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Articles

Elon Musk is a man of all trades when it comes to technology.

Elon Musk, the Rocket Man With a Sweet Ride

The winner of the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award for technology hopes to launch a revolution with his spaceship and electric car

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How Benh Zeitlin Made Beasts of the Southern Wild

The Oscar nominee for Best Director transformed filmmaking as he assembled a new myth out of Hurricane Katrina

Esperanza Spalding has brought new life to jazz.

Esperanza Spalding Took on Bieber, Now Takes on Jazz

The innovative bassist and winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for performing arts is taking jazz to a whole new place

Anne Kelly Knowles uses geography and technology to trace history.

The Civil War

Looking at the Battle of Gettysburg Through Robert E. Lee’s Eyes

Anne Kelly Knowles, the winner of Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards, uses GIS technology to change our view of history

Sebastian Thrun is turning his expertise in artificial intelligence to humans.

How Artificial Intelligence Can Change Higher Education

Sebastian Thrun, winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for education takes is redefining the modern classroom

Panama is the ideal site for the BioMuseo (Museum of Biodiversity), due to open next summer.

Frank Gehry’s BioMuseo, New Science Museum in Panama

Over 43,000 square feet of exhibit space will tell the story of the isthmus and the diverse species who live there

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Why Peanut Butter is the Perfect Home for Salmonella

A food safety expert explains the scientific reasons why salmonella outbreaks in peanut butter—like the one earlier this week—are so common

A cautious Camptosaurus approaches a resting Allosaurus. Even though the carnivore undoubtedly hunted the herbivore at times, the two weren’t constantly at war with each other.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Dinosaurian Oddities

Cartoon poster which hung outside Martin’s Lunch Room circa 1929

In the 1920s, Shoppers Got Punk’d By Fake Televisions

Don’t touch that dial….really, don’t

A view of 1930s New York

If You Can Make It Here: The Rise of New York City

Saul Lilienstein discusses how the city rose from the 1929 crash and became stronger than ever, Saturday at the Ripley Center

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

Why Does the Durian Fruit Smell So Terrible?

Scientists examine what chemicals make the Asian fruit smell like “turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock”

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The Insane Amount of Biodiversity in One Cubic Foot

David Liittschwager travels to the world’s richest ecosystems, photographing all the critters that pass through his “biocube” in 24 hours

Mequitta Ahuja’s “Mocoonama” mixes media to create a process of construction that speaks to the subject as well. Enamel, acrylic, and glitter on stamped and collaged vellum, 2011.

Drawing on the Edge: Six Contemporary Portraitists Challenge Convention

Six young artists leave their mark on portraiture with the National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibit

Excerpt from Papias the Grammarian

1 Million Dollars Worth of Rare Dictionaries About to Go on Sale

On December 4, a collection of rare old dictionaries will go on auction at Bonhams in New York City

Artist Calvin Seibert has been carving amazing sandcastles on beaches for nearly 30 years.

Amazing Modernist Sandcastles Sculpted by Calvin Seibert

Seifert uses simple tools to craft the details: two plastic putty knives and a five-gallon bucket to fill with extra sand.

The doodle that became Twitter

8 Ways People Are Taking Twitter Seriously

Born in desperation and long mocked, the social media platform has become a popular research and intelligence-gathering tool

A Murray Meisner original dress, sold on Etsy

A Holiday Shopping Reminder: Do We Really Need That Extra Pair of Jeans?

Meaningful purchases trump frenetic shopping and closets bulging with new clothes

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Being Really, Really Good at Video Games Could Get You a Scholarship

A $1,000 scholarship beckons, if you can display your gaming prowess

William Crockford—identified here as “Crockford the Shark”—sketched by the great British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson in about 1825. Rowlandson, himself an inveterate gambler who blew his way through a $10.5 million family fortune, knew the former fishmonger before he opened the club that would make his name.

Crockford’s Club: How a Fishmonger Built a Gambling Hall and Bankrupted the British Aristocracy

A working-class Londoner operated the most exclusive gambling club the world has ever seen

After decades of uncertainty, a new study confirms that both polar ice sheets are melting.

Confirmed: Both Antarctica and Greenland Are Losing Ice

After decades of uncertainty, a new study confirms that both polar ice sheets are melting

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