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Articles

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

Pre Rup Temple rises in the distance as a worker fills a cart during the rice harvest in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.

Podcast: Farming Shaped the Rise and Fall of Empires in Cambodia

Beneath the country’s troubled history with the Khmer Rouge lies a complex agricultural legacy that reaches back centuries

A supercomputer simulation shows the gravitational waves produced as two black holes merge.

New Research

After a Century of Searching, We Finally Detected Gravitational Waves

Two merging black holes sent out a signal 1.3 billion years ago that now confirms a key prediction of Einstein’s relativity

Theodore Roosevelt with his four sons

The First Children Who Led Sad Lives

Several children of presidents met cruel fates in the first 150 years of our country’s history

People crowd on road near Balogun Market to shop. Lagos, Nigeria

Step Into a Noisy, Chaotic Nigerian Marketplace at The African Art Museum

West African artist Emeka Ogboh’s installation will be the first time the museum has featured a work of sound art

A free-standing, double-hulled steel shelter was installed beneath the front yard of Mr. and Mrs. Murland E. Anderson of Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

Dig Into the Nuclear Era’s Homegrown Fallout Shelters

In 1955, the head of Civil Defense urged everyone to build an underground shelter “right now”

Melt-Proof Chocolate, 3D Printed Gummies and Other Fascinating Candy Patents

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a quick look at some of the world’s most fascinating confectionery innovations

Future of Energy

Five Tech Innovations That Can Keep Your Car From Burning So Much Gas

Yes, gas is cheap, but car makers are still facing ambitious goals to make vehicles way more fuel efficient

Comb Through This Framed Collection of Presidential Hair

The Smithsonian keeps a most unusual artifact of hair clipped straight from the heads of presidents

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