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Natalie Batalha

American Ingenuity Awards

Meet Natalie Batalha, the Explorer Who’s Searching for Planets Across the Universe

The Kepler mission’s project scientist, she has guided the discovery of thousands of planets

Sesame Street & Julia

American Ingenuity Awards

Why the Team Behind Sesame Street Created a Character With Autism

The bravest new face on television is a Muppet that doesn’t say much. But she speaks volumes about life on the spectrum

Ava DuVernay

American Ingenuity Awards

Ava DuVernay’s Visionary Filmmaking Is Reshaping Hollywood

Her eye for American history puts her in the vanguard. Her passion for justice makes her a hero

Gary Steinberg

American Ingenuity Awards

A Neurosurgeon’s Remarkable Plan to Treat Stroke Victims With Stem Cells

Gary Steinberg defied convention when he began implanting living cells inside the brains of patients who had suffered from a stroke

Discussion of our October Issue

Feedback from our readers

Ask Smithsonian

Why Do So Many Train Stations Have the Same Name?

You asked, we answered

Charles Brown (far right) with fellow Blazers (from left) Johnny Moore and Eddie Williams.

Who Really Wrote “Merry Christmas, Baby”

The co-author of a classic holiday song still can’t catch a break

Out of five vaquita found dead this past spring, three were killed in illegal gill nets.

There Are Possibly Only 30 of These Rare Porpoises Left on the Planet

The fascinating vaquita is heading for oblivion, the victim of a ravenous black market for a dubious remedy

Members of the chorus sing their parts in a performance of Antigone in Ferguson at Normandy High School in St. Louis.

The Healing Power of Greek Tragedy

Do plays written centuries ago have the power to heal modern day traumas? A new project raises the curtain on a daring new experiment

The front of Mar-a-Lago in April 1967

History of Now

The Ironic History of Mar-a-Lago

A deep dive into an obscure archive reveals that the Palm Beach property had once been envisioned as a “Winter White House”

An emergency hospital at Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918. “Of the 12 men who slept in my squad room, 7 were ill at one time,” a soldier recalled.

The Next Pandemic

How the Horrific 1918 Flu Spread Across America

The toll of history’s worst epidemic surpasses all the military deaths in World War I and World War II combined. And it may have begun in the United States

A woman sells live poultry at the market in Gaosheng Township, where Long purchased chickens and later died from bird flu.

The Next Pandemic

Is China Ground Zero for a Future Pandemic?

Hundreds there have already died of a new bird flu, putting world health authorities on high alert

BBC's "Downton Abbey" is one of the rare aspects of popular culture to show the grim costs of the 1918 flu pandemic.

The Next Pandemic

Why Did So Few Novels Tackle the 1918 Pandemic?

Surprisingly few U.S. writers touched by the 1918 pandemic wrote about it. But flu lit appears more popular today than ever

President Grant gave the pen he used to sign the 15th Amendment to a fellow Civil War veteran, Herbert Preston.

What a Simple Pen Reminds Us About Ulysses S. Grant’s Vision for a Post-Civil War America

President Grant’s signature on the 15th Amendment was a bold stroke for equality

A Paradise for Grizzly Bears Gets an Up-Close Look

This unique North American sanctuary lets a few lucky observers see the besieged species in its wildest state

Why Hedy Lamarr Was Hollywood’s Secret Weapon

The starlet patented an ingenious technology to help with the war effort, but it went unrecognized for decades

A 35-foot-tall statue of Lenin speechifying from atop an armored car stands outside Finland Station in St. Petersburg.

What Ever Happened to the Russian Revolution?

We journey through Vladimir Putin’s Russia to measure the aftershocks of the political explosion that rocked the world a century ago

Eight New Uses For Virtual Reality

Fasten your headsets. VR technology is coming at us from all directions

“As a guard, what I liked about the ABA ball was the color,” said former ABA player Gene Littles. “It was a special feeling to take a long shot and watch those colors rotate in the air and then see the ball with all those colors nestle into the net. It made your heart beat just a little bit faster when you hit a 25-footer with the ABA ball.” -Loose Balls by Terry Pluto

The ABA Was Short-Lived, but Its Impact on Basketball Is Eternal

The spectacular play you see today owes a mighty debt to the revolutionary, slam-dunking basketball league

Jim Naughten’s 2017 stereograph, The Toucans, mimics the look of a Victorian image.

Stereographs Were the Original Virtual Reality

The shocking power of immersing oneself in another world was all the buzz once before—about 150 years ago

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