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Articles

Wayne Shorter and McCoy Tyner at Shorter's April 29, 1964 session for "Night Dreamer" at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

These Rarely Seen Images Show Jazz Greats Pouring Out Their Hearts

Frank Wolff’s gritty portraits, the hallmark of Blue Note Records, became a visual catalog of jazz in action

Cow by Bear. Eat cow... served by a bear.

Eat Dinner Cooked by a Bear

This furry chef serves international cuisine in San Diego—when he isn’t hibernating

The Anna’s hummingbird is one of many species of birds that attract females with sounds generated by their feathers.

These Birds Can Sing Using Only Their Feathers

When feathers meet air in just the right way, birds can create distinctive sounds

The Chilarchaea quellon trap-jaw spider can snap its long chelicerae shut in about a quarter of a millisecond.

Tiny Spiders Are the Fastest Known on Earth

Some trap-jaw spiders can snap their mouths shut with incredible force—in less than a millisecond

Germany, Hamburg, Speichrstadt and Hafencity district

Age of Humans

Coastal Cities Need to Radically Rethink How They Deal With Rising Waters

“Transitional architecture” is both a futuristic solution to sea-level rise and a hearkening back to older ways of living

Photograph of British Kil class patrol gunboat HMS Kildangan painted in dazzle camouflage.

World War I: 100 Years Later

When the British Wanted to Camouflage Their Warships, They Made Them Dazzle

In order to stop the carnage wrought by German U-Boats, the Allied powers went way outside the box

Crisis, From the series Ashab Al-Lai/ Fault Mirage: A Thousand Lost years by Ahmed Mater, 2015

A Changing Mecca Is the Focus of the First U.S. Exhibition to Feature a Saudi Artist

The works of Ahmed Mater at the Sackler examine the stark collision of the sacred and profane

Cemeteries of the Future

Do you want to be buried in a coral reef, a skyscraper or on an artificial island?

Rima Timbaryan collects dough for baking.

Armenia

Tastes of Memory: How to Bake an Authentic Armenian Lavash

Preserving Armenian culture, memory and identity in the kitchen

Alex Hudson wearing Specs4Us glasses

Designing Glasses That Fit Individuals With Down Syndrome

Optician Maria Dellapina started Specs4Us when her daughter struggled to find a pair of glasses that wouldn’t slip

Chester Medicine Crow (Apsáalooke, Crow) and his grandfather Joe Medicine Crow (Apsáalooke, Crow)

Remembering Dr. Joe Medicine Crow

He showed us we are capable of great things when we look within ourselves, says scholar Nina Sanders

Feather identification expert Roxie Laybourne stands surrounded by colorful birds. This image took roughly eight hours to set up.

The Story Behind Those Jaw-Dropping Photos of the Collections at the Natural History Museum

The images capture only a fraction of the millions of creatures and objects that are stored away from the public eye

Don Cheadle stars as Miles Davis in the new film Miles Ahead.

Smithsonian Jazz Expert Gives Liner Notes to the New Miles Davis Biopic

The American History Museum’s James Zimmerman dives into Miles Davis’ sound and style

Waterfall Display

A Show of Over 6,000 Orchids Celebrates a Victorian-Era Obsession

Succumb to “Orchidelirium” at The New York Botanical Garden

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

What to Read, Watch and Download Before Your Trip to India

Know before you go

Hoh Rainforest moss

National Parks

Is This the Quietest Square Inch in the U.S.?

An acoustic ecologist reveals his findings

Halo says its headphones can strengthen muscle memory.

Can Headphones That Shock Your Brain Help You Run Faster and Jump Higher?

They’re called Halo Sport, and they send electrical charges into the brain that their inventors say can boost athletic performance

Super-Natural (2011/2016), Han Seok Hyun. Artist Han Seok Hyun sourced green materials from supermarkets in Boston and his home city of Seoul for this fanciful landscape.

11 Artists Capture What It Is Like to Live in a Megacity

“Megacities Asia,” a new exhibition at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, features 19 installations inspired by cities with populations of 10 million or more

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