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Arts & Culture

Tony Award winner Geoffrey Holder's ingenious design used a skillet to complete the Tin Man’s hat in the 1975 Broadway production of The Wiz.

Breaking Ground

The Tin Man’s Hat From “The Wiz” Offers Just a Hint of the Musical’s Beating Heart

When the all-black musical production opened on Broadway 40 years ago, critics scoffed, but audiences embraced it

As you pour your Champagne to celebrate the New Year, remember that the physics behind those bubbles has some real-world applications.

The Physics of Champagne Bubbles Could Help Power the Future

Studying the principles that govern bubble formation in sparkling wine could improve power plant boilers

Our Answers to the Most Burning Questions of 2014

Here are the ten most popular installments of “Ask Smithsonian” this year

Small town travel, the Monuments Men, Chernobyl and Stonehenge were all among reader favorites in 2014

Our Top Stories of 2014

From weird red waterfalls to the pleasures of small-town America, these were the most read articles on Smithsonian.com this year

A Christmas tree decorated with iconic spacecraft is on view on the first floor of the Air and Space Museum

Christmas Day is the Only Day of the Year You Can’t Go to the Smithsonian

For those missing your Smithsonian fix, here’s some holiday cheer until the doors open on December 26

James Franco and Seth Rogen are just the latest actors to draw ire from political leaders.

“The Interview” Joins the Ranks of These Banned or Restricted Movies

From a Charlie Chaplin comedy to a Mae West melodrama, plenty of controversial films have been pulled or even destroyed since the dawn of cinema

Edward Ranney, Viscas River Valley, 2001.

Stunning Black-and-White Photos of the Nazca Lines

Edward Ranney’s photographs of the famous Nazca Lines show the mysterious geoglyphs from an unusual angle—eye-level

The French often make a bûche de Noël, a chocolate cake baked to look like a Yule log, at Christmastime.

A Christmas Feast, Experienced With Dishes From Around the World

Experience an international Christmas without any travel by preparing these traditional foods

After the devastating 2011 tsunami, the Japanese government spent billions of zen to build this sea wall along the Sendai Coastline. It's almost 20 miles long.

In an Era of Superstorms, This Exhibit Captures Our Shifting Relationship with the Earth’s Rising Seas

“Sink or Swim” shows how we’re learning to be smarter and more resilient in our response to increasingly unpredictable oceans and rivers

Here's the Tolkien nerd’s guide to the third Hobbit movie.

The Tolkien Nerd’s Guide to “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”

The final chapter in Peter Jackson’s trilogy strays furthest from the book, but there are still a few buried Easter eggs for die-hard fans to enjoy

Unpublished Photos by Gordon Parks Bring a Nuanced View of 1950s Black America

An exhibit in Boston highlights unpublished photos from the acclaimed Life magazine photographer

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“Descent of Man”, a New Poem by Timothy Steele

The award-winning poet penned this new piece about evolution

Women, she said, “get more glory”—but “more notoriety when they crash.”

Will the Search for Amelia Earhart Ever End?

More than eight decades after she disappeared in the South Pacific, the aviator continues to spark intense passion—and controversy

Some of the game’s early tokens doubled as prizes in Cracker Jack boxes.

Monopoly Was Designed to Teach the 99% About Income Inequality

The story you’ve heard about the creation of the famous board game is far from true

London Mayor Boris Johnson released his book, The Churchill Factor, in November 2014.

London Mayor Boris Johnson on Winston Churchill’s Cheekiest Quotes

London’s mayor talks about his new Churchill biography, 50 years after the British Bulldog’s death

Asked to choose one artifact, the Smithsonian's Undersecretary for Arts, History and Culture Richard Kurin selected this spinning wheel from the collections of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

For Every Object, There Is a Story to Tell

A Smithsonian curator is asked to select just one artifact

NASA is using nighttime pictures of Earth to track energy use during cultural holidays.

NASA Can See Your Holiday Lights From Space

Scientists can use holiday lights during Christmas and Rammadan as a proxy for overall energy use in urban areas

Great Lakes Brewery's Christmas Ale is one winter beer you should definitely try this season.

The Best Winter Beers to Try This Holiday Season

We spoke with hops and malts expert William Bostwick about the right quaffs to drink while the weather is cold

7th Place: Butter daisy (Melampodium divaricatum) flower at 2x magnification. Fluorescence. Oleksandr Holovachov, Ekuddsvagen, Sweden.

Some of the Most Beautiful Things in Nature Come in the Tiniest of Packages

The winners of the 2014 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition capture a rat brain, the mouthparts of a vampire moth and other small wonders

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