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Author Mark Bowden writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: Though unmanned, remote-controlled drones had been used in times of war since World War II, they were revolutionized in 1995. The Gnat, developed by the San Diego defense contractor General Atomics, carried something new: video cameras. Soldiers had long coveted the ability to see over the next hill. Manned aircraft delivered that, from gas-filled balloons in the Civil War and from airplanes in the 20th century, but only until the pilot or his fuel was exhausted. Satellites provide an amazing panorama but they are expensive, few in number and not always overhead when needed. The Gnat gave commanders a 60-mile panorama from a platform that could stay airborne more or less permanently, with vehicles flown in 12-hour shifts. Later renamed the Predator, it quickly became the U.S. military's preferred surveillance tool. Read more of Bowden's essay.

How the Predator Drone Changed the Character of War

Mark Bowden investigates how the unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft altered the battlefield forever

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Abraham Lincoln’s Top Hat: The Inside Story

Does the hat that links us to his final hours define the president? Or does the president define the hat?

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How Cesar Chavez Changed the World

The farmworker’s initiative improved lives in America’s fields, and beyond

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A Close, Intimate Look at Walt Whitman

A haunting image captures America’s quintessential poet, writes author Mark Strand

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How the Burgess Shale Changed Our View of Evolution

The famed fossils are a link to some of the first complex creatures on Earth

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How the West Was Drawn

Explorer John Wesley Powell filled in “great blank spaces” on the map – at times buoyed by a life preserver

Author David Sibley writes in our 101 Objects Special Issue: As a young man John James Audubon was obsessed with birds, and he had a vision for a completely different kind of book. He would paint birds as he saw them in the wild "alive and moving," and paint every species actual size. He travelled the U.S Frontier on foot and horseback seeking birds of every species known to science. He wrote of his time in Kentucky, around 1810, "I shot, I drew, I looked on nature only; my days were happy beyond human conception, and beyond this I really cared not." As Jonathan Rosen points out in The Life of the Skies, these paintings promoted a romantic vision of the wilderness of the New World, to be viewed by people who would never see these birds in real life. Perhaps that is one reason Audubon found more success in England than in the young United States, and why his work still holds its appeal today, as the wilderness he knew and loved recedes further into the past. Read more of Sibley's essay.

How James Audubon Captured the Romance of the New World

An amateur naturalist’s unparalleled artworks still inspire conservationists and collectors alike

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What the Buffalo Tells Us About the American Spirit

Playwright David Mamet writes that whether roaming free or stuffed, this symbol of the West tells a thousand stories

101 Objects that Made America: America in the World

Pulled from the Smithsonian collections, these items range millennia, from pre-historic dinosaurs to the very first supercomputer

Have you carved your pumpkin yet?

The Patents Designed to Make Carving Your Pumpkin a Little Less Messy

A group of innovators set out to simplify how we make classic Jack-o-Lanterns and their ghoulish grins

Mary Rogers in the river, 1841

Edgar Allan Poe Tried and Failed to Crack the Mysterious Murder Case of Mary Rogers

After a teenage beauty turned up dead in the Hudson River, not even the godfather of detective fiction could figure out who done it

Franken Berry cereal was originally released in 1971 by General Mills with his monster-buddy Count Chocula.

Franken Berry, the Beloved Halloween Cereal, Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop

The red dye used in the popular breakfast cereal resulted in several cases of the benign condition

Why the Avocado Should Have Gone the Way of the Dodo

Its large pit and fleshy deliciousness are all a result of its status as an evolutionary anachronism

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Horrific Tales of Potatoes That Caused Mass Sickness and Even Death

A greened potato indicates the presence of a toxin that can cause gastrointestinal distress, induce coma or even death within 24 hours of consumption

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The Many, Many Designs of the Sewing Machine

Rioting tailors, destitute inventors and the court system all got involved in one of the 19th century’s biggest innovations

You probably wouldn’t eat this meal for breakfast—but why?

Why Do We Eat Cereal For Breakfast? And Other Questions About American Meals Answered

In her new book, food historian Abigail Carroll traces the evolution of American eating from colonial times to present-day

The telegraph key used to send the famous message “What Hath God Wroght” over the prototype telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C. in 1844

How the Telegraph Went From Semaphore to Communication Game Changer

Samuel Morse was an artist by trade, but to the world he’s best known for connecting the dots —and dashes— that forever changed the way we communicate

Perscription for alcohol used during Prohibition. (Interactive by Esri; Text by Megan Gambino.)

Document Deep Dive

During Prohibition, Your Doctor Could Write You a Prescription for Booze

Take two shots of whiskey and call me in the morning

Prisoners bury a wooden coffin on Hart Island.

What Happens When a Homeless New Yorker Dies?

You should be quite relieved that you never have been, and hopefully never will be, on Hart Island

Why do we associate popcorn with the movies?

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Why Do We Eat Popcorn at the Movies?

The movie theater’s most popular concession wasn’t always associated with the movies—in fact, it used to be explicitly banned

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