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This gold and pearl hair ornament from the days of China’s Qing Dynasty shows the symbolic significance of the phoenix in Chinese culture. Come see an exhibit at the Sackler Gallery showcasing materials from the creation of Chinese artist Xu Bing’s Phoenix Project, on display until September 2.

Hurry In! These Smithsonian Exhibitions Won’t Be Here Much Longer

Spend your remaining summer days at the museums, and don’t miss out on the Smithsonian’s soon-to-be-closed exhibits

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The End of the World Might Just Look Like This

Artist Ron Miller presents several scenarios—most of them scientifically plausible—of landscapes imperiled and of Earth meeting its demise

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What the Handwriting Says About the Artist

A new exhibition by the Archives of American Art examines the handwriting of more than 40 American artists

Although their perception of color is limited, new research suggests that dogs routinely discriminate between objects based on their hue.

New Study Shows That Dogs Use Color Vision After All

Although their perception of color is limited, dogs discriminate between objects based on their hue—a finding that may change the way dogs are trained

Traveling in pods through tubes. Is this what Elon Musk has in mind?

L.A. to San Fran in 30 Minutes? Can You Say Hyperloop?

Entrepreneur Elon Musk thinks bullet trains are too slow and expensive. He says he has a better idea: high-speed travel in tubes

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The Invention of the Baseball Mitt

Once thought a sign of weakness, the baseball glove has become an iconic piece of equipment

The Battle of Chapultepec, which resulted in a U.S. victory, was waged on September 13, 1847 in Mexico City.

Brainpower and Brawn in the Mexican-American War

The United States Army had several advantages, but the most decisive was the professionalism instilled at West Point

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Smithsonian Displays Its Own AIDS Memorial Quilt Panel

Created by Smithsonian volunteers and staff, the panel will be on view in the Kogod Courtyard one day only, July 17

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When Lettuce Was a Sacred Sex Symbol

For nearly 3,000 years lettuce was associated with the Egyptian god of fertility, Min, for its resemblance to the phallus

ARBIMON—a system of distributed recording stations and centralized analysis software—was used to track populations of the endangered plains coqui frog, in Puerto Rico.

A New Technology Can Remotely Analyze an Ecosystem’s Species By its Sound

By distributing networks of microphones to wetlands and forests around the world, biologists could track biodiversity in a whole new way

Close inspection showed that a T. rex tooth was lodged in a hadrosaur’s vertebrae, the result of an ancient attack gone awry.

Caught in the Act: Scientists Find A T. Rex Tooth Stuck in a Hadrosaur Tail

The ancient attack proves once and for all that the T. Rex was a hunter, not just a scavenger

Grab some popcorn for this summer’s blockbusters.

Minions! Did You See How Much a Movie Ticket Might Cost One Day?

Best way to beat the heat, says curator Amy Henderson, is the summer blockbuster, but are they going the way of the dinosaurs

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

Wait, Have I Been Here Before? The Curious Case of Déjà Vu

Although the strange sensation’s cause remains unknown, scientists are searching for ways to induce that nagging feeling of familiarity

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Scientists Get Best View Yet of the Structure of Glass

The amorphous solid holds many mysteries, but a new study using a high-powered microscope shows that atoms in glass are organized into distorted shapes

Rina Banerjee’s “A world Lost…” is now on view in the Sackler Gallery pavilion.

“A world Lost…” Is the Stuff of Dreams and Nightmares

Rina Banerjee weaves personal and global history into her new Sackler Gallery installation, opening July 13

The city of Shanghai presents A True Story (above), an impressive work of mosaïculture, at Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal 2013.

Horticultural Artists Grow Fantastical Scenes at the Montréal Botanical Garden

Take a peek at some of the living artwork entered in an international competition in Quebec this summer

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Sneak Peek: Artist Rina Banerjee Creates “A world Lost…” at the Sackler

Debuting later this week, the new installation at the gallery incorporates everything from shells to ostrich eggs

A community of glass sponges under Antarctica’s ice.

Glass Sponges Move In As Antarctic Ice Shelves Melt

Typically slow-growing glass sponge communities are popping up quickly now that disappearing shelf ice has changed ocean conditions around Antarctica

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These Decapitated Worms Regrow Old Memories Along with New Heads

New experiments show that beheaded flatworms can retain trained behaviors after their brains regenerate

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Some Day Your Passwords Could Be Replaced by a Pill

Now that passwords are neither secure nor easy, what will replace them? Fingerprint scans? Electronic tattoos? A pill?

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