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Blogs

Popcorn and cranberry chain

Five Ways to Deck Your Halls With Food this Christmas

There are lots of ways to use goods in the pantry to make your digs a little merrier

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Take Two Pills and Charge Me in the Morning

Health and medical mobile apps are booming. But what happens when they shift from tracking data to diagnosing diseases?

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The General is in the House; Colin Powell’s Portrait Goes on View

The gallery commissioned a portrait of the first African American Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Elroy and Grandpa Jetson play “spaceball” (1962)

Grandpa Jetson is Way Cooler Than Grandpa Simpson

Montague Jetson is 110 years old—and loving it

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Sick of Fluorescents? New Technology Provides Flicker-Free Light

A new advance in lighting could soon bring a silent, consistent glow that’s easy on the eyes to an office near you

Dining aboard the RMS Caronia, from a 1950s World Cruise brochure.

Dress Codes and Etiquette, Part 3: The Death of the Dinner Jacket on Open Water

Are the days of wearing just a tuxedo t-shirt just over the horizon?

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Video: Take a Virtual 3D Journey to Visit China’s Caves of the Thousand Buddhas

Video: Take a Virtual 3D Journey to Visit China’s Caves of the Thousand Buddhas

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Q+A: Saudi Arabia’s Sultan bin Salman on “Roads of Arabia”

Saudi Arabia’s royal tourism minister discusses a groundbreaking new exhibition, the U.S.-Saudi Arabian relationship, and what it’s like to look at Earth from space

It took many, many long sea voyages and much tedious charting to produce the first crude maps of the world. Today, travelers are increasingly abandoning even the best maps in favor of electronic navigation devices.

Have GPS Devices Taken the Fun out of Navigation?

With the rise of the digital age, the fascinating skills of map reading and celestial navigation are becoming lost arts

Even Legos can be a gift for human evolution enthusiasts.

A Holiday Gift Guide for the Whole Human Family

An offering of books, bumper stickers, artwork and other knickknacks for the hominid enthusiast on your gift list

Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture, Richard Kurin will discuss the dazzling, outsized life of diva May Yohe, the subject of his new biography.

Events December 4-6: May Yohe, DC Demographics and Kenyan Water

This week, a new book on an old diva, a panel on the capital’s Latino populations and a documentary about waterways in Kenya

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VIDEO: What a Blast! Artist Cai Guo-Qiang Sets Off Explosions on the Mall

The famous artist brought his explosives to the Sackler for its 25th anniversary

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Why Peanut Butter is the Perfect Home for Salmonella

A food safety expert explains the scientific reasons why salmonella outbreaks in peanut butter—like the one earlier this week—are so common

A cautious Camptosaurus approaches a resting Allosaurus. Even though the carnivore undoubtedly hunted the herbivore at times, the two weren’t constantly at war with each other.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Dinosaurian Oddities

Cartoon poster which hung outside Martin’s Lunch Room circa 1929

In the 1920s, Shoppers Got Punk’d By Fake Televisions

Don’t touch that dial….really, don’t

A view of 1930s New York

If You Can Make It Here: The Rise of New York City

Saul Lilienstein discusses how the city rose from the 1929 crash and became stronger than ever, Saturday at the Ripley Center

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

Why Does the Durian Fruit Smell So Terrible?

Scientists examine what chemicals make the Asian fruit smell like “turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock”

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The Insane Amount of Biodiversity in One Cubic Foot

David Liittschwager travels to the world’s richest ecosystems, photographing all the critters that pass through his “biocube” in 24 hours

Mequitta Ahuja’s “Mocoonama” mixes media to create a process of construction that speaks to the subject as well. Enamel, acrylic, and glitter on stamped and collaged vellum, 2011.

Drawing on the Edge: Six Contemporary Portraitists Challenge Convention

Six young artists leave their mark on portraiture with the National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibit

The doodle that became Twitter

8 Ways People Are Taking Twitter Seriously

Born in desperation and long mocked, the social media platform has become a popular research and intelligence-gathering tool

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