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A great white shark off the coast of South Africa

The Secrets of a Shark Attack

In an attack against a Cape fur seal, a great white shark’s advantage comes down to physics

Meet Oglala Lakota Angela Babby, the creator of "Mountain Chief" and other enameled mosaic works.

Events Dec. 12-15: Seasons of Light, The Expert Is In, Day With the Artists, and Holiday Jazz

This week, see a holiday performance, talk to a bird expert, meet a pair of Native artists, and attend a jazz concert

Paul Morphy (left) and a friend

A Chess Champion’s Dominance—and Madness

As a young man, Paul Morphy vanquished eight opponents simultaneously while effectively blindfolded

Jeremy Irvine and Joey in War Horse

Determining Who Made the Most Movies

Some directors make more movies than others. A lot more

Tail vertebrae from a previously known Alamosaurus specimen (A), compared with a newly-discovered Alamosaurus tail vertebra (B) and a tail vertebra from the large titanosaur Futalognkosaurus (C).

Alamosaurus Gets Pumped Up

New fossils give a body size boost to what may have been North America’s largest dinosaur, Alamosaurus

Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine proved to be pivotal in the history of information technology.

Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine

On this day in 1888, the groundbreaking tabulator machine was installed in a government office for the first time

Political cookbooks come from all sides of the spectrum.

The Edible Is Political: Cookbooks from Both Sides of the Aisle

The cookbook has been a campaign tool for the women’s suffrage movement, John F. Kennedy and now Ron Paul

A map of extreme weather events in the United States, January to October 2011

Visualizing a Year of Extreme Weather

The United States has seen thousands of weather records broken this year

Wang Mang, first and last emperor of China's Xin Dynasty, went down fighting amid his harem girls as his palace fell in 23 A.D.

Emperor Wang Mang: China’s First Socialist?

The future of your wallet

When a Smartphone Becomes a Wallet

They won’t go mainstream for a few years, but mobile wallets are finally starting to pick up steam in the U.S.

Felicity Aston, shown here in Iceland, is currently attempting cross Antarctica alone.

Farthest South: News from a Solo Antarctic Adventurer

Aston is in no-man’s land, where schedules and responsibility carry little relevance, but she is bound by one logistic: “I can’t miss the last plane out”

An embellished "Brontosaurus" menaces the heroes of Frank Mackenzie Savile's "Beyond the Great South Wall"

Who Wrote the First Dinosaur Novel?

A decade before The Lost World debuted, one science fiction writer beat Arthur Conan Doyle to the dinosaurian punch.

John Gillespie Magee Jr.

70 Years of “Slipping the Surly Bonds”

Whether you love it or hate it, John Gillespie Magee’s “High Flight” remains the most enduring of aviation poems

Gingerbread men

The Gingerbread Man and Other Runaway Foods

The tale of the gingerbread man is part of a genre of folklore about goodies gone wild, specifically “The Fleeing Pancake” stories

See the 2010 Thai hit "Eternity" at the Freer Gallery

Weekend Events Dec. 9-11: Eternity, Super Science Saturday and Sara Daneshpour

This week, see a critically-lauded Thai film, attend a hands-on day of aviation activities, and hear a live concert pianist perform

Arezzo, Italy

Five Hundred Years of Giorgio Vasari in Arezzo, Italy

A lunar eclipse turns the moon reddish brown

How to Measure the Moon this Weekend

The people of Byzantium viewed a lunar eclipse as a bad omen, but today it’s just another time to do science

A frame from "Empire," Warhol's 1964 film

Visions of Empire at the Hirshhorn

A new exhibition combines a seminal Warhol film with a pair of modern responses

Charlize Theron (top) and Julia Roberts in competing Snow White movies.

Snow Whites, Asteroids, Bugs and Other Moments of Seeing Double at the Movies

What happens when filmmakers want to make the same film?

Arizona's Grand Canyon as painted by Thomas Moran in 1908

Senator Barry Goldwater Imagines Arizona in the Year 2012

The Republican senator and 1964 presidential candidate predicted the growth of the Sun Belt and envisioned an open border with Mexico

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