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This Crazy, Hacker-Friendly 3D Scanner Helps Make a Copy of Anything You Can See

A 3D scanner, similar to Microsoft’s Kinect, is coming to your mobile device

The bartending robot James is here to serve.

Bartending Robot Can Tell If a Customer Wants a Drink or Is Just Standing Around

Using videos of thirsty customers lining up for bar-side drinks, they created algorithm equivalents for “I want a drink” body language

Was Beethoven’s Metronome Wrong?

Mathematic and musical detectives have discovered that perhaps Beethoven’s tempo was so strange because his metronome was broken

Secretary G. Wayne Clough, leader of the Smithsonian, or what he calls a “self-reliant, vibrant, relevant organization.”

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough Announces He Will Retire in 2014

The Smithsonian Institution’s 12th Secretary says he’ll step down next October

“Sonic Bloom,” a solar sculpture at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle

Energy Innovation

Sonic Bloom! A New Solar-Powered Sculpture

Dan Corson’s latest installation in Seattle—flower sculptures that light up at night—show that solar energy is viable even in the cloudy Pacific Northwest

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The Best of the Smithsonian’s Answers to #AskaCurator Tweets

The best questions and responses as pulled from Twitter

Flies, Chipmunks And Other Tiny Creatures See the World in Slow Motion

Flies, for example, can perceive visual stimuli four times faster than we can

Rivers across the U.S. are getting less acidic, including the Mississippi River.

Acid Rain Is Making Rivers… Less Acidic?

Acid rain is “dissolving the surface of the Earth,” making streams more alkaline in the process

A plan of the Ictineo, the world's first engine-powered submarine.

The Writer Who Built the World’s First Engine-Powered Submarine

Narcis Monturiol loved the ocean’s corals so much, that he built a machine so he could better enjoy them

The panda cub receiving her first veterinary exam

CUTE PHOTOS: Panda Cub is Thriving, More Than Doubles in Size

Today the Zoo’s veterinarians gave the giant panda cub a full exam and pronounced the cub healthy and thriving

A human genome, printed

One Woman Can Have Multiple Genetic Identities—Hers, Her Secret One, And All Her Kids’

The idea of there being one genetic “you” is up in the air

A squirrel scratches in Central Park

How to Catch, Clean And Cook a Squirrel

Two cups of flour, a nice zinfandel, a pinch of sun-dried tomatoes, and 3 chopped squirrels

The AR-15 Seems To Be the Weapon of Chioce in Random Acts of Violence

Of the 67 mass shootings in the US over the past three decades, more than three-quarters of the 143 guns used were obtained legally

This photo of a yellow goby appears in “Portraits of Planet Ocean: The Photography of Brian Skerry,” which opens in the Natural History Museum’s Sant Ocean Hall on Sept. 17.

New Exhibitions at the Ocean Hall Ask What You Can Do for Your Oceans

Three new exhibitions explore humans’ relationship to the ocean

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Google Earth Is Lending a Hand with Land Mine Clearing in Kosovo

Google has teemed with the Halo Trust, a non-profit that works to remove land mines and other unexploded ordinances that often linger after a conflict ends

There’s Evidence Midlife Crises Are Real, But No Good Explanation for Why They Happen

We all know the symptoms: the red sports car, the leather jacket, the journey to “find oneself,” the tattoos

Migaloo, the white whale

Call Me Migaloo: The Story Behind Real-Life White Whales

White whales, such as the recently spotted humpback nicknamed Migaloo, are rare and elusive creatures. How many are there and why are they white?

How Many Diseases Can a New York City Rat Give You?

In New York City you are never more than six feet away from a rat and its diseases

Blue whale earplugs can reveal some of these aquatic giants’ life events.

Blue Whale Earwax Reveals Pollution Accumulated Over a Lifetime

Earwax collected from a beached whale shows that the creature ingested a host of toxins, such as DDT and mercury, throughout its life

An extended view, from 1 AD to 2000 AD. If you click it will get bigger and easier to read.

This Map Is a Crash Course in European History, 1 A.D. to Today

A three minute video shows 1000 years of European conquest

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