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Blogs

Working for The NAMES Project Foundation, Roddy Williams sorts through portions of the AIDS Memorial Quilt stored in an Atlanta warehouse.

July 7: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Today at the Folklife Festival: Grant Wood’s murals, historical cabins and cooking with honey

A new device could force drivers to hang up their phones.

New RFID Device Could Jam Your Cell Phone While Your Car is Moving

A system developed by engineers in India automatically detects when a driver’s phone is in use and uses low-range mobile jammer to prevent calls and texts

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On the Trail of a Weird Dinosaur

A rare footprint places a strange group of dinosaurs in Cretaceous Alaska

The “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” exhibit maps out a web of relatedness between Bacon and well-known artists, celebrities and historical figures.

It’s a Small World After All: “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon”

“Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” shows how one relatively unknown but well-connected artist was linked to many of art and society’s most influential people

Q Monts sits patiently at Nu Flava Ink while tattoo artist Charles “Coco” Bayron puts the finishing touches on Q’s tattoo reading “Time is Money, Money is Time.”

July 6: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Today at the Folklife Festival: John Philip Sousa’s legacy, line dancing and stained glass crafts

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The Tallest, Strongest and Most Iconic Trees in the World

Where to see the greatest trees in the world

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Swimsuit Series, Part 3: Is Today Truly the 66th Anniversary of the First Bikini?

The two-piece bathing suit got skimpier and more scandalous in 1946 Paris

Escape the Sunday heat for a little refinement with the American Art Museum’s Steinway Series concert.

Events July 6-8: Constellations, Silk Road Treasures and a Sunday Concert

This weekend, become a constellation, make your own Silk Road mirror and enjoy the Classical stylings of pianist James D’León

The skeleton of Sciurumimus, seen under UV light. You can see traces of protofeathers alon the dinosaur’s tail.

Did All Dinosaurs Have Feathers?

A newly-discovered fossil raises the possibility that all dinosaur lineages were fuzzy

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White-Nose Syndrome Kills Social Bats Most Frequently

Scientists have found that bat species that hibernate in clusters are more likely to be struck by the dreaded disease and may be at risk of extinction

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The Woman Who Took on the Tycoon

John D. Rockefeller Sr. epitomized Gilded Age capitalism. Ida Tarbell was one of the few willing to hold him accountable

From the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ new digital collection, an image of two baby chimpanzees out for a stroll from Minnesota Longfellow Gardens Guide.

Lions, and Tigers and Bears: The History of the Zoo Goes Digital

Images of tea-sipping orangutans and baby chimps in strollers are part of Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ growing digital collection of zoo materials

Detail of Sightglass Coffee’s roaster

How Maker Culture is Reshaping Retail Design

A San Francisco coffee shop pulls back the curtain to expose the process behind each cup served in their expansive warehouse space

Delacroix’s La Liberté to be on display at the new Louvre-Lens museum in the Pas-de-Calais

The Louvre Museum Is Having a Baby!

This December the French town of Lens will be welcoming a new branch museum of the Louvre

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Our Daily Juice

Batteries, so much a part of our daily lives, are being transformed. Now scientists say they’ve created one out of spray paint

Researchers at the USDA’s expansive Beltsville Agricultural Research Center test greenhouse gas emissions as part of the center’s work on climate change.

July 5: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Today at the Folklife Festival: feeding the world, funk music and NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Different types of chemicals packed inside fireworks are responsible for the variety of colors.

5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Science of Fireworks

These iconic symbols of Independence Day celebrations are also a marvel of modern science and engineering

Local artist Jay Coleman works on one of his vibrant, evocative portraits in his studio in Northwest Washington, DC.

July 4: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Does it get any better than this? Trees, shade, green grass and a pair of horizontal bars beside the Dordogne River, in Souillac, add up to one of the finest outdoor workout stations in France.

Fitness Afar: Great Places to Hang Out at the Bar

Going abroad needn’t mean going flabby—globe-trotters can find pull-up bars and other outdoor gymnastics equipment in some of the most unexpected places

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A Sneak Peek at a New Dinosaur

Argentina unveils a new dinosaur to celebrate the country’s bicentennial

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