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Articles

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Where Are the 50 Most Populous Refugee Camps?

Millions of people worldwide flee their homes to escape violence, persecution or natural disasters. Here’s where they live

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Scientists Use Snails to Trace Stone Age Trade Routes in Europe

Why is a snail variety found only in Ireland and the Pyrenees? DNA analysis suggests that it hitched a boat ride with early travelers

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Visit the Bottom of the Ocean with this Deep-Sea Submarine’s Live Stream

A live stream video from the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents will be a glimpse into a world of strange creatures and volcanic activity

Elvis on the Southern Railroad between Chattanooga and Memphis, Tenn. July 4, 1956

Hanging Out with Elvis in Fort Worth

Hitting the road this month, curator Amy Henderson follows her show “Elvis at 21” to Texas

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Sex Itself is Deadly for These Poor Little Male Spiders

For these male spiders, having sex starts an irreversible process that ends with their death

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There Are 45.2 Million Refugees Globally, The Highest In Nearly Two Decades

Ongoing conflicts and persecution meant that 45.2 million people were displaced from their homes last year

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Philippines Trying to Decide Whether to Burn, Crush or Donate $10 Million Worth of Ivory

The 5 tons of tusks are scheduled to be crushed by road rollers on June 21

Facebook Helped Kick Off a 20-Fold Registration Spike for Desperately Needed Organ Donors

Last May, Facebook began allowing users to post their organ donor status on their profile timelines

One bionic ear, fresh off the printer.

How One Day Everything Could Be Recycled

Mix 3-D printers and biomimicry and what do you get? Products that are as strong, resilient, versatile—and biodegradable—as most things in nature

A scene from 1964's Dr. Strangelove

There Never Was Such a Thing as a Red Phone in the White House

Fifty years ago, still spooked by the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. and Soviet Union built a hotline. But it wasn’t a phone

Exhibit Specialist Stoy Popovich is building a traditional Greenland Kayak for an upcoming exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History

How to Build a Greenland Kayak from Scratch

A Smithsonian builder takes on the challenge of crafting a kayak following a 4,000-year-old tradition

A sample of Dyslexie, a tyepface designed to help dyslexic people

How New Fonts Are Helping Dyslexics Read and Making Roads Safer

The right font can be appealing, but please don’t take this as an excuse to use Comic Sans

Alternative Medicine Is a $34 Billion Industry, But Only One-Third of the Treatments Have Been Tested

The traditional medicine industry is just as profit-driven as any other

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This Castle’s Toilet Still Holds Parasites From Crusaders’ Feces

The presence of whipworm and roundworm eggs suggest that crusaders were especially predisposed to death by malnutrition

A New 3D Map of the Universe Covers More Than 100 Million Light-Years

The map makes infinity seem comprehensible by depicting the structures of galaxy clusters, dark matter and open patches of lonely space

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Seeing Pictures of Home Can Make It Harder To Speak a Foreign Language

Being exposed to faces or images that you associate with your home country primes you to think in your native tongue, a new study shows

Learn about how Native Americans used dolls as toys and teaching tools at the American Indian Museum Tuesday.

Events June 18-20: Native American Dolls, Animal Feedings and “Cujo”

This weekend, learn about Native American dolls, witness animal feedings at the National Zoo and watch canine horror flick “Cujo”

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The Incredible Disappearing Evangelist

Aimee Semple McPherson was an American phenomenon even before she went missing for five weeks in 1926.

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The Daily Planet in Film and Television

The real buildings that played the Daily Planet in film and television

The Meade brothers worked above a bank in this Williamsburg building in Brooklyn before moving into Manhattan. Half-plate daguerreotype by Meade Brothers Studio, circa 1853.

How One New York City Studio and the Brothers Behind It Helped Popularize the Daguerreotype

Two brothers and their sister built an early photography empire alongside Mathew Brady but watched in crumble in tragedy

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