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Letters written by Abraham Lincoln

Letters from Mothers to President Lincoln

A sampling of motherly missives to the president

Bees from a single species aren't as effective in pollinating as bees from a diversity of species, a new study shows.

New Research

A Diversity of Bees Is Good for Farming—And Farmers’ Wallets

A new study shows that if more species of bees are available to pollinate blueberry flowers, blueberries get fatter

Advertisement for a United stateroom trunk, 1911, with the familiar proportions of a modern suitcase.

The History of the Humble Suitcase

Modern luggage has been constantly reinvented during its short 120-year history

10 Things Science Says About Being A Mom In 2014

Among them: she usually underestimates the height of her youngest child and her diet when she conceives could change her offspring’s DNA.

Brown and Silver: Old Battersea Bridge, James McNeill Whistler, 1859—1863

Washington, D.C.

See 19th-Century London Through the Eyes of James McNeill Whistler, One of America’s Greatest Painters

The largest U.S. display in 20 years of Whistler artworks highlights the artist’s career in England

A c. 1945-1947 postcard from Florida's Gerbing Gardens depicts the sunken pool and fountain, framed in marigolds and azaleas.

Gardens May Change From Season To Season, But Their History Lives On At the Smithsonian

Smithsonian Gardens announces a new digital archive to collect the stories, photographs, legend and lore of America’s gardens and gardeners

Think Big

Watch the Universe Evolve Over 13 Billion Years

A new computer simulation, called Illustris, can take you on an epic journey through space and time

One of the National Zoo's new lion cubs, born this spring.

Meet the Babies of the National Zoo

The National Zoo is home to babies of all species this Spring. You can just smell the cuteness in the air

Around three billion people worldwide depend on rice for their diet. But a new study finds that rice and other crops grown under high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide results in lower levels of some nutrients.

New Research

More Carbon Dioxide in the Air Makes Some Crops Less Nutritious

Crops such as rice and wheat have lower concentrations of some nutrients when they’re grown under an atmosphere with higher levels of the greenhouse gas

Daiquiri mixing machines at Wet Willie's.

The Surprising History of Making Alcohol a Powdered Substance

A startup is seeking approval to sell alcohol in tiny inconspicuous packets. But the science is decades old

A hyper realistic reconstruction of an Australopithecus africanus based on cast of the skull STS5 (nicknamed "Mrs Ples") discovered in 1947 in Sterkfontein, South Africa. The fossil STS5 is between 2.1 and 2.7 million years old.

Art Meets Science

Paleoartist Brings Human Evolution to Life

For Elisabeth Daynès, sculpting ancient humans and their ancestors is both an art and a science

An overly alluring research subject.

New Research

Biologists Are Biased Toward Penises

Researchers interested in the evolution of animal genitalia tend to focus on the male side of that equation, often unjustifiably ignoring the female

Old Medical College at 598 Telfair Street in March 1934.

Meet Grandison Harris, the Grave Robber Enslaved (and then Employed) By the Georgia Medical College

For 50 years, doctors-in-training learned anatomy from cadavers dug up by a former slave

At the Mpala research facility in Kenya, scientists can use fences to exclude large animals, such as zebras, from ecosystems to study the effect of their absence.

New Research

How Will Wildlife Loss Affect Diseases That Jump From Animals to Humans?

In an east African case study, scientists found that taking large wildlife out of an ecosystem increases the number of disease-infested rodents

Margarita

No Limes? Not a Problem. Here’s How to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo Without Them

Rising prices for the citrus fruit have inspired bartenders to get their creative juices flowing

A cluster of variola viruses viewed under an electron microscope. Strains of the variola virus cause smallpox disease.

Should We Destroy Our Last Living Samples of the Virus That Causes Smallpox?

Later this month, the World Health Organization will decide whether or not to get rid of two live virus repositories in the United States and Russia

This is the face of deception.

New Research

This Bird Tricks Other Animals Into Handing Over Their Meals

The African drongo mimics warning calls of other animals to scare them away from food, but mixes true warnings with lies to keep those animals guessing

The Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza (Egypt). Ca. 1845. Lithography by David Roberts.

New Research

A Simple Trick May Have Helped the Egyptians Build the Pyramids

No ancient aliens needed: A little bit of water reduces friction when dragging a sled over sand

Etsy Product Design: Building the marketplace, global, ongoing.

Cooper-Hewitt Gets Crafty and Honors Etsy with a National Design Award

Other recipients of the National Design Museum’s prestigious award include fashionista Narciso Rodriguez and writer Witold Rybcznski

Bayou crawfish boil

Why Crawfish Are Louisiana’s Culinary Gift to the Nation

What makes the crustacean a springtime treat, whether its in gumbo or an etouffee

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