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A skull of an ancient dinosaur was digitally restored and reconstructed using new imaging tools.

Tech Watch

How New Tech for Ancient Fossils Could Change The Way We Understand Animals

X-ray topography, virtual models and 3D printing are advancing our knowledge of the ancient animals—and modern ones, too

This is the first pterosaur egg ever found that had not been flattened, discovered by paleontologists at the Turpan-Hami Basin in northwestern China.

Found: 120-Million-Year-Old Colony of Fossilized Flying Reptiles, Plus Their Eggs

The eggs were unearthed in the midst of a boneyard of pterosaurs, lending insight into the behaviors of ancient flying reptiles

Sacajawea guiding the expedition from Mandan through the Rocky Mountains. Painting by Alfred Russell.

Lewis and Clark Only Became Popular 50 Years Ago

For 150 years, the famous explorers were relatively unknown characters

Noon mass at Saint Vincent de Paul's Church on D-Day.

Photos From the Hours After Americans Heard About the D-Day Invasion

Black and white photos from the Library of Congress show New Yorkers rallying, praying, on June 6, 1944

Les Braves war memorial sculpture on Omaha Beach.

Why a Walk Along the Beaches of Normandy Is the Ideal Way to Remember D-Day

Follow in the footsteps of legendary reporter Ernie Pyle to get a real feel for the events that took place 70 years ago

Interior view of the Amazon Arena.

World Cup 2014

Will Brazil’s World Cup Stadium in the Middle of the Amazon Pay Off?

The city of Manaus hopes that a new soccer stadium, built for the World Cup, will become a post-tournament boon to the economy

The California-based Raydiance has released a machine called R-Cut, which uses a femtosecond laser to cut sleek glass surfaces that aren't possible with existing manufacturing.

Tech Watch

Lasers Faster Than The Blink Of An Eye Could Change Glass On Our Phones

A new screen-chiseling method will give high-end finishes to low-end phones—and could revolutionize screens in everything from cars to smart watches, too.

Hurricane Irene caused destruction throughout the Caribbean and along the U.S. East Coast, killing more than 50 people in late August 2011.

New Research

Our Gender Biases May Be Making Hurricanes With Female Names More Deadly

Even without Katrina and Audrey, storms with feminine monikers have killed more people than those with masculine names

A Swiss map at the printing office of the Federal Office of Topography in Wabern, Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

The Unlikely History of the Origins of Modern Maps

GIS technology has opened up new channels of understanding how the world works. But where did it begin?

Art Meets Science

This Photographer Creates Fine Art Out of Trash We Throw Into the Environment

Barry Rosenthal obsessively collects washed up garbage along New York’s waterways and then assembles it into stunning but disturbing art works

Police officers stand proudly with jars and crates of moonshine, brewed illegally duirng the prohibition. Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Grab a Drink, on the Sly, at One of D.C.’s Former Speakeasies

Prohibition might have lasted longer in D.C. than anywhere else, but that didn’t stop the District from throwing a few back

Anatomically Correct Hibiscus; yarn; 2005; 45" x 45" x 32"

Art Meets Science

Sowing a Garden, One Knit Flower At a Time

Providence-based artist Tatyana Yanishevsky’s sculptures of various plant species are botanically accurate in almost everything but their scale

A new way to wirelessly charge devices inside the body could allow for medical implants as small as a grain of rice.

Tech Watch

No Batteries Here: New Implants Can Charge Through Your Body’s Own Tissue

A device being tested by Stanford University researchers is the latest in an area of medical development known as “electroceuticals.”

An oil tanker makes its way to Valdez, Alaska. The Arctic’s rich stores of oil and natural gas make it an attractive destination for future voyages.

Arctic Shipping: Good For Invasive Species, Bad For the Rest of Nature

A pair of Smithsonian marine biologists argue that a warming Arctic puts the area at risk for inviting invasive species

Eliot R. Brown's hand drawn map of Gotham.

The Cartographer Who Mapped Out Gotham City

Batman has been guarding Gotham for 75 years, but its city limits weren’t defined until 1998

"Roombots" could change the way we build furniture.

Tech Watch

Robots As Furniture?

A team of Swiss researchers has created robots that self-assemble into tables and chairs—but they could also be used to help the elderly and disabled.

Van Aken in the MIRA kitchen in the late 80s. MIRA is where New World Cuisine started entering the spotlight.

Why We Have Norman Van Aken to Thank for the Way We Dine Out Today

The James Beard Award winner tells us, and gives us recipes, about the early days of fusion food

Family photographs collected from around the United States are featured in Beyond Bollywood. Here, Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Shrimati Sanjukta Ghosh, with Vikram (Boomba) Ghosh at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, Lagunitas, Calif., ca. 1970.

How Museums and the Arts are Presenting Identity So That It Unites, Not Divides

Curators and practioners of the arts share a renewed focus on how culture and heritage shape who we are as Americans

A Cyclosa ginnaga spider perched amid its silk web decoration looks strangely like the result of a bird relieved itself in the forest understory.

New Research

This Spider Web Was Deliberately Spun to Look Like Bird Poop

It’s not artistic license. The arachnid avoids predators by masquerading as bird droppings, say scientists

Famed designer Massimo Vignelli

Remembering Massimo Vignelli, the Innovator Who Streamlined Design and Changed the Industry Forever

The famed designer passed away Tuesday at the age of 83

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