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The Mystery of 221B Baker Street

Our series on Design and Sherlock Holmes begins with an investigation into the location of the famous detective’s London flat

A pack of street dogs naps on a traffic island in Bucharest, Romania. In spite of a culling program, the animals swarm the streets—and occasionally maul residents and tourists.

Man’s Best Friend or the World’s Number-One Pest?

With perhaps 600 million strays skirmishing for food on the fringe of the human world, street dogs are a common element of travel just about everywhere

A devious plan that takes advantage of the charming sweet.

Hitler Plotted to Kill Churchill With Exploding Chocolate

Nazis are known for their heinous wartime crimes and tactics. Now, exploding chocolate can be added to that list, as revealed by a 60-year-old letter

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What Does Space Smell Like?

Death Valley

At 107°F, Death Valley Sets Record for Hottest Daily Low

Death Valley, California set an unusual new record last week matching the hottest low temperature ever recorded on Earth

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Ocean Acidity Rivals Climate Change As Environmental Threat

Rising ocean acidity is now considered to be just as much of a formidable threat to the health of Earth’s environment as the atmospheric climate changes

Square Tower House at Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde’s Mary Jane Colter Collection (But Don’t Call it That)

Among the treasures that will be on display when the park’s new museum opens later this year are 30 pieces donated by the legendary architect

Jennifer Griffin on Managing a Kitchen as an Amputee

360-Year-Old Advertisement Extolls Coffee’s Virtues

An advertisement issued by some brilliant London entrepreneurs may well be the first coffee ad ever

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The Clovis Weren’t the First Americans

Projectile points found in Oregon provide more evidence that people arrived in the New World before the Clovis culture

Research Associate Alain Touwaide, seated in his office in the Natural History Museum, argues Rome’s great expansion was driven not by geopolitical strategy, but by a need for plants.

Colds and Conquests: How A Health Crisis May Have Spurred Roman Expansion

Smithsonian Research Associate Alain Touwaide will argue that a quest for medicinal plants may have spurred Roman expansion at his July 18 lecture

Volcanic ash from the Ejyafjallajokull eruption floats in the stratosphere.

Harvard Geoengineers Want To Fake a Volcanic Eruption

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U.S. Faces Worst Drought Since 1956

Drought grips 55% of the US mainland causing a shortfall in crop production, with very low chances of it ending any time soon

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The Swimsuit Series, Part 4: A Competitive Swimmer’s Musings

In Leanne Shapton’s Swimming Studies “Bathing” chapter, there’s a story behind every suit

Anna May Wong in Tod Browning’s Drifting (1923), to be preserved by George Eastman House.

The Year Ahead in Archival Films

A guide to the movies being preserved now that will be available in future months

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Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed

The Transcontinental Railroad connected East and West—and accelerated the destruction of what had been in the center of North America

“Parks and Recreation” heroine Leslie Knope would love to see this mural study from an Indiana post office on her visit to DC. Clearing the Right of Way by Joe Cox, 1938.

Five Things Leslie Knope Should See at the Smithsonian

As NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” prepares to shoot its season five in D.C., we offer up five must-sees for the newest city councilmember of Pawnee, Indiana

William Shatner, who turned 81 in March, still seems possessed of boundless energy and bluster.

What William Shatner Would Put on His Gravestone

The modern-day Renaissance man, known for his work on the stage and the screen, provides insights from the Tao of Captain Kirk

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The Messy History of Tacos

There’s so much more to the humble taco than meets the hungry North American consumer’s eye - or palate

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The End of Swimsuit Design Innovation

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