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A spiral well at El Brujo, near where the mummy was found

Archaeologists Find an Unusual Victim of Human Sacrifice in Peru

The young woman was either poisoned or strangled with a cord, then dumped into a pit

Traveling in pods through tubes. Is this what Elon Musk has in mind?

L.A. to San Fran in 30 Minutes? Can You Say Hyperloop?

Entrepreneur Elon Musk thinks bullet trains are too slow and expensive. He says he has a better idea: high-speed travel in tubes

Two neutron stars violently collide—potentially the sourse of all heavy elements in the universe, including gold.

All the Gold in the Universe Could Come From the Collisions of Neutron Stars

When two stars recently collided, astronomers landed on a new theory about where gold and other heavy elements originate

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The Invention of the Baseball Mitt

Once thought a sign of weakness, the baseball glove has become an iconic piece of equipment

Flooded streets in Kolkata following heavy June rains Elsewhere in the country, flooding from the monsoon was much more extensive.

5,700 Dead As India Struggles With Changing Monsoon

As the climate changes, India’s monsoon is changing with it

The Battle of Chapultepec, which resulted in a U.S. victory, was waged on September 13, 1847 in Mexico City.

Brainpower and Brawn in the Mexican-American War

The United States Army had several advantages, but the most decisive was the professionalism instilled at West Point

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When Lettuce Was a Sacred Sex Symbol

For nearly 3,000 years lettuce was associated with the Egyptian god of fertility, Min, for its resemblance to the phallus

ARBIMON—a system of distributed recording stations and centralized analysis software—was used to track populations of the endangered plains coqui frog, in Puerto Rico.

A New Technology Can Remotely Analyze an Ecosystem’s Species By its Sound

By distributing networks of microphones to wetlands and forests around the world, biologists could track biodiversity in a whole new way

Close inspection showed that a T. rex tooth was lodged in a hadrosaur’s vertebrae, the result of an ancient attack gone awry.

Caught in the Act: Scientists Find A T. Rex Tooth Stuck in a Hadrosaur Tail

The ancient attack proves once and for all that the T. Rex was a hunter, not just a scavenger

Grab some popcorn for this summer’s blockbusters.

Minions! Did You See How Much a Movie Ticket Might Cost One Day?

Best way to beat the heat, says curator Amy Henderson, is the summer blockbuster, but are they going the way of the dinosaurs

Warlpiri youth in Australia’s Northern Territory

A New Language Is Being Born in This Remote Australian Village

A unique language is being born in northern Australia

After 163 Years, India Sends Its Last Telegram

Thousands crammed into India’s telegram offices on Sunday as the 163 year old service shuts down for good

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

Wait, Have I Been Here Before? The Curious Case of Déjà Vu

Although the strange sensation’s cause remains unknown, scientists are searching for ways to induce that nagging feeling of familiarity

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Scientists Get Best View Yet of the Structure of Glass

The amorphous solid holds many mysteries, but a new study using a high-powered microscope shows that atoms in glass are organized into distorted shapes

Satellite imagery from NOAA shows the hurricane just a few hours ago.

Already Dealing With Deadly Flooding, China Faces Down a Hurricane

A category 2 hurricane will make landfall in southeastern China today

Rina Banerjee’s “A world Lost…” is now on view in the Sackler Gallery pavilion.

“A world Lost…” Is the Stuff of Dreams and Nightmares

Rina Banerjee weaves personal and global history into her new Sackler Gallery installation, opening July 13

The city of Shanghai presents A True Story (above), an impressive work of mosaïculture, at Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal 2013.

Horticultural Artists Grow Fantastical Scenes at the Montréal Botanical Garden

Take a peek at some of the living artwork entered in an international competition in Quebec this summer

A community of glass sponges under Antarctica’s ice.

Glass Sponges Move In As Antarctic Ice Shelves Melt

Typically slow-growing glass sponge communities are popping up quickly now that disappearing shelf ice has changed ocean conditions around Antarctica

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These Decapitated Worms Regrow Old Memories Along with New Heads

New experiments show that beheaded flatworms can retain trained behaviors after their brains regenerate

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Some Day Your Passwords Could Be Replaced by a Pill

Now that passwords are neither secure nor easy, what will replace them? Fingerprint scans? Electronic tattoos? A pill?

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