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Arts & Culture

Some of the best picture books of the year

Best of Children’s Books 2011: For Picture Book Readers (Part I)

As you begin your holiday shopping, review these selections of the best picture books of the year

Fuyu persimmons

Five Ways to Eat Persimmons

Both fuyu and hachiya persimmons are usually available in late fall and early winter. Here are a few ways to use either variety

Did Kinect hackers inspire a new breakthrough in technology?

How Hackers Made Kinect a Game Changer

Machines that respond to your touch, motion or voice are making keyboards obsolete. Is your TV remote next?

Books on Bike Perfection and Women’s Bike-Won Freedom

Women’s clothing was a problem, and to efficiently ride a bike there was only one thing to do: Take it off

Burning fat

Cooking May Have Driven Human Evolution

Why have humans and our ancestors been cooking for all this time? A first-of-its-kind study suggests cooked food gives the body a “pick-me-up”

Gorgosaurus as envisioned by Lambe. Clockwise from the upper left - standing, sitting, in repose, and feeding.

Lambe’s Lazy, Scavenging Gorgosaurus

Back when tyrannosaurs were new to science, paleontologist Lawrence Lambe cast them as bumbling scavengers that ate rotten flesh

Rating a lunar vacation.

The Tour Bus Has Landed

The ups and downs of a lunar vacation

Stubbornly original, Still intended his art to “be engaged in that which exalts the spirit of man.” To achieve that, he said, “a fresh start must be made.”

Clyfford Still’s Sublime Art

A new museum devoted exclusively to the work of the abstract painter is opening in Denver. A leading critic takes a close look at one masterwork

“Man does not live by salad alone,” says farmer Tevis Robertson-Goldberg of Massachusetts. “He needs croutons.”

Artisanal Wheat On the Rise

Giving factory flour the heave-ho, small farmers from New England to the Northwest are growing long-forgotten varieties of wheat

See People of the Caribou by Nicolas Villaume at the American Indian Museum's multimedia exhibit "Conversations with the Earth through January 2, 2012.

What’s Up

As curator of the White House, William G. Allman is responsible for studying and preserving the 50,000 pieces of art and décor in the residence's permanent collection.

Q and A With William G. Allman

The curator of the White House talks about the history of the President’s mansion and how to protect the collections from tipsy visitors

In Robert Walter Weir’s c. 1838 canvas of St. Nicholas (detail), perhaps influenced by a Washington Irving story, the painter envisioned both an enigmatic trickster and a dispenser of holiday cheer.

A Mischievous St. Nick from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

The 19th-century artist Robert Walter Weir took inspiration from Washington Irving to create a prototype of Santa Claus

In 2004, relatives of Albert Penn found the bust made in his image. From left: family members Virginia Maker, Larry Taylor, Evelyn Taylor, Andrea Bone and anthropologist David Hunt.

An Osage Family Reunion

With the help of Smithsonian model makers, the tribal nation is obtaining busts of ancestors who lived at a pivotal moment in their history

Instruments developed at the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, such as this Solar Probe, will go to the Sun in 2018.

New Angles

Carole Pohn, with her children Jennifer and Andy in 1962 or '63, says photographer Vivian Maier called her "the only civilized person" in the Chicago suburb where they were neighbors.

Vivian Maier: The Unheralded Street Photographer

A chance find has rescued the work of the camera-toting baby sitter, and gallery owners are taking notice

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Letters

Readers Respond to the October Issue

The ʻIʻiwi, or Scarlet Hawaiian Honeycreeper, with an elongated bill adapted for extracting nectar from flowers.

The Hawaiian Honeycreeper Family Tree

A new study unravels the relationships among a group of spectacular songbirds that diversified as the Hawaiian Islands emerged from the Pacific

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Learning to Love Sponsored Films

By any count, sponsored films are the most numerous genre of film, and they are also the ones most in danger of being lost

Mocktails

Mocktails for Expectant Moms and Hangover-Free Holidays

Going beyond the usual soft drinks, some bars and restaurants are starting to get creative with their nonalcoholic beverages

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The Story of the Decade

The future may look bleak for many Americans, but hope is always just around the corner

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