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Congo's second civil war ended in 2003, but ongoing conflict has left millions displaced. Two million were forced from their homes in 2012, for instance, due to violence in the eastern part of the country.

New Research

Congo’s Civil Wars Took A Toll On Its Forests

Conflicts drove the human population deep into protected areas, satellite maps reveal

Fossil whale skeletons, evidence of an ancient mass stranding of the animals, discovered during the building of the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile in 2011.

New Research

Scientists Solve the Mystery of a Nine-Million-Year-Old Mass Whale Die-Off

Ancient blooms of toxic algae appear to have killed dozens of whales at once

On Oct. 30, 1964, a policeman dusts for fingerprints on case broken into by a cat burglar who made off with some $200,000 in jewels from the Museum of Natural History.

How Three Amateur Jewel Thieves Made Off With New York’s Most Precious Gems

The fascinating story of the hunt for Murf the Surf, a criminal who wasn’t quite the mastermind he made himself out to be

Would you want a ring made from the cremated remains of a friend or family member?

Tech Watch

A Startup Claims To Turn the Dead into Diamonds

The Swiss-based company, Algordanza, says it’s developed a technology that transforms the ashes of a deceased loved one into keepsake jewelry

Buddha's hand sliced where all the fingers are splitting off the main fruit.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

What the Heck Do I Do With a Buddha’s Hand?

Yes, you can eat this thing

Marilyn Monroe performs at a USO show in 1954.

New Research

Science Explores Our Magical Belief in the Power of Celebrity

People will pay more for memorabilia, a study finds, simply if they believe a celebrity touched it

Child-sized gas masks in elementary school, Pripyat, Chernobyl zone of exclusion

What Would the World Look Like Without People?

Photojournalist Oleg Mastruko spent eight years photographing abandoned locations for his project “Without People”

A dollar bill found floating in the basement of the offices of Smack Mellon, a Brooklyn arts organization, after flooding due to Superstorm Sandy. Submitted by Adriane Colburn.

Art Meets Science

A Crowdsourced Collection of Objects That Embody Climate Change

“A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting” features publicly submitted items from places that could be on the brink of disappearance

With Avegant Glyph, movies and games are beamed directly into the wearer's eyeballs through a patented "virtual retina" system.

Tech Watch

This Headset Can Beam Movies Directly Into Your Eyes

The Avegant Glyph is the first wearable tech that replicates an evening at the cinema

A deep chill covered much of the eastern half of the United States this winter. Winds known as the polar vortex did not blow in as tight a formation as they have in the past. When they loosened, they let Arctic air spill south, seen by the blue in this picture. Atmospheric scientist Jennifer Francis says that this pattern can be blamed on Arctic warming.

Why We Can Blame A Warm Arctic For This Winter’s Icy Chill

Arctic amplification is affecting the jet stream and letting weather systems persist longer, atmospheric scientist says

Dr. Woosuk Bang, a Ph.D. candidate at the time of this photograph, prepares his doctoral thesis experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser. Earlier experiments with terawatt class lasers proved that clusters of gaseous molecules could be converted into ion energy. Dr. Bang's experiment, among the first to be conducted with the Texas Petawatt, created an ion plasma of sufficient temperature and density to catalyze neutron fusion reactions.

Art Meets Science

Adventures In Laser Science

A photo series by Austin-based photographer Robert Shults casts physicists and their everyday life in the lab in a sci-fi B-movie light

Restaurateur Johnny Kan in the center, 1965

The Lazy Susan, the Classic Centerpiece of Chinese Restaurants, Is Neither Classic nor Chinese

How the rotating tool became the circular table that circled the globe

From the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

How Merv Griffin Came Up With That Weird Question/Answer Format for Jeopardy!

Champion Ken Jennings delves into what gives the virtually unchanged game show its lasting power

Your Weekly Sermons, Illustrated

Artist John Hendrix finds divine inspiration every Sunday when he goes to church

Text Me, Ishmael: Reading Moby Dick in Emoji

Why someone would translate Herman Melville’s classic into emoticons

The Baliem Valley was a “magnificent vastness” in Rockefeller’s eyes, and its people were “emotionallly expressive.” But Asmat proved to be “more remote country than what I have ever seen.”

What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller

A journey to the heart of New Guinea’s Asmat tribal homeland sheds new light on the mystery of the heir’s disappearance there in 1961

This double-edged iron sword was found in Denmark’s Tisso Lake.

The Vikings’ Bad Boy Reputation Is Back With a Vengeance

A major new exhibition is reviving the Norse seafarers’ iconic image as rampagers and pillagers

Fast Forward

Photos: The Rise of the Volocopter

A helicopter has just one rotor to provide lift. This machine has 18

As the Planet Warms, What Happens to the Reindeer?

Ecologists are racing across the ice to find out how climate change will affect the Arctic natives

500,000 Cranes Are Headed for Nebraska in One of Earth’s Greatest Migrations

At the end of March, 80 percent of the world’s cranes will converge upon one 80-mile stretch of land

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