Actor Kevin Spacey arrived at the National Portrait Gallery in character as President Frank Underwood for a "presidential" portrait unveiling.

Francis J. Underwood’s Presidential Portrait Goes On View at the Smithsonian

A portrait of actor Kevin Spacey, in his Netflix role as the world’s most devious president, proves that fiction is as good as real life

Hamilton Hall at Columbia University

Where to Go in New York When You Can’t Get Tickets to “Hamilton”

Fans of “Hamilton” can check out these historic sites

Your Guide to Everyone’s Favorite Winter Citrus: Clementines

Seedless, sweet, easy to peel, and portable. But where did clementines come from? And what are satsumas, mandarines, and tangerines?

In the installation of Smell, The Beauty of Decay: SmellScape Central Park, designed by Sissel Tolaas, visitors touch the wall that has been painted with the special paint, releasing the scent.

Can Smell Be a Work of Art?

Scent artist Sissel Tolaas uses chemistry to explore the malodorous, yet beautiful, scent of decay in Central Park

The Pearl of Dubai is half adventure park, half marine sanctuary.

Can Underwater Resorts Actually Help Coral Reef Ecosystems?

A Los Angeles company is designing artificial reefs to boost local economies and marine habitat

Bigelow Aerospace's proposed space station, Alpha, would be made up of sausage-link-esque blocks, each the size of a school bus.

Age of Humans

We Thought We’d Be Living in Space (or Under Giant Domes) By Now

An inflatable space habitat test highlights the futuristic visions we’ve had for housing, from cities under glass to EPCOT

A modern baptismal rite takes place in the same Paravur pond in which the Apostle Thomas reputedly baptized Indian nobility in the first century.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

The Surprisingly Early History of Christianity in India

Modern Syrian Christians of Kerala believe that the Apostle Thomas visited in A.D. 52 to baptize their ancestors

A woman performs the Namaskara gesture, a traditional Indian greeting with hands in front of chest and a slight bow.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

The Secret Language of Hands in Indian Iconography

Unlock the meaning of these ancient gestures

Artist Gary Staab and his team spent roughly 2,000 hours over five months to create the first of three models.

Art Meets Science

An Artist Creates a Detailed Replica of Ötzi, the 5,300-Year-Old “Iceman”

Museum artist Gary Staab discusses the art and science of constructing exhibition pieces

Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace Has an Evil British Twin

Meet the lovable American cartoon character’s sinister counterpart

On his property, Jones County’s J. R. Gavin points out a site that was a hide-out for Newt Knight. “The Confederates kept sending in troops to wipe out old Newt and his boys,” says Gavin, “but they’d just melt into the swamps.”

The True Story of the ‘Free State of Jones’

A new Hollywood movie looks at the tale of the Mississippi farmer who led a revolt against the Confederacy

Did ADHD Play a Role in George Gershwin’s Eclectic Style?

The composer himself seemed to see a link between his restlessness and his art

To Mapplethorpe, flowers offered a way to broaden his appeal. Parrot Tulips, 1988

Robert Mapplethorpe Could Make Even Tulips Erotic

LACMA and the J. Paul Getty Museum will be showcasing the photographer’s lesser known flower portraits

MIT’s moisture-sensitive sportswear might one day be genetically modified to glow in the dark.

The First Truly Breathable Fabric Contains Living Bacteria

Microbiology meshes with fashion to create a new kind of cool

Virtual reality headsets at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam allow visitors to view digital reconstructions of artifacts destroyed by ISIS.

The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments

Scholars create a virtual archive of antiquities destroyed by extremists in Syria and Iraq

The Super Cao Nguyen supermarket, founded by Vietnamese immigrants in 1979, offers fresh fish to landlocked seafood lovers.

Oklahoma City Is Becoming a Hotspot for Vietnamese Food

Southeast Asian immigrants are spicing up America’s fast-food capital with banh mi, curried frogs’ legs and pho

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Is the Earthworm Native to the United States and More Questions From Readers

You asked, we answered

The statue of Abu Bint Deimun, from third century B.C. Hatra, Iraq. A global network of preservationists are teaming up to protect the world’s antiquities.

Crash Courses Prepare Art Conservators for Catastrophic Disasters

Smithsonian experts train a brave band of conservators in northern Iraq to brace buildings and rescue artifacts in a hurry

Tulsi Yadav teaches Shoba Narayan about the application and design of mehndi, or henna, at the Dera Mandawa haveli in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Formerly a private mansion, the Dera Mandawa is now a hotel.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

A Quest to Master the Art of Henna

In anticipation of her daugher’s wedding, Shoba Narayan set out to hone her mendhi craft

New Graphic Novel Writes the Wright Brothers’ Sister Back Into History

Four students journey back to the birth of aviation in ‘The Wrong Wrights’

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