the surface.

Construction Workers Find 200-Year-Old Bodies Buried Just a Few Feet Below Greenwich Village

Two crypts uncovered near Washington Square Park a reminder of New York City’s past

When people come to the Smithsonian,” says lighting designer Scott Rosenfeld, (inside the gallery displaying the work of mixed media artist Gabriel Dawe) “they want to experience art. They don’t have to worry about spectrum.”

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick’s New Lighting Saves Energy, Money, Art, and Your Eyes, All at the Same Time

There’s way more to it than just screwing in the bulb and the museum’s chief lighting designer is turning it into an artform

A 17th-century engraving of the revolutionary printer

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Man Who Changed Reading Forever

The Venetian roots of revolutionary modern book printer Aldus Manutius shaped books as we know them today

Europe

Experience Alpine Enchantment at These Eight Austrian Huts

Grander than their name might imply, these hütten are the perfect perch for weary travelers

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