Articles: News & Features | Smithsonian Magazine

Duke Kahanamoku, pictured here circa 1915, helped popularize surfing on the mainland and won several Olympic medals for swimming.

Amy Henderson: Team USA!

Guest blogger and Portrait Gallery historian Amy Henderson reflects on the Gallery’s Olympian collection

July 9, 2012

This One Beautiful Video Sums Up All of Space Shuttle History

July 9, 2012

Synthetic Bacteria Could Turn Ocean Garbage into One Big Island

July 9, 2012

Meet Edith and Fanny, Thomas Jefferson’s Enslaved Master Chefs

Monticello research historian Leni Sorensen offers an impression of what life was like for these early White House chefs

July 9, 2012

Flower Children on the North Shore of Kauai

In the late 1960s, a gorgeous stretch of beach in Ha’ena State Park was the site of a hippy haven called Taylor Camp

July 9, 2012

Works like this, Untitled by Jackson Pollock, can cause a fair amount of head scratching. So is it art? Find out Tuesday July 10.

Events July 10-12: Questionable Art, Crafty Mail, and the Battle of Shiloh

This week at the Smithsonian, debate the merits of contemporary art, craft your own stationery, and learn more about the Battle of Shiloh

July 9, 2012

In the grand tradition of college marching band tomfoolery, the Oregon State University Mars Rover cuts a path over marching band members and the OSU mascot.

July 8: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Today at the Folklife Festival: laugh therapy, hunting for chocolate and African Heritage Dancers & Drummers

July 8, 2012

Working for The NAMES Project Foundation, Roddy Williams sorts through portions of the AIDS Memorial Quilt stored in an Atlanta warehouse.

July 7: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Today at the Folklife Festival: Grant Wood’s murals, historical cabins and cooking with honey

July 7, 2012

Quantum Computing Now At Least Vaguely Plausible

July 6, 2012

A new device could force drivers to hang up their phones.

New RFID Device Could Jam Your Cell Phone While Your Car is Moving

A system developed by engineers in India automatically detects when a driver’s phone is in use and uses low-range mobile jammer to prevent calls and texts

July 6, 2012

Thinking About Your Own Demise Inspires Environmentalism

July 6, 2012

On the Trail of a Weird Dinosaur

A rare footprint places a strange group of dinosaurs in Cretaceous Alaska

July 6, 2012

Viking’s Most Powerful City Unearthed in Northern Germany

Archaeologists working in northern Germany may have found one of the most important cities in Viking history—Sliasthorp, where once sat Scandanavian kings

July 6, 2012

Double-Amputee Oscar Pistorius Will Compete In Olympics 400 Meter Race Without Qualifying

July 6, 2012

More than 18,000 acres burned in Waldo Canyon.

Here’s What $110 Million in Fire Damage Looks Like

The Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado was the most destructive in the state’s history

July 6, 2012

The “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” exhibit maps out a web of relatedness between Bacon and well-known artists, celebrities and historical figures.

It’s a Small World After All: “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon”

“Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” shows how one relatively unknown but well-connected artist was linked to many of art and society’s most influential people

July 6, 2012