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Every Tuesday, take a guided tour through the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden.

Events May 1-3: Ripley Garden Tour, the Multi-colored Universe, and Roni Horn

This week, take a garden tour, discover the universe through cutting edge developments in X-ray telescopes, and meet acclaimed artist Roni Horn

What's going on in this guy's head? Read How to Think Like a Neanderthal to find out.

A Human Evolution Summer Reading List

As you plan for summer vacation, don’t forget to pack one of these reads on Neanderthals, human origins, new fossils or the first people in the New World

Javier Núñez Florián, Anailín de la Rúa de la Torre in Una Noche

From Summer Blockbusters to Orphan Films

Three recent gatherings celebrate movies big and small

The rare all-white orca whale was spotted swimming with its pod.

Rare Sighting of All-White Orca Whale

Earlier this week, photos were released of an extremely rare killer whale off the eastern coast of Russia

Digital billboard in 2019 Los Angeles from the film Blade Runner (1982)

Billboard Advertising in the City of Blade Runner

Are Angelenos destined to be perpetually surrounded by super-sized advertisements?

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Why Is It Cool To Hate On Dinosaur Discoveries?

Tyrannosaur traditionalists are registering their displeasure at the way paleontologists are altering our understanding of dinosaur lives

Look for more people riding on battery power.

Will America ever love electric bikes?

Most bikers scoff at them, but as the U.S. population ages and gas prices rise, expect to see more bikes running on batteries

U2 was here—and so were thousands of fans who managed to find the remote Mojave Desert location of the very Joshua tree depicted in the photo series accompanying U2's 1987 album. The tree has died and now lies in brittle bits and pieces.

From the Joshua Tree to The Slaughtered Lamb: Destinations of Story and Song

Should you go to Cephalonia, bring a copy of the Odyssey—perhaps the truest guidebook to this Greek island

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The Secret Lives of Medieval Books

A new method reveals which pages of ancient religious texts were most frequently used—and which prayers perpetually put readers to sleep

The shape of the "Pachysuchus" fossil (in grey) set into a sauropodomorph dinosaur skull

Pachysuchus Actually a Hidden Dinosaur

A strange jaw fragment, once thought to belong to a crocodile-like predator, turned out to be a dinosaur

Ai WeiWei's zodiac animals come to the Hirshhorn plaza.

Ai WeiWei’s Giant Animal Heads at the Hirshhorn Fountain

Chinese artist Ai WeiWei challenges ideas of authenticity with his reproduction of Qing dynasty zodiac animal heads, now on view at the Hirshhorn Museum

A view from the train on the way to Tibet

All Aboard the Beijing-Lhasa Express

The writer casts aside concerns about comfort and political correctness to take the rail trip of a lifetime

Jacob Lawrence, Bar and Grill, 1941 from the new exhibit "African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond."

Events April 27-29: Insight into 20th-Century African American Art, Anacostia River & Jazz Fest, Gamer Symphony Orchestra

This weekend, get some insight into 20th-Century African American Art and hear the Gamer Symphony Orchestra perform arrangements of video game music

Cover to the April 1938 issue of Popular Science magazine

Rocket to the Stars at the 1939 New York World’s Fair

A trip into space without leaving Earth—or even going outdoors

A future vision of Fresno, California, as proposed by architect Darin Johnstone and environmental consultant Mark Merkelbach

Futureproofing California Farmland

Design teams propose new models for farming and suburban development in California’s water-scarce Central Valley

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Edgar Allan Poe: Hollywood’s Favorite Mad Genius

Tracing the work of the famed writer through movies

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Theodore Roosevelt’s Life-Saving Speech

When a would-be assassin shot, the 50-page manuscript and metal eyeglasses case tucked against Roosevelt’s chest absorbed the blow

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Magical Thinking and Food Revulsion

Carol Nemeroff studies why certain foods, such as feces-shaped fudge, pink slime, or recycled tap water, gross us out

The skull of Tarbosaurus

Tarbosaurus Leftovers Explain Dinosaur Mystery

Peculiar bite marks suggest why paleontologists have found so little of the enigmatic, long-armed dinosaur Deinocheirus

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Meat Helps Human Populations Grow

A new study links eating meat to shorter periods of nursing, allowing women to bear more children

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