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Articles

Optical art

These Patterns Move, But It’s All an Illusion

What happens when your eyes and brain don’t agree?

Go-go legend Chuck Brown poses on the Big Chair, a downtown Anacostia landmark.

Bust Loose at Chuck Brown Birthday Party at American Art Museum

The museum remembers D.C.’s own “Godfather of Go-Go” with a concert today

Watch This Sinkhole Swallow a Chunk of Louisiana Bayou Whole

The hole has been name the Bayou Corne Sinkhole, and has already forced the evacuation of 300 nearby residents, lest they also be swallowed into the swamp

This Astronomer Recreated Starry Night with Hubble Space Photos

Alex Parker used the top 100 images from the Hubble Space telescope to create his rendition of Starry Night

Damaged goods

Just Denting an Aluminum Can Makes People Less Likely to Recycle It

Cutting up paper, too.

Scallops served in shell, cooked over smoking juniper branches and moss.

Deep in the Swedish Wilderness, Discovering One of the World’s Greatest Restaurants

At Fäviken, Chef Magnus Nilsson takes locavorism to an extreme by relying on subarctic foraging, farming, hunting and preserving traditions

Food residue encrusted on 6,000-year-old pottery fragments from Northern Europe, such as the one above, show traces of mustard seed, which was likely used as a seasoning for fish and meat.

Ancient Pottery Fragments Show That Prehistoric Humans Used Spices Too

Shards of 6,000-year-old cooking pots from northern Europe show traces of mustard seed, likely used as a seasoning for fish and meat

LinkedIn Has a Pitch for Teens: Create a Profile You Actually Want to Show Colleges

LinkedIn’s grand scheme is to modernize the college application process, but first it has to convince teens to sign up for an account

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Queen Guitarist Brian May Explains Exactly How Bohemian Rhapsody Was Made

Hear, piece-by-piece, how one of the greatest rock songs was put together

Eugene Allen, inspiration behind The Butler, poses for a portrait by Roland Freeman.

Hear From the Real Butler of the White House, Eugene Allen

Smithsonian Folkways interviewed the man who inspired the new film starring Forest Whitaker

No, Scientists Have Not Developed Hangover-Free Beer

Scientists added electrolytes to beer, which might help drinkers retain fluids but won’t necessarily keep the hangover away

The Fukushima Nuclear Plant Is Leaking, Again

Despite efforts to contain the leak, around 80,000 gallons of water has managed to escape so far and the problem seems to be getting worse, not better

Sprites over Red Willow County, Nebraska, on August 12, 2013

Scientists Capture Rare Photographs of Red Lightning

Graduate student Jason Ahrns and colleagues hunt the skies for sprites—fleeting streaks and bursts of color that can appear above thunderstorms

China Will Stop Harvesting Organs From Prisoners in November

China is the last to give up the practice, one that human rights organizations and the World Health Organization have been pushing against for years

Chemists Determine the Perfect Way to Melt Cheese on Toast

The answer comes from a collaboration between the Royal Society of Chemistry and the British Cheese Board

McShea (in Posey Hollow): “Nobody has tried anything nearly as comprehensive.”

A Scientific Laboratory 170 Feet High in the Sky

Grand-scale ecology brings a Virginia forest under unprecedented scrutiny by Smithsonian researchers

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A History of 1945, Discoveries at Sea, Ben Franklin’s Sister and More Books Worth Your Read

Some of the best books to put on your reading list

Magic Mushrooms, LSD And Peyote Don’t Seem To Be Bad for Your Health

There may be some reasons for justifying making these products illegal, but detrimental impacts on health are likely not one of them

Three elephants will be coming to the National Zoo from Canada’s Calgary Zoo in the spring.

HUGE News From the Zoo: Three New Elephants Are Moving In

Three female Asian elephants will come to the National Zoo from the Calgary Zoo in spring of 2014

Still from an animation illustrating the concept behind BIG’s design for Lego House

BIG Plans for a Lego Museum in Denmark

Some architects played with Legos as a child. And some never stopped playing with them

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