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This "smart" mattress cover can track sleep patterns along with respiration and heart rates.

This Week in Crowdfunding

A “Smart” Mattress Cover and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Don’t have a green thumb? A sensor for your potted plants alerts you when they need watering

Leonard Nimoy in his role as Mr. Spock, the logical, pointed-eared First Officer from the planet Vulcan of the starship Enterprise, on the TV series "Star Trek."

A Smithsonian Curator Reflects on Leonard Nimoy’s Passing and Why “Star Trek” Fans Loved Him

Nimoy, who was best known for his role as the deeply logical Mr. Spock, dies at age 83

Skiing toward the breaking waves on a slush-covered beach.

Anthropocene

How “Slurpee” Waves Formed Along a Nantucket Beach

New England’s record cold created the perfect conditions for waves of slush, offering an unusual opportunity to ski on the beach

Use Virtual Reality to Eliminate That Pain in Your Neck

Altering visual perceptions can trick the brains of chronic sufferers so they can enjoy pain-free motion

A Prado visitor touches a 3-D printed replica of a contemporaneous copy of the "Mona Lisa."

Please Touch the Art: 3-D Printing Helps Visually Impaired Appreciate Paintings

The new “Touching the Prado” exhibit in Madrid showcases 3-D replicas of paintings, so blind visitors can feel key works of art

One of two newly installed wind turbines at the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower Gets a Green Upgrade

The landmark now has two wind turbines above its second level

7 , 5 ° Rø, designed by German artists Wolfgang-A. Lüchow, Sebastian Andreas Scheller and Anja Kilian, offers a unique take on space by dividing the suite into 12 frames, each at an angle of 7.5 degrees from the other, forming a spiral-like suite that creates the illusion of infinity.

The Making and Remaking of the Original Ice Hotel

Often imitated but never duplicated, the world’s original ice hotel turns 25 this year

Chuck Brown (1936-2012), the Godfather of Go-Go, owned this six-string Gibson guitar, now in the collections of the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum.

Chuck Brown’s Guitar Drove the Musician’s Persuasive “Wind Me Up” Rhythm

The Godfather of Go-Go’s family recall how the musician crafted the innovative sound that would define a local tradition

Soldiers with the 173rd battle company, on a battalion-wide mission in the Korengal Valley in the village of Yakachina, Oct 19, 2007

The Courageous Photography of Lynsey Addario

The award-winning photojournalist has spent her adult life capturing the world in crisis, but now she chronicles her own life story

Peanut butter, known to the National Institute of Standards and Technology as SRM 2387.

Cool Finds

The Weird World of Standard Reference Materials, From Peanut Butter to Whale Blubber

Get the full story behind a $761 jar of peanut butter and other exorbitantly priced everyday objects used by scientists

United States Marines pose on top of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima with the American flag on February 23, 1945.

Photos From the Battle of Iwo Jima to Mark Its 70th Anniversary

The battle for the Pacific island in the late winter of 1945 positioned the United States to invade mainland Japan, but at a cost

Portrait in New York, in Lead Belly’s final days, 1948-49

The Incomparable Legacy of Lead Belly

This week a new Smithsonian Folkways compilation and a Smithsonian Channel show highlight the seminal blues man of the century

The Black Death is immortalized by the plague masks of Venice, like this stylized version used in a Carnival costume.

Plague Pandemic May Have Been Driven by Climate, Not Rats

The bacteria responsible for the Black Death were reintroduced to Europe multiple times, possibly due to the changing climate

This Dutch Wind Wheel Is Part Green Tech Showcase, Part Architectural Attraction

A giant structure proposed in Rotterdam puts cutting-edge energy tech inside a rotating observation wheel, with room for a hotel and apartments

National Park Service map of loud and quiet areas in the United States—yellow areas represent loud areas, while blue represents quiet.

National Park Service Map Shows The Loudest, Quietest Places In the U.S.

Want some peace and quiet? Avoid cities, the East Coast

Each Librii site will include an anchor building for housing collections, an e-hub with computers and an agora equipped with WiFi.

Smart Startup

Building Libraries Along Fiber-Optic Lines in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Washington, D.C.-based startup, Librii, is rethinking what a library looks like

This robot, made of drinking straws, teaches kids how to hack.

This Week in Crowdfunding

A Kit to Make Robots Out of Drinking Straws and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Perhaps a three-dimensional paper mount of an animal is just what your living room needs

Best Space Photos of the Week

These Stellar Wonders Include a Red Aurora and a Billowing Black Hole

A light show over Montana and an eruption snapped by a satellite feature among our picks for the week’s best space images

Marian Anderson approved stamp art by Albert Slark, c. 2005. Canadian-born artist Albert Slark created this full-color oil portrait of Marian Anderson from a circa 1934 black-and-white photograph.

Previously Seen on a Tiny Postage Stamp, These Beautiful Portraits of African-Americans Go on View

The artists who made them bring enormous dedication and talent to the artwork that adorns the nation’s mail

Best Travel Destinations for Food Foraging

Forage for wild foods like truffles, herbs and scallops on these guided tours—feasting included

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