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Teaching Physics with a Massive Game of Mouse Trap

Mark Perez and his troupe of performers tour the country, using a life-sized version of the popular game to explain simple machines

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The Orionid Meteor Shower Will Light Up the Skies This Weekend

Debris shed by the legendary Halley’s comet could make for an impressive meteor show

The front and back of the Building Stories box

Designing Lives and Building Stories, Chris Ware’s Comic Book Epic

In Building Stories, cartoonist Chris Ware presents the banality of everyday life as a stunning comic epic

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Sex and Space Travel: Predictions from the 1950s

The cure for lonely space missions? One astronomer proposed hiring astronaut concubines

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Sophie Blanchard – The High Flying Frenchwoman Who Revealed the Thrill and Danger of Ballooning

Blanchard was said to be afraid of riding in a carriage, but she became one of the great promoters of human flight

A 24,700-year-old leaf found beneath a Japanese lake, along with other samples, will help scientists more precisely date a range of ancient objects.

A New Leap Forward for Radiocarbon Dating

Sediments and ancient leaves recovered from the bottom of a Japanese lake will help scientists around the world more precisely date ancient objects

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PHOTOS: A Gallery of Wildlife Caught on Candid Camera

From endangered pandas to wild horses, Smithsonian researchers are gathering countless photos of animals in the wild

Start celebrating Día de los Muertos early with activities at the Smithsonian.

Events October 19-21: Star Music, Hollywood’s Gettysburg and Día de los Muertos

Hear from an astrophysicist who danced her PhD thesis, watch a classic Civil War film and start celebrating Day of the Dead a little early

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One Step Closer to a Brain

It sounds funny, but when Google created a huge computer network that was able to identify cats from YouTube videos, it was a big leap forward for artificial intelligence.

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Dinosaur Stampede, the Musical

What caused Australia’s dinosaur stampede? A short musical performance suggests an answer

Who hasn’t imagined the things she could do with a larger kitchen and more storage and then imagined taunting her friends about it?

Designer Kitchens and the People Who Don’t Cook in Them

From designer appliances to bigger floorplans, Americans love kitchens, just not cooking in them

From Pardeon Records, A Grain of Sand was considered the first Asian American album in the music industry.

Joann Stevens: Arts Righting History

Japanese singer-dancer Nobuko Miyamoto will speak about her role in making a place for Asian Americans in music October 19th

As prim and tidy as hedges at the Queen’s palace, a vineyard in England reminds us that rising temperatures are now allowing for wine production in the world’s higher latitudes.

More Wines from Unexpected Places

Good, locally made wines can now be found in such unlikely locales as equatorial Kenya, the Texas Hill Country, and temperate and rainy Japan

An artist’s conception of the massive collision that would have produced the moon roughly 4.5 billion years ago.

How the Moon Was Made

A new type of evidence found in lunar rocks indicates that an enormous collision between a young Earth and a Mars-sized object formed the moon

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The Last Row

But at least two of the last three puzzles in the grid (including today’s!) may be among the hair-pullingest yet.  I’m not a sadist, mind you.  I genuinely think you’ll have fun with them.

14 Fun Facts About Hagfish

These frightening creatures defend themselves with slime and chow down on animal carcasses

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Whatever Happened to Kenyanthropus platyops?

Scientists disagree over whether a 3.5-million-year-old skull is a flat-faced species of hominid or just a distorted example of Australopithecus afarensis

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Turn Your Favorite Words of Wisdom into Beautiful Art

A new company called Epic Frequency turns historic audio files into artwork

A reconstruction of Patagonykus, one of South America’s alvarezsaurs.

Did Dinosaurs Eat Ants?

The weird alvarezsaurs look perfectly-adapted to eating termites, but how can we find out what they really ate?

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VIDEOS: Peter Glantz Brings the Party to the Hirshhorn

Another after hours party at the Hirshhorn this Friday brings film and theater director Peter Glantz to the stage to premier new work

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