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The clip-on Bluetooth device guides you through less-stressful days by keeping tabs on how you're breathing.

Tech Watch

Stressed? The Latest In Wearables Could Help Keep You Calm

Spire, a clip-on Bluetooth device available this fall, keeps tabs on stress by monitoring how you breathe

At the time of his death on May 9, 2014, Alexander Imich was the world's oldest man.

Keeping Track of the Oldest People in the World

The Gerontology Research Group catalogues on all of the world’s confirmed supercentenarians, or persons over 110 years old

Is this the face of a cold-blooded man-eater?

14 Fun Facts About Piranhas

They’re not cute and cuddly, but they may be misunderstood, and scientists are rewriting the fish’s fearsome stereotype

The yellow card is an elegant design solution that has been adopted by several sports.

World Cup 2014

Who Invented the Yellow Card?

Penalty cards are a surprisingly recent creation that were, perhaps unsurprisingly, inspired by traffic lights

The TellMeDave robot is designed to take orders.

Tech Watch

Robots Are Smart—But Can They Understand Us?

Researchers at Cornell are developing a new way for the machines to interpret the imprecise way humans speak

Skulls of the genus Homo, including two from Homo erectus on the right

New Research

Ability to Adapt Gave Early Humans the Edge Over Other Hominins

Features thought to be characteristic of early Homo lineages actually evolved before Homo arose. Rather, our flexible nature defines us

14 Fun Facts About Fireworks

Number three: Fireworks are just chemical reactions

Visit These Iconic Forrest Gump Filming Locations

Unlike a box of chocolates, you can know what you’re going to get with these places from Gump’s epic life

Check out the Colonial Ties cocktail, or find a new favorite below.

Five All-American Cocktail Recipes from the Nation’s Top Mixologists

Raise a glass this summer to America’s vibrant cocktail history by whipping up some of these classic drinks

Among the many downsides of natural gas extraction are the small earthquakes caused by injecting wastewater back into the earth. Above, an oil rig drills for natural gas through shale.

New Research

Time to Start Paying Attention to Fracking’s Earthquakes

With wastewater injection sparking swarms of small quakes, some states are taking notice of the danger

Samba school Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel performs at the sambodromo during the carnival of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 03 March 2014.

World Cup 2014

Samba and Sway to These Brazilian Songs Compiled By Smithsonian Folkways

Take a virtual tour through the country’s diverse musical traditions

The Gurranes — Moonlight, Castletownshend, Ireland, 2005

11 Photographs of Mysterious Megaliths

Photographer Barbara Yoshida traveled across the globe to capture prehistoric stone monuments shrouded in moonlight

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Tech Watch

With $20 And Some Cardboard, You Too Can Enter Google’s Virtual World

A new project from the tech giant hopes to entice developers by creating a low-cost platform users can assemble on their own.

More than 1,200 newspapers serve ethnic communities across America. Current front pages from some of those publications are on display at the Newseum.

Washington, D.C.

News For All: How the Immigrant Experience Shaped American Media

From Benjamin Franklin to Noticiero Univision, the Newseum discusses the profound influence of immigrants on modern news

A vendor offers dates for sale on a roadside, as Muslims across the world prepare for the holy month of Ramadan, in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Five Ways to Eat Dates

During the month of Ramadan, millions of Muslims break fast with the superfood

Satay at Lau Pa Sat in Singapore

Three International Twists on BBQ

This summer, ditch the tired menu of burgers and hot dogs, and instead, try grilling Turkish kofte or slathering fish in Singapore’s spicy sambal sauce

A group of Chilean devil rays basking in shallow waters around an underwater mountain near the Azores.

New Research

Chilean Devil Rays Found to Be Among the Deepest-Diving Animals in the Ocean

The surface-dwelling marine creatures regularly dive more than one mile deep, scientists find

Itinerant African American musicians played to so many different audiences that they had to be as versatile as a jukebox.

Before There was the Blues Man, There Was the Songster

A new release from Smithsonian Folkways celebrates the diverse sounds of turn-of-the-century itinerant musicians

New fabrication techniques and digital technologies are expanding the possibilities of the analog medium.

Forget Vinyl. Forget the Cloud. In the Future We’ll Listen to Music on UV-Cured 3D-Printed Resin

Musicians, developers, and inventors prove that there’s more to records than vinyl

The current go-to method for testing blood-alcohol is a breathalyzer. But lasers could help police officers detect drunk drivers as soon as next year.

Tech Watch

Lasers Could Detect Drunk Drivers On The Road

Polish researchers say they have developed a method to check blood alcohol levels through car windows

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