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Articles

That’s Disgusting

While disgust originally protected us from potential poisons, it eventually gave rise to culturally defining flavors and odors, all tied to local microbes

The chest cavity of Velociraptor MPC-D100/54. The white arrow indicates a broken rib, and the black arrows point to pterosaur bones preserved inside the dinosaur's skeleton.

A Dinosaur’s Pterosaur Lunch

Karen Lovejoy and the Lovejoygroup perform at the Kogod Courtyard this week.

Events March 6-8: An Amazonian Odyssey, Conservation Clinic, and The Lovejoygroup

This week, take a virtual tour of the Amazon River, learn how to preserve your favorite works of art at home, and enjoy the eclectic jazz of Lovejoygroup

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They Do Call it a Marriage Contract After All

Comedian Richard Pryor pontificates on what makes being married truly difficult

Outdoor ice skating is deeply ingrained in Canadian culture.

Climate Change’s Latest Victim: Ice Hockey

For outdoor ice rinks, hockey season has gotten shorter in the past 50 years

Halo 2 is a first-person shooter game that allows for multiple players as well as online competition. According to video game designer Kellee Santiago, "The music, the visuals, the character designs—they were all taken to a whole new level."

The Essentials: Video Games

Designer Kellee Santiago picks five artful video games that tell the history of the medium

Showgirl Joan Blondell will soon join the ranks of Havana Widows.

Watching Movies in the Cloud

The benefits and drawbacks to streaming video

A Roman chariot race, showing men from two of the four color-themed demes, or associations, that produced the Blues and the Greens. From a poster advertising the 1925 film version of Ben-Hur.

Blue versus Green: Rocking the Byzantine Empire

Styracosaurus at the American Museum of Natural History

The Last Styracosaurus Standing

Within just a few years, three species of Styracosaurus were cut down to just one

Harry Warnecke shot rare color photographs of many cultural icons, including Louis Armstrong.

Celebrities of the Past, Now in “Vibrant Color” at the Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery showcases Harry Warnecke’s early color photographs of famous faces from the 1930s and ‘40s

Ice cores from a lake in Norway. Image from Science/AAAS

Trees Weathered the Ice Age

Pine and spruce trees managed to survive in certain spots in Scandinavia, according to DNA analyses

Passer domesticus is one of the most common animals in the world. It is found throughout Northern Africa, Europe, the Americas and much of Asia and is almost certainly more abundant than humans.

The Story of the Most Common Bird in the World

Why do we love what is rare and despise what is all around us?

This scene from Lake Wanaka captures much that is great about New Zealand, like the Southern Alps and the country's many gleaming lakes.

New Zealand: What’s Hot and What’s Not

From Stewart Island in the south to the Surville Cliffs in the north, New Zealand is a country almost as geographically diverse as the United States

Airships and Oranges: The Commercial Art of the Second Gold Rush

How citrus crate label design fueled a boom that caused the art form’s own demise

Diagram of Grado ship relic

How a Ship Full of Fish Helped Recreate an Ancient Fish Sauce

A 2,000-year-old shipwreck held ceramic vessels full of fish sauce, as well as a giant tank for transporting live fish

The Makani Airborne Wind Turbine

Welcome to the Feel Good Future

At TED and other geek gab events, the focus is not on what is, but rather what’s possible. Here are five inventions whose time may soon be coming

Triceratops (left) and Torosaurus (right)

The Torosaurus Identity Crisis Continues

Was Torosaurus really just a grown-up Triceratops? A new paper says “no”

GRAND PRIZE WINNER Sunset clamming Xiapu, Fujian, China • Photographed January 2009 Xiapu, China “is famous for photo ops because it has lots of small hills along the coasts,” says Dong. “I zoomed in with my Nikon so that the reflection filled the whole frame. I waited till those fishermen walked into the right position and took the shot.” Jia Han Dong, a shipping company manager from New Jersey, was vacationing in a small fishing community in southern China when he climbed a hill, intending to photograph the setting sun above the East China Sea. He walked around for hours trying to find the best spot to set up his equipment, but the conditions weren’t ideal. “It was kind of cloudy,” recalls Dong. Then the sun appeared and lent the shoreline a golden cast. “I saw those fishermen going out for low tide clamming with their tools on their shoulders. I loved the color, the pattern of the posts in the foreground, the texture of the water.

9th Annual Photo Contest Winners and Finalists

See the winning photos from our 2011 contest

People in their 80s rarely complain of sleep problems.

Better Sleep in the Golden Years?

A large survey finds that the elderly are more satisfied with their sleep habits than are people in any other age group

Celebrate Debussy's 150th birthday with the Calefax Quintet

Weekend Events March 3-5: Calefax Quintet, Women’s History Month, and Nowruz

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