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Arts & Culture

Mixing caipirinhas, the popular Brazilian cocktail made with cachaça, on Ipanema Beach.

World Cup 2014

You Know Rum—But What Is Cachaça?

Get to know Brazil’s most popular alcohol

Salvatore Scarpitta’s Sal Cragar, 1969.

When A Race Car Becomes a Work of Art

Salvatore Scarpitta’s automative wonder goes on view at the Hirshhorn

The von Trapp family overlooking Portland, Oregon.

The Von Trapps Are Back With a New Musical Sound

The hills are alive again with a new American generation of the singing family made famous by the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical

“Clearly our palates are capable of change,” says the “Parts Unknown” host.

Anthony Bourdain’s Theory on the Foodie Revolution

The bad boy chef and author weighs in on Americans’ late-arrival to the glorious delights of food culture

When Copy and Paste Reigned in the Age of Scrapbooking

Today’s obsession with posting material to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter has a very American history

Challenge Yourself With Ken Jennings’ Latest “Playful” Puzzle

Can you figure out this exclusive new brain teaser from the “Jeopardy!” champion?

Behind the Unceasing Allure of the Rubik’s Cube

The 80’s fad should’ve fallen into obscurity—somehow it didn’t

An Early Script of The Wizard of Oz Offers a Rare Glimpse Into the Creation of the Iconic Film

Seventy-five years after its Technicolor premiere, trace the earliest steps on the yellow brick road

Founded in 1896, the Cooper Hewitt is located in the Andrew Carnegie mansion, a 64-room Georgian brick home that once served as home for the steel magnate and his family.

With a New Name and New Look, the Cooper Hewitt is Primed for a Grand Reopening

Journalists got a sneak preview of what’s coming up when the new museum opens its doors this coming December

The author enjoys a previously-stashed beer and a plate of chanterelles in in the Périgord region of France.

Find These Beers Hidden in Paris and the French Countryside

Our intrepid writer devises a scavenger hunt in a low-tech geocaching game that every beer lover can enjoy

How Red Is Dragon’s Blood?

Color can be subjective, but in the 19th-century, color dictionaries provided a common language for scientists to describe different hues found in nature

Spoonfuls of instant coffee still give some morning coffee drinkers their caffeine fix.

Is There a Future For Instant Coffee?

Ask China, they’re buying the most of it

Art Meets Science

These Psychedelic Images Find Order Amid Chaos

Artist Jonathan McCabe builds computer programs that create their own art—intricately patterned images that look part organic, part kaleidoscopic

Moqueca, a soup found in northeast Brazil.

World Cup 2014

Five Brazilian Dishes to Make for Your World Cup Watch Party

Native to five World Cup host cities, these foods will bring South America to your kitchen

Untitled, Distant Steam Vents; Yellowstone National Park, 2008

Stark Photographs of America the Beautiful, Forever Altered by Man and Nature

Victoria Sambunaris’s new photography book, Taxonomy of a Landscape, goes beyond the amber waves of grain to catalogue what’s on America’s horizon

Ralph Lauren received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal at the American History Museum, where Hillary Rodham Clinton honored his role in preserving the Star-Spangled Banner

Hillary Clinton Awards Ralph Lauren for Helping the 200-Year-Old Star-Spangled Banner See Another 200 Years

At a Naturalization ceremony held at the home of the famous flag, second generation American Ralph Lauren explained what the banner means to him

Ten Thousand Li Along the Yangzi River, traditionally attributed to Juran (active 960–986), China, Southern Song dynasty, mid-12th to early 13th century

Washington, D.C.

Relax Like You Are in 12th-Century China and Take in These Lush Landscape Paintings

When the Confucian elite got stressed, they’d stare at nature paintings to recharge and renew their souls

Madison Stewart, Shark Girl

The Girl Who Swims With Sharks

A new Smithsonian Channel documentary features “Shark Girl,” a fearless 20-year-old Aussie who has spent hundreds of hours swimming with the creatures

Human towers for democracy at the anniversary of Castellers in Barcelona.

What Does a 36-Foot-Tall Human Tower Have to Do With Catalan Independence?

An eye-catching protest across Europe is steeped in cultural heritage says Smithsonian curator Michael Atwood Mason

Sir Bobby, 2007

World Cup 2014

The Beautiful Game Becomes Beautiful Art as L.A. Museum Puts Soccer on Exhibit

The work of artists from around the world looks at players, fans and the ball itself

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