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Articles

You don’t have to go to South Africa to see Mrs. Ples, an Australopithecus africanus fossil.

The Best Places to See Hominid Bones Online

It’s hard to find hominid bones in museums, but it’s easy to see them on the Internet

Deviled eggs, one of many Halloween treats

Deviled Eggs and Other Foods from Hell

What, exactly, is so wicked about mixing hard-boiled egg yolk with mayonnaise and mustard?

A side-blotched lizard in Utah

The Lizards That Live Rock-Paper-Scissors

Three color varieties each have advantages and disadvantages relative to the others

From The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

3-D Movies Through the Years

The current craze has its roots in the 19th century

The author runs on empty as he pushes his bike over rough terrain in the Murat Mountains.

Rose Hips and Hard Times

Sultan packs me a goody bag with tomatoes, cheese and peppers so hot I can’t even touch them. I suggest paying and she tilts her head back—”not a chance.”

Alice Waters, by Dave Woody; 2010

Last Call: Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

National Portrait Gallery curator Brandon Fortune provides some insight to what she and other contest jurors are looking for

Henry Johnson and the Harlem Hellfighters in a parade up Fifth Avenue upon their return to New York in February, 1919.

Remembering Henry Johnson, the Soldier Called “Black Death”

Henry Johnson suffered 21 wounds and rescued a soldier while repelling an enemy raid in the Argonne Forest in 1918 but died 11 years later a forgotten man

A statue of Spinosaurus outside Jurassic Park: The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. Spinosaurus got a major media boost after appearing in Jurassic Park III.

Why Do We Keep Going Back to Jurassic Park?

When I met Jurassic Park scientific adviser Jack Horner by chance last month, he dropped a clue as to what the next movie is going to be about

"Car of the future" sketch from Ford

1955 Imagines Travel in 1965

The Ford Motor Company envisioned a Batmobile in every garage.

Lord's autograph quilt

The Civil War 150 Years: Lord’s Famous Autograph Quilt

A Civil War teenager covers her quilt with the signatures of Union leaders

Sunlight bursts through a ceiling of rainclouds above the lonely west shore of Lake Burdur.

Gandhi’s Wisdom Falls Short

Then, from behind me, came a staccato war cry—“Aaaack!”—as my host sent a boot into the dog’s rib cage

These artifacts are thought to have been offerings from the earliest farming communities that lived in this area. Chemical analysis of charred food residues preserved inside a number of vessels shows they were used for processing freshwater fish, which supplemented their fledgling agricultural economy.

Ancient Pots Show How Humans Adopted Farming

The switch from hunting and gathering to farming was revolutionary—but was it fast or slow?

Artist Guy Maccoy at work on a mural at the Brooklyn Museum as part of the WPA's Art Work for Public Buildings Project.

Archives of American Art Releases Photo Collection to Wikimedia Commons

The Smithsonian makes a big contribution to one of Wikipedia’s projects

Gamers using FoldIt solved a riddle about the AIDS epidemic.

Can Crowdsourcing Really Spark Innovation?

Companies and scientists are using games and competitions to bring in fresh thinking from outsiders

A composite reconstruction of Torosaurus utahensis, based upon the skull found by Gilmore, bones found in the Texas bonebed, and the form of Pentaceratops.

The Mysterious Torosaurus

Was Torosaurus just an adult Triceratops? A poorly understood species may hold the key to the answer

An artist’s rendition of a group of Neanderthals living in a mountainous region of Eurasia.

Neanderthals: Made for Mountaineering?

Neanderthals’ short legs made them well-suited for walking in mountain environments

The north pole of the Moon: Real or facsimile?

Replicators Have Arrived

Three-dimensional printing technology can be used in conjunction with the material and energy resources of the Moon to build new spacefaring capabilities

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The Overwhelming Data We Refuse To Believe

Another study finds the planet has warmed, but that won’t convince the skeptics

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Time to Renew my CFI

Why go to the trouble to renew a certificate I don’t use? The bottom line is that I just worked too hard to get it

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