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The pivotal accuser at the trials, Tituba, would go down in history as a purveyor of satanic magic. An 1880s engraving depicts her in the act of terrifying children.

Secrets of American History

Unraveling the Many Mysteries of Tituba, the Star Witness of the Salem Witch Trials

No one really knows the true motives of the character central to one of America’s greatest secrets

Secrets of American History

That Time When Custer Stole a Horse

The theft of a prize-winning stallion gave the famous general a glimpse of a future that could have been

A coffle of slaves being marched from Virginia west into Tennessee, c. 1850.

Secrets of American History

Retracing Slavery’s Trail of Tears

America’s forgotten migration – the journeys of a million African-Americans from the tobacco South to the cotton South

Secrets of American History

Thirty Years Later, We Still Don’t Truly Know Who Betrayed These Spies

Was there a fourth mole in the U.S. intelligence system that blew these secret agents’ covers?

A tiny camera is embedded in the horn of a black rhino.

How Technology May Help Save the Rhino From Extinction

Horns grown in a laboratory and hidden cameras could be the key to tackling this conservation challenge

Did Diplodocus walk with a spring in its neck?

New Research

How Long-Necked Dinosaurs Pumped Blood to Their Brains

Well-preserved fossils include spring-like neck bones that may have helped the giants get blood from their hearts to their heads

The app uses facial expression-tracking technology.

Can an App Help Detect Autism?

Duke University researchers are using facial expression-tracking technology to screen for autism spectrum disorders

"We pass from one realm of water to another," Brodsky told the author during their late-night walk through the city, which lasted until the first rays of dawn glinted over the sea.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The City Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky Called Paradise

A journalist recalls his witching-hour walk through Venice with the famous poet

A museum worker wearing gloves holds up a cuneiform clay tablet, one of a collection of over 100, on display at a museum in Jerusalem.

What the Heck is Cuneiform, Anyway?

The writing system is 6,000 years old, but its influence is still felt today

Pepin has recently announced his donation of the menu from that long-ago meal when he dined with Julia Child at her home shortly before her kitchen was dismantled and delivered to the Smithsonian Institution.

Jacques Pépin Donates a Hand-Painted Menu From His Last Supper With Julia Child

This month the modern traditionalist chef is honored with the first-ever Julia Child Award

Robert Kondo, Remy in the Kitchen, "Ratatouille," 2007

The Art and Design Behind Pixar’s Animation

A new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt in New York City draws on the rich backstory of what it takes to give computer-animated life to pen and ink sketches

A person stands in front of a fault in Utah. Better understanding how rocks behave under stress and along faults like this could help geologists more accurately identify places at risk of earthquakes.

Big Quakes Can Trigger Other Shakes Thousands of Miles Away

According to new research, when a big one strikes, more than aftershocks can follow

College Students are Living Rent-Free in a Cleveland Retirement Home

Research shows that the unique arrangement could have health benefits for the elderly

A color composite image highlighting pluto's brilliant diversity of color and texture. The western lobe of the heart—an area rich with nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane ice—is brightly displayed in the right of the image.

First Official Data From the Pluto Flyby Reshapes the Dwarf Planet’s History

“The ‘little spacecraft that could’ is making a lot of big discoveries,” says Alan Stern

This portrait of Patti Smith, a photograph by Lynn Goldsmith, was taken in 1976, a year after Horses, Smith’s breakout album.

Poetry Matters

Poet and Musician Patti Smith’s Endless Search in Art and Life

The National Portrait Gallery’s senior historian David Ward takes a look at the rock ‘n’ roll legend’s new memoir

The Innovative Spirit

New Software Makes Cyberbullies Think Twice

Teen programmer Trisha Prabhu created a program called ReThink to make cyberbullies reconsider before posting cruel messages

Today, the water tribunal in Valencia, Spain meets on the same day, in the same way and at the same time as it did 1,000 years ago.

Drink in History at the World’s Oldest Court

Valencia’s water tribunal doesn’t have written records or lawyers—but that doesn’t mean it’s outdated

Racers warm up before the annual Regata di Murano.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

How to Row Like a Venetian

The art of Venetian rowing has sustained Venice for centuries. Spend the day learning to row from a local expert

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Genius of Venice

The seafaring republic borrowed from cultures far and wide but ultimately created a city that was perfectly unique

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