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Blogs

Being a Lifelong Bookworm May Keep You Sharp in Old Age

Reading, writing and other mental exercises, if habitual from an early age, can slow down the age-related decline in mental capacity

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VIDEO: Functional Liver Tissue Can Now Be Grown From Stem Cells

By mixing different types of stem cells in petri dishes, researchers created liver “buds” that effectively filtered blood when implanted in mice

A priestess of Osun in the Yoruba tradition shops at the Dance Africa Festival and Bazaar in New York City. Her natural hair is combined with synthetics to produce her style.

July 3: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Check out today’s events at the Folklife Festival, including African-inspired fashion, Bácska cuisine and folk-jazz with Dresch and Lukács

The habitual use of antibiotics at industrial farming operations to promote growth can lead to the development of bacteria resistant to the drugs.

Factory Farms May Be Ground-Zero For Drug Resistant Staph Bacteria

Staph microbes with resistance to common treatments are much more common in industrial farms than antibiotic-free operations

¡Así Kotama! is out July 2, on Smithsonian Folkways Records.

Listen to the Flutes of Ecuador, Then Catch Them Live

A new album on Smithsonian Folkways Records captures the effort to sustain a fading musical tradition

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The Past and Future of the Baseball Bat

The evolution of the baseball bat, and a few unusual mutations

How do we resist when burgers and bacon beckon?

Can We Be Tricked into Not Eating So Much?

Just posting calorie counts isn’t very effective. What may work, though, is framing overeating in terms everyone understands

Gwyneth Glyn, a Welsh singer who performs original and folk songs in her native tongue, will perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year as part of the “One World, Many Voices” program.

Can Musicians and Educators Bring Welsh Back?

The Welsh language is spoken by few, but people like Gwyneth Glyn, a Welsh folk musician, are helping to revitalize it and renew interest in the culture

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These Bright Webs Depict Flight Patterns Around Major Airports

Software engineer Alexey Papulovskiy has built Contrailz, a site that generates visuals of flight data over cities around the world

Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, which ranks as one of the countries with the highest amount of biodiversity but the least funding to protect it.

Funding Biases Affect Wildlife Protection in the Developing World

Forty countries that receive low levels of aid for environmental conservation contain about one-third of the world’s threatened species

Plant impressions found underneath a pair of ancient humans (at left) indicate they were buried atop a bed of flowers (as depicted at right).

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Flowers Buried in a 12,000-Year-Old Cemetery

Plant impressions found underneath a pair of ancient humans in Israel indicate they were buried ceremonially, atop a bed of flowers

Flying high at one of the Folklife Festival’s many stages.

Dancing, Catwalking and Crafting: Photos From Folklife

The first weekend was full of colors and cultures from around the globe

Witness a cultural performance of Garifuna songs and drumming at the Folklife Festival Wednesday, July 3. The Garifuna are an ethnic minority in Central America with a diverse background and distinct culture and language.

Events July 2-4: Discover Genetic Coding, Experience Garifuna Culture and Watch ‘March Point’

This week, check out an exhibit on genes, witness a Central American song and dance performance and watch Native American film “March Point”

“A Democracy of Images,” open today at the American Art Museum, features 113 images that span the history of American photography, including William Eggleston’s Tricycle (Memphis), c. 1975.

How American Photography Went From Family Portraits to Art Form

A new exhibition at the American Art Museum show photography’s role in the development of democracy in America

Less conspicuous than the rugged Rocky, Cascade and Coast Mountain Ranges in this photograph are the markings of agriculture, in the bottom center.

It’s a Green, Green, Green, Green World

NASA and NOAA release satellite images of Earth and all its vegetation

Fueling the trip to the exoplanet Gliese 667Cd, discovered earlier this week, would be one of humankind’s greatest challenges to date. Above is an artist’s rendering of a view from the planet.

Powering the 21st Century

Can We Power a Space Mission To An Exoplanet?

Ion engines, solar sails, antimatter rockets, nuclear fusion—several current and future technologies could someday help us fuel an interstellar journey

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Why Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious?

Pinpointing exactly why we yawn is a tough task, but the latest research suggests that our sleepy sighs help to regulate the temperature of our brains

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Why Living in a City Makes You More Innovative

Research suggests that the more opportunities you have to connect with different people—and fresh ideas—the more creative and productive you tend to be

A Brief History of the Baseball

The development of the baseball, from shoe rubber and lemon peels to today’s minimalist, modernist object

A member of the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, models a hat in the church’s runway fashion show last year.

June 28: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Check out today’s events at the Folklife Festival, including Hungarian cooking, fashion as politics and Andean music

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