How Irving Penn Turned Fashion Photography Into a Fine Art
A new show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum looks back at a photo giant who blurred the lines
This Skateboard-Like Device Helps At-Risk Infants Learn to Crawl
An innovative physical therapy device boosts babies’ movement efforts and helps their brains make critical connections
What’s Inside Jackson Pollock’s Address Book?
A new exhibition reveals the intimate details inside the “little black books” of some of America’s great artists
Meet Mr. Wizard, Television’s Original Science Guy
In the 1950s and 1960s, Don Herbert broadcast some of the most mesmerizing, and kooky, science experiments from his garage
A Next Gen Museum Show Takes Aim at Inspiring Next Gen Ingenuity
Curators are betting high-tech playtime will turn today’s kids into tomorrow’s engineering visionaries
The Scandalous Story Behind the Provocative 19th-Century Sculpture “Greek Slave”
Artist Hiram Powers earned fame and fortune for his beguiling sculpture, but how he crafted it might have proved even more shocking
Inspiring Invention the MacGyver Way
Visitors to the Smithsonian’s new Spark!Lab are challenged to solve problems with ingenuity and a pile of off-the-shelf items
Teenage Inventor Alexis Lewis Thinks That Kids Have the Solutions to the World’s Problems
With a patent to her name and more likely on the way, the 15-year-old has made it her mission to inspire young innovators
The Farmworker’s Champion Dolores Huerta Receives Her Due, Even as the Struggle for Justice Continues
We must continue the struggle against present-day agricultural production and labor practices, says the director of the Smithsonian’s Latino Center
The Evolution of Money, From Feathers to Credit Cards
Coin collectors, and trinket lovers welcome back the National Numismatic Collections to its splendid new gallery at the American History Museum
A New Photo Exhibition Depicts Just How Dramatic Mother Earth Can Be
Iceland, the land of fire and ice, brings vivid focus to the raw power of a geophysically active Earth
These Two Scientists Turned Data From the Sun Into a Work of Art
After collecting real-time data from the sun, two astrophysicists got to tinkering with video game components and the outcome is breathtaking
A Look Into the Innovative Mind of One of the World’s Most Inventive Architects
A new show at the Cooper Hewitt reveals the process behind designer Thomas Heatherwick’s projects
Tracing the History of American Invention, From the Telegraph to the Apple I
More than 70 artifacts, from an artificial heart to an Etch A Sketch, grace the entryway to the American History Museum’s new innovation wing
This Is How You Live Paint an Event
Artist Jeremy Sutton painted on his iPad while musicians performed and visitors played virtual reality games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
How Curators Wrestled With the Complex Story of American Business
The broad and sometimes difficult history of business in the U.S., its rogues, heros, successes and failures, is the dynamic story in a new exhibition
Why Milo’s Sunrises Are a Symphony of Color in The Phantom Tollbooth
Author Norton Juster says one boon to his magical writing is that he was born with synesthesia and hears colors
The Great Moon Hoax Was Simply a Sign of Its Time
Scientific discoveries and faraway voyages inspired fantastic tales—and a new Smithsonian exhibition
What Makes the Orange Juice Can Worthy of Display in a Museum
A new exhibition explains why the everyday objects of today and the recent past are so important to understanding who we are
![“The [museum] is a beautiful example of the strategic ‘borrowing’ that created the rich cultural environment we have all inherited from the African continent.”](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/-akQD6Q6z7lvuP5b9OnbeSjpkHk=/450x300/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/56/8b/568b858d-0619-4deb-b558-624732b490cc/2_dsc_4073-web-resize-1072x720.jpg)
Is Architecture Actually a Form of Weaving?
David Adjaye, architect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, approaches building design as creating “fabric”
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