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Located on the Rhode River of the Chesapeake bay, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's new laboratory building emits 37 percent less CO2 and cuts energy costs by 42 percent.

A New Environmental Science Lab Now Walks the Walk, Cutting Its Overall Emissions by 37 Percent

With geothermal heating, on-site water reclamation and a host of other energy saving technologies, the Smithsonian’s first LEED-Platinum building opens

Geese lift off a lake in front of a sun pillar at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City, Missouri.

American South

The Best Places in America to See Fall Bird Migrations

All across the country, birds are making the trek south for the winter—here are some of the best places to witness their journey

Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia

Halloween

World’s Most Beautiful Cemeteries

A visit to these hauntingly beautiful cemeteries illuminates more than just mortality

The recipes from pizza maker Tony Gemignani's latest book, The Pizza Bible, will make your mouth water if the scrumptious images haven't already done the trick.

Want to Know How to Make Great Pizza? Consult the Guy Who Wrote the Bible on It

Tony Gemignani knows everything there is to know about making pizza, and now he’s telling you his secrets

A chimp steals a glance at a photographer in Uganda's Kibale National Park.

Chimps Caught in First Known Nighttime Crop Raids

“The nightlife of chimpanzees has been neglected,” say researchers who filmed wild animals using a fallen tree as a bridge into protected cornfields

To be or not to be human? That's a question some scholars still feel is up for debate when it comes to Homo floresiensis.

Ten Years On, the Flores “Hobbit” Remains an Evolutionary Puzzle

Why was the 2004 unveiling of a small hominin dubbed Homo floresiensis such a big deal?

The bedside S+ frees sleep trackers from uncomfortable watches and chest monitors.

Tech Watch

This Device Tracks Your Sleep Without Ever Touching You

The ResMed S+ monitors your Zzzs from the comfortable distance of your nightstand and offers tips for getting a better rest

A shrine marking London's Cross Bones Graveyard.

Halloween

The London Graveyard That’s Become a Memorial for the City’s Seedier Past

Thousands of bodies from London’s first red light district are buried beneath a lot in the South Bank, an area under massive redevelopment

While working for Mattel for over 15 years, Ellen Lutwak had a hand in naming products as recognizable as Barbie.

Meet the Woman Who Gives Products Their Names

A new toy is only as marketable as its name. That’s where Ellen Lutwak comes in

Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, photographed here in Paris in 1993, died on October 20, 2014.

Oscar de la Renta, Star of the Smithsonian’s Costume Collection

The late de la Renta designed haute couture and ready-to-wear. A decade ago, he donated items to the Smithsonian

Curiosity is able to take pictures of itself on Mars using a camera mounted to its robotic arm. This mosaic was made from 55 snapshots taken in October 2012.

An Insider’s Biography of a Celebrity Mars Rover

The chief engineer for Curiosity offers a peek at the NASA rover’s tumultuous rise to stardom in a new tell-all book

A pair of fuzzy alpaca.

New Research

Why the Alpaca Has No Humps

The camel cousin evolved fluff instead of fat because it was able to linger in an evolutionary slow lane, suggest newly sequenced genomes

Google's newest Street View collection takes users to Gombe Stream National Park, where Jane Goodall pioneered her chimpanzee behavioral research. "Don't forget to look up," a Google project manager says.

Exclusive: The Chimpanzees of Gombe National Park Make Their Street View Debut

For its latest collection, Google traveled to the African rainforest where Jane Goodall pioneered her groundbreaking chimp research

California-based artist emiko oye has been making jewelry out of LEGO products since 2006. Her work will be featured at the Smithsonian Craft2Wear show.

Lego Jewelry Transforms the Childhood Toy to High Fashion Art

Artist emiko oye turns colorful children’s blocks into items that are ready to wear, not play

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Art Meets Science

Gorgeous Portraits of Spineless Sea Creatures

In a new book, San Francisco-based photographer Susan Middleton captures the curious gestures and expressions of marine invertebrates

Some argue that the recent civil war in Syria was caused, at least in part, by droughts in the area, which led to greater social instability.

Anthropocene

Five Conflicts and Collapses That May Have Been Spurred by Climate Change

Earth’s changing climate has been a spectre in centuries of civil conflict and, at times, the collapse of whole civilizations

A plate filled with drops of blood detects microRNA patterns that might indicate cancers.

Testing for Cancer With a Single Blood Sample

Startup Miroculus has developed a system that screens for dozens of cancers in 90 minutes

America's answer to Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips explored the east and uncovered ancient treasures. An exhibition at the Sackler Gallery looks at his life and work.

Unearthing America’s Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips

Phillips uncovered millennia-old treasures beneath Arabian sand, got rich from oil and died relatively unknown

James Castle, Untitled, n.d., found paper, soot.

A World Of His Own: The Art of James Castle

Born profoundly deaf, the self-taught artist’s body of work depicts his unique relationship to the world around him

Estes has been painting scenes of cities and nature for half a century.

Richard Estes’ Incredibly Realistic Paintings Require a Double Take

Like stage sets, there seem to be a million stories embedded in the works of Richard Estes, icon of photorealism

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