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In these two images from the Hubble Space Telescope, Pluto's new moon, P4, can be seen to move around the dwarf planet.

What To Name Pluto’s New Moon

Disney characters aside, what would you choose to join this dark and dreary mythological circle? Styx, Erberus, Cerberus, Hypnos?

The versatile green bean.

Five Ways to Eat Green Beans

To prove their versatility, here are five out-of-the-ordinary ideas for cooking with green beans, each from a different world culture

Google founders Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page in their company's driverless car

Google Hits the Road

The Department of Innovation logo by Jamie Simon

Welcome to the Department of Innovation

An introduction to our new blog about people and ideas that likely will shape the way we will live one day

A ward in Carver General Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Touring the Tools of Civil War Medicine

Murray Hall at the ballot box

Events July 25-29: Harry Potter, Portraits Alive, Owney, the Negro Leagues and Apollo 15

A hexagonal grain of iron sulfide in a diamond may be a flaw for jewelers, but it's useful data for scientists

Diamonds Hold Secret About Plate Tectonics

When it comes to diamonds in jewelry, perfection is everything. But imperfections are a clue to the past

An old kitchen can still have its charms.

Inviting Writing: A Humble Kitchen

The cabinets squeak every time you shut them, the sink needs reglazing and the backsplash is made of cracking tile

Allosaurus, on display at the CEU Museum in Price, Utah

Taking a Bite Out of a Sauropod Tail

The tail vertebra has gouges, divots and scores in five places from at least two different predators

Doing the Ring Shout in Georgia, ca. 1930s Members of the Gullah community express their spirituality through the “ring shout” during a service at a local “praise house.”

Anacostia Community Museum Attempts Record-Breaking Ring Shout

Traditional dance in which participants dance counterclockwise in a circle to the beat of clapping and a stick that is banged on a wooden surface

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Introducing New History Blog: Past Imperfect

Three historians bring their expertise together to provide history with all the interesting bits left in

The adorable red panda cub

Four New Red Panda Cubs at the National Zoo

The National Zoo welcomes four new red panda cubs

Several crocodile species are known to attack humans

What Preys on Humans?

Most of us never come in contact with a deadly predator, but there are still enough encounters to remind us that humans are not the top of the food web

A delicious and gooey practice.

S’mores: More American Than Apple Pie

Marshmallows are from Egypt; chocolate is Mesoamerican. But Graham crackers were invented—or at least inspired—by a Connecticut Presbyterian minister

Line drawings of the skulls of Acristavus (top), Maiasaura (middle), and Brachylophosaurus (bottom)

Acristavus: North America’s New Hadrosaur

Dinosaurs with weird structures such as sails and arrays of horns often make the news, but in this case, the lack of specialized structures is important

Murray Hall at the ballot box

The Mystery of Murray Hall

Hall realized his death would set off a national political scandal, inspiring the genuine wonder that he had never been what he seemed

Visitors participating in the "Forensic Friday" event at which a child's cast iron coffin and other skeletal remains from the Richards Family Crypt are analyzed by Dr. Doug Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide. This Friday’s guest is the FBI Explosives Unit

Weekend Events July 22-24: Forensic Science, a Summer Concert and an Afternoon of Poetry

Bananas have been cultivated for thousands of years. But are the days of the familiar Cavendish numbered?

Taming the Wild Banana

When and where did people learn to cultivate one of our favorite snacks?

Kersey in 1957. Although Jack Merriott's watercolor presents an idealized image of the village – it was commissioned for use in a railway advertising campaign – it does give an idea of just how 'old' Kersey must have looked to strangers in the year it became central to a 'timeslip' case.

When Three British Boys Traveled to Medieval England (Or Did They?)

A 1957 “time traveler” recalls “a feeling of unfriendliness and unseen watchers which sent shivers up one’s back”

One of the many dinosaur tracks figured in Edward Hitchcock's Ichnology of New England.

South America’s First Dinosaur Tracks

Tracks now readily recognizable as belonging to dinosaurs were once attributed to prodigious birds and other creatures

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