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Arts & Culture

Buddha's hand sliced where all the fingers are splitting off the main fruit.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

What the Heck Do I Do With a Buddha’s Hand?

Yes, you can eat this thing

Child-sized gas masks in elementary school, Pripyat, Chernobyl zone of exclusion

What Would the World Look Like Without People?

Photojournalist Oleg Mastruko spent eight years photographing abandoned locations for his project “Without People”

Dublin at twilight.

The Inside Scoop on Jury’s Irish Cabaret in Dublin, Where Blarney Met Vaudeville

Rediscover a classic Smithsonian Folkways recording of an Irish variety show that first tickled tourists in 1963

A dollar bill found floating in the basement of the offices of Smack Mellon, a Brooklyn arts organization, after flooding due to Superstorm Sandy. Submitted by Adriane Colburn.

Art Meets Science

A Crowdsourced Collection of Objects That Embody Climate Change

“A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting” features publicly submitted items from places that could be on the brink of disappearance

Dr. Woosuk Bang, a Ph.D. candidate at the time of this photograph, prepares his doctoral thesis experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser. Earlier experiments with terawatt class lasers proved that clusters of gaseous molecules could be converted into ion energy. Dr. Bang's experiment, among the first to be conducted with the Texas Petawatt, created an ion plasma of sufficient temperature and density to catalyze neutron fusion reactions.

Art Meets Science

Adventures In Laser Science

A photo series by Austin-based photographer Robert Shults casts physicists and their everyday life in the lab in a sci-fi B-movie light

Restaurateur Johnny Kan in the center, 1965

The Lazy Susan, the Classic Centerpiece of Chinese Restaurants, Is Neither Classic nor Chinese

How the rotating tool became the circular table that circled the globe

Is It Ethical to Collect Homeless People’s Signs as Art?

On the streets, a few words on a piece of cardboard can tell a life story

Text Me, Ishmael: Reading Moby Dick in Emoji

Why someone would translate Herman Melville’s classic into emoticons

How Did Computers Uncover J.K. Rowling’s Pseudonym?

Forensic linguistics can use powerful programs to track written text back to its author

Your Weekly Sermons, Illustrated

Artist John Hendrix finds divine inspiration every Sunday when he goes to church

From the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

How Merv Griffin Came Up With That Weird Question/Answer Format for Jeopardy!

Champion Ken Jennings delves into what gives the virtually unchanged game show its lasting power

Beautiful and Eerie Photographs of Starlings in Flight

Photographer Richard Barnes captures the mesmerizing geometric patterns created by flocks of European starlings

The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center has developed a prototype for pizza that could be included in soldiers' field rations.

Ultimate Survival Food: Military-Engineered Pizza That’s Good For Three Years

Army scientists have come up with a recipe for a long-lasting pie that can be stored at room temperature

A room furnished according to Poe's "The Philosophy of Furniture" for a 1959 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum

Edgar Allan Poe, Interior Design Critic

What scared the author of ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’? Bad design.

Why Was Beyonce Not Cool Enough for the Smithsonian’s New “Cool” Exhibit?

When two scholars decided to pick 100 of the coolest Americans, it got dicey; here’s why

1124 MLK Jr. Blvd., L.A. By EVOL. 2010.

The Many Faces of President Obama, As Seen in America’s Murals

From liquor stores to churches, Camilo Vergara has photographed murals of President Obama in some of the country’s poorest communities

A gondola, piled high with books, sits in the middle of the shop.

Why Does This Bookstore Keep Its Books in Bathtubs?

Venice’s Libreria Acqua Alta keeps its books in bathtubs, gondolas and canoes—and not just for show

These noodles are actually a place for visitors to Winnipeg's Red River Mutual Trail to stay warm in the chilly winter weather.

These Architects Have Created Fun and Weird Ways to Stay Warm in the Winter

It’ll make it worth your while to visit Winnipeg in February

Small lungs made out of felt, infused with the DNA from killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.

Art Meets Science

An Artist Dyes Clothes and Quilts With Tuberculosis and Staph Bacteria

Anna Dumitriu combines bacteria and textile design to explore our relationship with microorganisms

Khinkali can be found through Sochi and the Caucasus

Winter Olympics

How to Make Khinkali and Khachapuri, Sochi’s Delectable Delicacies (With Recipes!)

Eat your way through the Olympics with these foods native to the Caucasus

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