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Articles

Turning New York City’s Subway Into a Symphony

Musician James Murphy wants to replace the beeps of the system’s turnstiles with beautiful music

Miki Sudo takes on the 2013 women's champ Sonya Thomas. Sudo would grab Thomas' title by consuming 34 hot dogs to Thomas' 27.75.

Urban Explorations

How a Hot Dog Eating Contest Became One of the Fourth of July’s Greatest Traditions

Why the American dream is shaped like a hot dog

Smart Startup

Can You Crack a Medical Mystery?

A startup called CrowdMed asks volunteer detectives to study cases of patients with symptoms that baffle doctors

Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster’s first book, was published in 1961 and came about accidentally, through procrastination and boredom.

Why Milo’s Sunrises Are a Symphony of Color in The Phantom Tollbooth

Author Norton Juster says one boon to his magical writing is that he was born with synesthesia and hears colors

In a still from Back to the Future: Part II Marty McFly asks his son about watching too much television

The Back to the Future Movies Are Obsessed With Television, Rightfully So

The McFlys’ constant attention to the TV was a perfect reflection of life in post-war America

Unlike the tails of almost all other animals, seahorse tails are more like square prisms than cylinders.

New Research

Why Seahorses Have Square Tails

Engineers show that the animals’ prism-like tails are mechanically superior to cylindrical ones

Roses mark a window filled with bullet holes after a shooting spree in Denmark.

New Research

Shootings and Mass Murders Seem to Be Contagious

Data spanning decades shows how high-profile events can cause outbreaks of similar killings that mirror the spread of disease

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to legalize marriage equality nationwide on June 26.

Can Science Help People Unlearn Their Unconscious Biases?

Social events, sleep training and even meditation may offer ways for people to erase biases they probably didn’t know they held

The Thomas Jefferson original granite base and obelisk is now complete with a Smithsonian-made reproduction of the marble plaque and on view at the University of Missouri.

Urban Explorations

Bringing Thomas Jefferson’s Battered Tombstone Back to Life

The founding father’s fragile grave marker has survived for centuries, enduring souveniring, a fire and errant repairs

From the Italian version of The Great Moon Hoax. Leopoldo Galluzzo, Altre scoverte fatte nella luna dal Sigr. Herschel (Other lunar discoveries from Signor Herschel), Napoli, 1836

Urban Explorations

The Great Moon Hoax Was Simply a Sign of Its Time

Scientific discoveries and faraway voyages inspired fantastic tales—and a new Smithsonian exhibition

An iconic remnant of the space shuttle Challenger disaster, this flag-covered piece of fuselage was hidden away in storage until NASA's new memorial launched on June 27, 2015.

NASA’s Memorial Honors Lives Lost on the Challenger and Columbia Missions

The permanent exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida displays remnants of the shuttles and items from fallen astronauts

Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton and his wife, Robin Davisson, greet Marie Dieng at the Institution's staff picnic on the National Mall. Skorton begins his tenure as the 13th Secretary on July 1.

On His First Day on the Job, Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton Discusses the Past and the Future

The new Smithsonian leader says he wants to emphasize the arts and humanities at a time when they are being deemphasized nationally

Two boxers spar in the ring in the outdoor gym Gimnasio de Boxeo Rafael Trejo in Old Havana, Cuba.

These Photos From Cuba Place You in the Boxing Ring

Photojournalist and wedding photographer Rebecca Barger captures vibrant images of local streets, architecture and athletes in Havana

For the first time, Florian Engert and his team mapped every firing neuron in a living animal.

How a Transparent Fish May Help Decode the Brain

An outspoken Harvard neuroscientist is tackling the wondrous challenge of understanding the workings of the brain

A Deep Dive Into the Skeleton of the Oldest-Known Modern Bird

A fossil found in China may offer new clues about avian evolution

What Did Insects Evolve From and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

In Ferguson, Missouri, a protester holds a rose during an August demonstration on W. Florissant Avenue, which intersects with Canfield Drive—the street where Michael Brown was killed.

Past and Presence

Photos From the Heart of the Ferguson Protests

The events sparked by the killing of young Michael Brown gave rise to a new civil rights movement that’s still growing

Robot jockeys ride camels in Abu Dhabi.

The Latest Sign That the Robot Uprising Is Nigh? Camel Racing

A centuries-old pastime in the United Arab Emirates gets a reboot

Melville joked that Dana’s descriptions of Cape Horn “must have been written with an icicle.”

Before Moby-Dick, There Was “Two Years Before the Mast”

This salty memoir by Richard Henry Dana Jr. was one of America’s first literary classics

The view inside Pompeii's old granary

The Fall and Rise and Fall of Pompeii

The famous archaeological treasure is falling into scandalous decline, even as its sister city Herculaneum is rising from the ashes

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