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Phnom Pehn Has 1.5 Million People, And One Bird Scientists Had Never Seen Before

This bird was distinguished by differences in coloring and by its faster and more complicated song

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photos of MLK at Work: The Civil Rights Leader Before and After His “I Have a Dream” Speech

The National Portrait Gallery looks at the work of Martin Luther King beyond his most famous hour

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What Do America’s Gay Families Get Now That DOMA Is Dead?

What does the repeal of DOMA mean for American’s legally married gay couples?

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Plants Do Math Every Single Day

Math, the researchers say, is a vital component of a plant’s ability to grow and thrive

A wedding procession moves from the groom’s house to the bride’s house in Szék/Sic, Transylvania.

June 26: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Check out today’s events at the Folklife Festival, including Russian dance, black fashion and sing-alongs

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What Was in the Mysterious Woman Suffrage Party Safe Box?

For as long as anyone can remember, the safe box - marked simply “Woman Suffrage Party” has sat in the council’s New York City office

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How Solar Can Save India’s Farmers

Water pumps powered by the sun could solve a host of problems for rural farmers and the nation’s power grid

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Educating Americans for the 21st Century

The Scientist Comes to the Classroom

Partnerships that pair schools and working scientists are helping kids think about science—and science careers—in ways they never imagined

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Panorama: The New York Skyline

Explore the city’s many neighborhoods in this breathtaking flyover

Blue tits being winter piggies.

Birds That Gorge Themselves in Winter Have Fewer Chicks in Spring

The well-fed birds’ babies were smaller and weighed less than the chicks belonging to birds that had to scrape by during the cold months on their own wits

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Get the Folklife Festival in a Single App

Get schedules, maps and more for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival with a new app for your iPhone or Android

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One of Our Nearest Neighbor Stars Has At Least Six Planets, And Three May Be Habitable

Three potentially habitable planets orbit a star just 22 light years away

One day, these will be laughably large.

Batteries Are Now Unbelievably Tiny

A group from Harvard and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana figured out how to print tiny batteries, no bigger than a grain of sand

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Song of Fire and Ice: Watch What Happens When Lava Meets Ice

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To Understand How the Supreme Court Changed Voting Rights Today, Just Look at This Map

Today the Supreme Court of the United States decided 5 to 4 that one major section of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional

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NSA Leaker Edward Snowden’s Not in Russia. Technically.

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We Still Have No Idea Why Women Have Orgasms

Most researchers hypothesize that the orgasms must have something to do with facilitating the meeting of sperm and egg, but studies prove inconclusive

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This Just-Discovered Mayan City Once Held 35,000 People

The ancient Mayan city of Chactun was once a metropolis with around 35,000 inhabitants. It was abandoned 1,000 years ago, and lost to scholars until now

Research says dogs have learned to behave like children.

Are Dogs Now Just Furry Kids?

Research is showing how much the bonds between dogs and their owners have become like a parent-child relationship

The early 20th-century obsession with child prodigies was well documenting in tabloid newspapers, turning the kids into national celebrities.

The Child Prodigies Who Became 20th-Century Celebrities

Every generation produces kid geniuses, but in the early 1900s, the public was obsessed with them

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