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The flight deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier Hornet, some 800 miles off Tokyo Japan, where it shows some of 16 Billy Mitchell (B-25) Bombers, under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle, just before they were guided off flight deck for historic raid on Tokyo, April of 1942.

The Untold Story of the Vengeful Japanese Attack After the Doolittle Raid

When the U.S. responded to Pearl Harbor with a surprise bombing of Tokyo, the Imperial Army took out its fury on the Chinese people

Yum! A candy-colored view of the planet Mercury shows differences in its chemical makeup.

New Research

Earth May Have Become Magnetic After Eating a Mercury-Like Object

Swallowing a sulfur-rich protoplanet could help explain two lingering mysteries in the story of Earth’s formation

MIT Researchers Think They Can Spot Early Signs of Parkinson’s in the Way People Type

By monitoring how long we hold down keystrokes, it may be possible to detect neurological diseases years before other symptoms appear

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As Part of a Museum Dance Off, National Museum of American History Breaks it Down

Twenty-eight museums around the world vie for the ultimate honor

Only a Handful of People Can Enter the Chauvet Cave Each Year. Our Reporter Was One of Them.

A rare trip inside the home of the world’s most breathtaking cave painting leaves lasting memories

A stunning, modern wing of the Royal Library of Copenhagen, added in 1999.

The World’s Most Interesting (and Accessible) Library Collections

From the Magna Carta to Winnie the Pooh, what you can see at some of the world’s great libraries

Vacant casemates became open-air cells for more than 500 inmates serving time for desertion, mutiny, murder and other offenses.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

How Samuel Mudd Went From Lincoln Conspirator to Medical Savior

Banished to an island prison in the Gulf of Mexico, the doctor who set Booth’s broken leg saved dozens of lives in a yellow fever outbreak

Soldiers on the Union side look solemn as they carry a large flag.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

What the Final, Major 150th Anniversary Civil War Reenactment Looked Like

What war—and surrender—looked like on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War

Prototype of the original Jogbra

The Innovative Spirit - OLD

The First Jogbra Was Made by Sewing Together Two Men’s Athletic Supporters

An archive collected from the sports company reveals that the bra gave a boost to women’s athletics

The top hat, with a silk mourning band for his son Willie, was worn last to Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

A Host of Relics from Lincoln’s Last Days All Came to Reside at the Smithsonian

The Lincoln collection at the American History Museum marks the horrific tragedy and the poignancies of a nation in mourning

This winter jacket is light, thin and made of the same special ingredient that insulates astronaut spacesuits.

This Week in Crowdfunding

A Winter Jacket Made From the Same Material as NASA Spacesuits and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Plus, a high-tech update to the tried-and-true jump rope

A man holds his mobile phone as he sits in the ruins of a house in Minamisanriku, Japan, after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Getting a Push Notification on Your Cell Phone? It Could Be Warning You About an Earthquake

Sophisticated GPS sensors in the average mobile device could be harnessed for seismic early warning systems around the world

Librarian Aboubakar Yaro examines an Islamic manuscript from the 17th century at the Djenne Library of Manuscipts, in Djenne, Mali, September 2012. Djenne is thought to have at least 10,000 manuscripts held in private collections, dating from the 14th to 20th centuries.

Why We Have a Civic Responsibility to Protect Cultural Treasures During Wartime

With the recent deliberate destruction of cultural treasures in the Middle East, we remember the measures taken in the past to preserve our heritage

The Innovative Spirit

What is the Nine Millionth Patent?

The landmark announcement is part of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Patent Act

A 3D visualization of the Three-Eyed Raven concept.

The Set Designer From Game of Thrones Hints at What’s to Come in Season Five

Production Designer Deborah Riley discusses the influences behind the intricate and imposing sets of the hit HBO show

Azar Nafisi is the recipient of the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate in the Humanities and Public Service.

Azar Nafisi on Why the Arts and Humanities Are Critical to the American Vision

The author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran” and recipient of a Smithsonian award, discusses why in education art matters as much as science

Bob Baker in 2013.

Urban Explorations

The Curtain Hasn’t Closed Quite Yet on America’s Longest-Running Puppet Theater

Though its namesake died last year, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater is still hosting performances for audiences of all ages

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Best Space Photos of the Week

An Einstein Ring and an Asteroid “Dart” Are Among These Space Stunners

A lensed galaxy and a mission to manipulate a space rock feature among our picks for this week’s best space images

The yurt, a portable, circular hut, has been a part of Central Asian nomadic culture for centuries. During the Soviet era, metal was abundant and cheap, so metallic yurts frequent Kyrgyzstan ancestral cemeteries. An Islamic crescent tops this yurt, and a Kyrgyz hunting eagle spreads its wings in the background.

Kyrgyzstan’s Otherworldly Cities of the Dead

Photographer Margaret Morton traveled to the remote corners of the Central Asian nation to document its city-like ancestral cemeteries

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Ask Smithsonian: Could the Volcano Beneath Yellowstone National Park Ever Erupt?

The good news is that an eruption there is highly unlikely, but the bad news is that it would be huge

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