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How to Win Inauguration Weekend: There’s an App for That

One man won the election, but with free tours and insider information, you can still win the weekend. Plus hours, eating spots and where to rest your feet

The unmanned Global Hawk will conduct NASA’s first climate change research in the stratosphere.

NASA Drones to Study Stratosphere for Climate Change Clues

On Friday, the agency will send an unmanned aircraft 65,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean to gather data for use in climate change modeling

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The First Major Museum Show to Focus on Smell

“The Art of the Scent” recognizes and celebrates fragrance as a true artistic medium rather than just a consumer product

Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries building decorated for James Garfield’s inaugural ball, complete with string light garlands and patriotic buntings.

Inauguration History

Party Like It’s 1881: President Garfield’s Inaugural Ball

Nothing says, “Welcome, Mr. President,” like 3,000 gas lights and a big hulking statue

Accompanied by a mat of long brown hair, these broken bones on the side of the highway most likely belonged to a woman.

Braving the Pan-American Highway of Death

Along the roadway in Peru, hand-built memorials to accident victims occur almost as regularly as the kilometer markers themselves

Dracula shaped pasta

How Kraft Uses Patents to Dominate the Mac and Cheese Wars

A tour through the patent files reveals a wide range of odd shapes, which collectively are a far cry from the elbow-shaped pasta of your youth

Red Acorn, 40 years old

Covered in Ink, Cross-sections of Trees Make Gorgeous Prints

Connecticut-based artist Bryan Nash Gill uses ink to draw out the growth rings of a variety of tree species

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The Hot Condiment of 2013? Barrel-Aged Hot Sauce

Restauranteurs across the nation are feeding a new trend by feeding hot sauce into whiskey oak barrels

Inauguration History

If Only Hollywood Would Show Us Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

Our pop culture curator Amy Henderson strolls the halls of the Old Patent Building imagining the scene of Lincoln’s 1865 inaugural ball

“Nostalgia Man” by Amy Crehore 1996, oil painting (9 1/2″ x 10 1/2″)

Garrison Keillor’s 1996 Predictions for the Future of Media

A woebegone tribute to the ending of an era

A new DNA analysis method reveals how ancient skeletons would have looked in the flesh.

Hair and Eye Color Can Now Be Determined for Ancient Human Skeletons

A new method based on DNA forensics can tell us about the appearances of those who lived long ago

Last summer, a study found that long-term cannabis use reduced cognitive skills. A new study seems to say the opposite.

Long-Term Marijuana Use Could Have Zero Effect on IQ

Last summer, a study found that long-term cannabis use reduced cognitive skills. A new study seems to say the opposite

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The Jetsons and the Future of the Middle Class

Living paycheck to paycheck in the techno-utopian future

Hurt says now when he visits soul food restaurants, he tends to fill his plate with vegetarian options, staying away from chicken and meats.

Is America a Nation of Soul Food Junkies?

Filmmaker Bryan Hurt explores what makes soul food so personal, starting with his own father’s health struggle, in a PBS film premiering tonight

Each year, around 5,300 Golden Warblers – a threatened species – die from collisions with communication towers.

Communication Towers Are Death Traps for Threatened Bird Species

Nearly 7 million North American birds - including 13 threatened species - lose their lives through tower collisions each year

Brazilian Waxes Could Make Pubic Lice Go Extinct

Without pubic hair, people are that much safer from pubic lice

Astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss is in the house on Monday to explain why our understanding of physics in the past 50 years has been based on a particle whose existence we couldn’t prove.

Events January 14-17: Higgs Boson, Up “Close” with President Obama, Modern Origami and Shiny Pots

This week, learn why the Higgs Boson particle matters, see a huge portrait of President Obama, discover modern origami and stand in DC’s most opulent room

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Scorchingly Hot 2012 Riddled With Extreme Weather

Drought, heatwaves, cyclones—even a tornado in Hawaii—mark last year as one filled with record-breaking severe weather

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The Fisher Space Pen Boldly Writes Where No Man Has Written Before

The Fisher Space Pen has been made famous by Apollo astronauts and Jerry Seinfeld. But just how does it work? And is NASA really spend millions making it?

Samsung TVs get smarter.

How Smart Should TVs Be?

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