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Six Secrets of Polonium

This rare and dangerous element, discovered by Marie Curie, is found in cigarettes and was used to poison an ex-KGB agent

The juvenile tyrannosaur puppet at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

What It’s Like Inside a Dinosaur

Visit the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum

Events Oct. 3-6: Butterfly Pavilion, Quiltmaking Demonstration, America in Black and White and African Drumming

This week, see exotic insects, learn a new craft, be part of a thought-provoking discussion on race and join a drum circle

Always beware of sharp knives.

Inviting Writing: Independence Won By Blood

My first meal alone in a new city was delayed due to an unexpected test of survival skills

The 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Washington, D.C. on August 23 caused damage to the Washington Monument.

Scaling the Washington Monument

Mountaineering park ranger Brandon Latham talks about how engineers investigated the monument from hundreds of feet above the ground

Resembling a protective amulet, the Tibetan bunting charms Tashi Zangpo and the other monks he has trained.

A Buddhist Monk Saves One of the World’s Rarest Birds

High in the Himalayas, the Tibetan bunting is getting help from a very special friend

Given a safe passage, jaguars will wander hundreds of miles to breed, even swimming across the Panama Canal.

The Jaguar Freeway

A bold plan for wildlife corridors that connect populations from Mexico to Argentina could mean the big cat’s salvation

Prize pumpkins have tripled in size in the past three decades. Tim Parks, of the Ohio Valley growers club, harvests his 2010 contender.

The Great Pumpkin

Competitive vegetable growers are closing in on an elusive goal—the one ton squash

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Wild Things: Wildcats, Pigeons and More…

Sea monster mamas, bat signals and opossum versus viper

"Luminescent and, unlike me, very tall" is how photographer Ruth Orkin described her friend, then know as Jinx Allen.

An Image of Innocence Abroad

Neither photographer Ruth Orkin nor her subject Jinx Allen realized the stir the collaboration would make

Visitors to Greenland don't have to forgo modern comforts. Pictured is a 24-year-old restaurant in the capital, Nuuk, home to a quarter of the nation's residents.

Climate Change Tourism in Greenland

With 80 percent of the ice that covers the island melting, Greenland has become a hot travel destination

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Letters

Thomas Jefferson cut verses from six copies of the New Testament to create his own personal version.

Secretary Clough on Jefferson’s Bible

The head of the Smithsonian Institution details the efforts American History Museum conservators took to repair the artifact

I Am A Man, Sanitation workers assemble outside Clayborn Temple, Memphis, TN, 1968.

The Power of Imagery in Advancing Civil Rights

“Whether it was TV or magazines, the world got changed one image at a time,” says Maurice Berger, curator of a new exhibit at American History

The photographs of the Empress Dowager Cixi taken by Xunling are more Western than Eastern in style.

Presenting China’s Last Empress Dowager

The early 20th-century photograph of Empress Dowager Cixi captures political spin, Qing dynasty-style

Some animals at the National Zoo detected the east coast earthquake before it hit.

Did Zoo Animals Anticipate the August East Coast Earthquake?

Did Zoo Animals Anticipate the August East Coast Earthquake?

Shih Chieng Huang's installations are featured in an exhibit at the Natural History Museum through January 8, 2012.

What’s Up

Among the artists who emerged in the 1950s and '60s, Willem de Kooning, shown here in 1953, defied categorization.

Willem de Kooning Still Dazzles

A new major retrospective recounts the artist’s seven-decade career and never-ending experimentation

John Howard Griffin, left in New Orleans in 1959, asked what "adjustments" a white man would have to make if he were black.

Black Like Me, 50 Years Later

John Howard Griffin gave readers an unflinching view of the Jim Crow South. How has his book held up?

Remembering passwords is not always an easy task.

Locked Out of My Own Life

Threats of identity theft prompt personal questions that can stymie the best of us

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