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Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota tied red yarn to hundreds of unpaired shoes for "Perspectives," opening August 30 at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

What’s In a Shoe? Japanese Artist Chiharu Shiota Investigates

An artist takes on the soul in the sole of your shoes in an exhibition at the Sackler Gallery of Art

Revelers are splattered with tomatoes during the yearly La Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain.

Photos from La Tomatina, the World’s Biggest Food Fight

On the last Wednesday of August each year, a small Spanish town erupts into a food fight featuring tomato-throwing

A wolf yawning in the snow near Hesse, Germany.

New Research

Yawning Spreads Like a Plague in Wolves

Evidence of contagious yawning in chimps, dogs and now wolves suggests that the behavior is linked to a mammalian sense of empathy

A closeup of jars, probably once filled with wine, at Tel Kabri in modern-day Israel.

New Research

Huge Wine Cellar Unearthed at a Biblical-Era Palace in Israel

Residue from jars at a Canaanite palace suggest the ruler preferred his red with hints of mint, honey and juniper

Seen in 2012, an excavator works on a road near an Indonesian oil palm plantation built on disputed lands once home to a rainforest.

The Best and Worst Places to Build More Roads

Road works today are “basically chaos”—but a new global road map could be key to protecting agriculture and nature

Russian artist Dmitry Morozov has devised a way to make pollution beautiful.

7 Ways Technology is Changing How Art is Made

Technology is redefining art in strange, new ways. Works are created by people moving through laser beams or from data gathered on air pollution

For the first time in more than a decade, bison will roam at the National Zoo.

The Historic Return of the American Bison

A National Zoo exhibition featuring the animal, long tied to Smithsonian history, opens Saturday

The hand-axe, reimagined.

Designers Remake Our Oldest Tool Using Our Newest Tool

More than a million years old, the hand axe is over due for an update

Illustrator Anthony Freda adapted Norman Rockwell's The Runaway to comment on police following this month's events in Ferguson, Missouri.

Rethinking Rockwell in the Time of Ferguson

An illustrator adapted Rockwell’s The Runaway based on images of contemporary police

A rendering illustrates how messages will appear in mid-air using Navdy's new dashboard head-up display.

Tech Watch

Navdy Projects Apps and Text Messages Onto the Windshield of Almost Any Car

A California startup is launching a system that puts maps, texts and calls right at eye level

Pink Sands Beach, Harbour Island, The Bahamas

The World’s Most Colorful Beaches

From green sand to glass, here are some of the most eye-popping beaches around the world

The Napa Valley may be beautiful, but its fertile soil is a double-edged sword.

Why Earthquakes Make Napa Wine Taste So Good

The soil that makes Napa Valley grapes so special also makes the region vulnerable to earthquakes

How Does Bao Bao Celebrate Her Birthday? With Cake, Bamboo and Hundreds of Fans

The National Zoo hosted a traditional Chinese ceremony for the giant panda’s first birthday

The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets

He’s the most important human skeleton ever found in North America—and here, for the first time, is his story

Debbie Harry on camera or a monitor during the video shoot for “Picture This,” c. 1978. Debbie was constantly asked, “How does it feel to be a sex symbol?” Literally exactly that question, over and over again.

Blondie Guitarist Chris Stein Shares His Secret Photographs of the 1970s and 1980s

Hearken back to the era of punk and new wave music with these snapshots

A building downtown at 2nd and Brown sustained damage from the 6.0 earthquake in Napa.

Trending Today

A New Way to See Earthquakes: Peoples’ Fitness Trackers

Yesterday’s Napa earthquake woke people up

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Benjamin Franklin Worked Here

Step into the London house where the inventor, scientist and founding father lived and worked

Screenshot of fire burning in space.

Zero-G Fire Pulses Like a Jellyfish on the Space Station

Balls of fire burning in low gravity could help scientists create cleaner, more efficient engine fuels

Thomas Edison’s House of Wizardry

A visit to the invention factory where Edison would earn the nickname “Wizard of Menlo Park”

Commemorate the War of 1812 With These Bicentennial Events

Gain new insight into the events of 1814 by attending these reenactments, concerts, walking tours and meals

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