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Musicians from the Marlboro Music Festival perform at the Freer Gallery this week.

Events April 24-26: the Genomics Revolution, Musicians from Marlboro, and Thomas Mobley

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Snoozing Chimps Offer Glimpse of Hominid Sleeping Habits

Most chimpanzees build tree nests when it’s time to go to bed, but some prefer sleeping on the ground; the same was probably true for early hominids

Is mining asteroids the next space frontier?

To the Asteroids and Beyond

A group of big-name tech billionaires wants to open up a new frontier in space—mining space rocks

The Golden Record consists of 115 analog-encoded photographs, greetings in 55 languages, a 12-minute montage of sounds on Earth and 90 minutes of music.

What Is on Voyager’s Golden Record?

From a whale song to a kiss, the time capsule sent into space in 1977 had some interesting contents

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Hollywood Takes on the Environment

Even the earliest films had something to say about the state of the planet

Discovery, right, greets the departing Enterprise, left, at the Welcome Discovery ceremony.

Discovery Parks for Good at the Udvar-Hazy Center

An official ceremony and a weekend of space-shuttle activities welcome Discovery to its new home

Gig Harbor was named one of the 20 best small towns in America

Long Live America’s Small Towns

The author of our May article about the country’s best small towns was pleased to find that lots of small towns are thriving

Monday's solar eruption at its peak moment

Picture of the Week: A Spectacular Solar Eruption

Earlier this week, a NASA telescope captured one of the most stunning solar flares in years

The cover art for Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens

Dinosaurs vs. Aliens

You know it had to happen eventually: Dinosaurs chomp aliens in forthcoming graphic novel

The Pebble smart watch is on a roll.

Next Up? The Smart Watch

If the crowd-funding spike for the Pebble smart watch is any indication, wearable tech is about to go mainstream

In 1882, years after an Apache encampment was massacred by Mexican troops, the tribe's legendary leader Geronimo and his men came to avenge the killings on a grassy hill just north of the town of Galeana in Mexico.

Geronimo’s Decades-Long Hunt for Vengeance

Close by the Mormon colony of Colonia Dublan is an unlikely tourist attraction: the small hilltop where the legendary Apache leader exacted his revenge

David Baggett, famed among noodlers, explodes from the water with a giant catfish in his hands.

Hand-Fishing for Swamp Monsters

“It’s the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done,” says filmmaker Bradley Beesley, whose documentaries have popularized the ancient art of noodling

Peanuts

The Legumes of War: How Peanuts Fed the Confederacy

Food shortages were a problem for both military and civilians. But even in these hard times, people could find relief in peanuts

A study indicates that global yields of crops such as wheat and corn may already be affected by climate change.

10 Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since Last Earth Day

We recap the most surprising, awe-inspiring and alarming things that we have learned about the Earth and the environment since last year’s holiday

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What to See at the Tribeca Film Festival

The eleventh installment of the festival is underway in Manhattan

Hydrologic Commonwealths for the American West, proposed by John Wesley Powell, 1879

Design for a Water-Scarce Future

Design strategies for arid regions go back centuries, but in the face of climate change, drylands design is a whole new ballgame

Robot server at the Two Panda Deli in Pasadena, California

The Disco-Blasting Robot Waiters of 1980s Pasadena

In 1983, a Chinese fast-food restaurant hired a curious-looking pair of servers: Tanbo R-1 and Tanbo R-2

The Space Shuttle Discovery arrives at Dulles International Airport

Events April 20-22: Draw and Discover at Dusk, Welcome Discovery, Earth Day Party for the Planet

This weekend learn to draw at the American Art Museum, visit the space shuttle Discovery and celebrate Earth Day with the National Zoo

Paleontologists continue to find fascinating dinosaurs, such as this young Teratophoneus on display at the Natural History Museum of Utah. But will we ever see such creatures featured in a great dinosaur movie?

Will There Ever Be Another Great Dinosaur Movie?

Carefully crafted dinosaurs are an important part of any movie featuring the prehistoric creatures. But a good story is just as important, if not more so

Gone but not forgotten, the French franc

Plus Ça Change in France

The nation says au revoir to the franc and to “mademoiselle” and bonjourto a proposed new theme park—Napoleonland

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