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Arts & Culture

Master navigator Mau Piailug teaches navigation to his son and grandson with the help of a star compass.

How the Voyage of the Kon-Tiki Misled the World About Navigating the Pacific

Smithsonian geographer Doug Herman explains the traditional science of traversing the ocean seas

The oaten pipes hydroid (Tubularia indivisa) is a small colonial predator native to the North Atlantic.

Art Meets Science

College Students Studied These Mail-Order Sea Creatures in the Late 1800s

Restored glass models of marine invertebrates, made by artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, are on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Roman Vishniac, [Dancers Emily Frankel and Mark Ryder, Vishniac Portrait Studio, New York], early 1950s.

See Jewish Life Before the Holocaust Through a Newly Released Digital Archive

Roman Vishniac’s extensive work, now open to the public, is ready for some crowd-sourced historical detective work

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota tied red yarn to hundreds of unpaired shoes for "Perspectives," opening August 30 at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

What’s In a Shoe? Japanese Artist Chiharu Shiota Investigates

An artist takes on the soul in the sole of your shoes in an exhibition at the Sackler Gallery of Art

Russian artist Dmitry Morozov has devised a way to make pollution beautiful.

7 Ways Technology is Changing How Art is Made

Technology is redefining art in strange, new ways. Works are created by people moving through laser beams or from data gathered on air pollution

The hand-axe, reimagined.

Designers Remake Our Oldest Tool Using Our Newest Tool

More than a million years old, the hand axe is over due for an update

Illustrator Anthony Freda adapted Norman Rockwell's The Runaway to comment on police following this month's events in Ferguson, Missouri.

Rethinking Rockwell in the Time of Ferguson

An illustrator adapted Rockwell’s The Runaway based on images of contemporary police

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Kennewick Elegy

A new poem about the famous skeleton by Amit Majmudar

Debbie Harry on camera or a monitor during the video shoot for “Picture This,” c. 1978. Debbie was constantly asked, “How does it feel to be a sex symbol?” Literally exactly that question, over and over again.

Blondie Guitarist Chris Stein Shares His Secret Photographs of the 1970s and 1980s

Hearken back to the era of punk and new wave music with these snapshots

Commemorate the War of 1812 With These Bicentennial Events

Gain new insight into the events of 1814 by attending these reenactments, concerts, walking tours and meals

“We had ears open to all the influences that were around us,” Debbie Harry recently told Interview magazine.

What New Wave Brought to Rock ‘n’ Roll

There will always be a new music craze out to getcha, getcha, getcha

Rooms: At the Cooper Hewitt, once Andrew Carnegie’s mansion, Kalman’s selections will be displayed in the Music Room.

Famed Illustrator Maira Kalman Takes on the Cooper Hewitt’s Collections

In her latest book, the noted artist juxtaposes treasured personal objects with items from the Smithsonian design museum

Butcher shop owner Sajad Saleh sells his wares at the Al Tayebat Meat Market.

Amid the Heated Debates, Iraqi Immigrants Struggle to Make a Living in Arizona

Familiar fare—qeema, biryani, dolma—offers comfort to the thousands of refugees starting life over in Phoenix

Photographer Oliver Blohm put instant film in a microwave for his series, "Hatzfrass."

Art Meets Science

Here’s What Happens When You Put Instant Film in a Microwave

A German photographer made a name for himself by treating his photos like last night’s leftovers

If there had been Academy Awards in the mid-1920s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s The Big Parade produced by Irving Thalberg, directed by King Vidor, and starring John Gilbert and Renée Adorée, would have swept the prizes.

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Blockbuster World War I Film that Brought Home the Traumatic Impact of War

The blockbuster silent film The Big Parade is among the first to explore the psychological trauma of war

Jessica Rath sculpts paragon and roma tomatoes from life.

Art Meets Science

These Sculptures of Giant Tomatoes Are Ripe For the Picking

What physical traits do humans find desirable? Artist Jessica Rath looks in her grocery store’s produce section for answers

The creators of "Will & Grace" donated the pilot script and other items from the show to the National Museum of American History.

A Proud Day at American History Museum as LGBT Artifacts Enter the Collections

The creators of “Will & Grace” and others donated objects related to gay history

Ginger chicken donburi from Ivan Ramen at Gotham West Market tastes as delicious as it looks.

How Dinner at a Food Court Has Become Something Exciting, not Excruciating

A new trend across America’s urban centers has reinvigorated the nation’s taste buds

A new font for Cooper Hewitt

To Redesign a Design Museum Start with the Typeface

The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum is renovating and rebranding with a tailor-made typeface

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Hear How Robin Williams Woke Up the Space Shuttle Discovery Crew in 1988

The actor and comedian provided a special message for astronauts during the first flight after the Challenger disaster

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