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Articles

Clarence Darrow, addressing the jury as a defendant, was never convicted of bribery, but his two trials shattered his reputation.

Clarence Darrow: Jury Tamperer?

Newly unearthed documents shed light on claims that the famous criminal attorney bribed a juror

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Pollster George Gallup Jr. Looks to the Year 2000

Sea otters have teeth that resemble those of Paranthropus

Strange Animal Models of Human Evolution

What do sea otters, wolves and capuchin monkeys reveal about our hominid ancestors?

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Learning to Love Sponsored Films

By any count, sponsored films are the most numerous genre of film, and they are also the ones most in danger of being lost

A reconstructed skeleton of Rapetosaurus on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Inside Sauropod Armor

A hollow, thin-walled bone is not exactly the sort of structure that is going to protect a sauropod from attack—so what was its purpose?

Water crystallizes into ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time, but not always.

Ask Smithsonian

At What Temperature Does Water Freeze?

The answer is far more complicated than it first appears—water doesn’t always turn to ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit

Mocktails

Mocktails for Expectant Moms and Hangover-Free Holidays

Going beyond the usual soft drinks, some bars and restaurants are starting to get creative with their nonalcoholic beverages

There are several accounts of Confederate and Union troops camped near one another harmonizing "Home, Sweet Home!" across the battle lines.

The Sentimental Ballad of the Civil War

Forget “Dixie,” it was one New Yorker’s “Home Sweet Home” that was the song most beloved by Union and Confederate soldiers

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The Story of the Decade

The future may look bleak for many Americans, but hope is always just around the corner

Within this sarcophagus and underlying wrappings is the mummified body of a man who died 2,000 years ago (150 B.C.-50 A.D.)

Egyptian Mummification Rituals Uncovered at Natural History

A collection of ancient Egyptian mummies—and new techniques for looking inside them—reveal new information about ancient Egpyt’s spiritual beliefs

General Joseph Stillwell's desk at the museum site in Chongqing, China

An American General’s Legacy in China

General Joseph Stilwell, U.S. Army hero and leader of American forces in China in World War II, had a tangible impact overseas that you can visit today

A pigeon's turn is very different from that of an airplane

How A Pigeon Is Like A Helicopter

The bird changes direction with its whole body

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Has Terra Nova Delivered on the Dinosaurs?

What’s the use of setting your science-fiction family drama 85 million years in the past if you’re not going to highlight some of the local fauna?

The Anamorphose

Is a “Garden” the World’s Greatest New Artwork?

Francois Abelanet’s extraordinary turf “sculpture” on a Paris plaza epitomizes a grand tradition of artful illusion

Ferdinand Pecora

The Man Who Busted the ‘Banksters’

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 D

Airplanes, Suspended in Time, at the Air and Space Museum

In his photographs, now on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Jeffrey Milstein bares the bellies of airplanes

Facing the Void: Ellee Thalheimer stands before a high pass near Sampeyre, Italy after an ascent of several thousand feet.

Women and the Way of the Pedal-empowered

Susan B. Anthony said bicycling “emancipates women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel”

Esther Nisenthal Krinitz' fabric depiction of pasturing livestock next to a Nazi labor camp in Poland

Through the Eye of the Needle: Views of the Holocaust at Ripley Center

A Holocaust survivor’s story is told through a visually stunning new exhibition of fabric art at the S. Dillon Ripley Center

The outline of a mastodon skeleton, found at a pre-Clovis site in Washington, indicating where a spear hit the animal.

The First Americans

Technicans work on the Mars Science Laboratory, aka Curiosity

Curious About Curiosity? What to Read on the Mars Science Laboratory

The traveling science laboratory launched successfully on Saturday and is scheduled to touch down on the red planet in August 2012

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