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From the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

100 Years After Her Death, Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon, Still Resonates

The famed bird now finds itself at the center of a flap over de-extinction

“We had ears open to all the influences that were around us,” Debbie Harry recently told Interview magazine.

What New Wave Brought to Rock ‘n’ Roll

There will always be a new music craze out to getcha, getcha, getcha

Getting Ready for Rosetta to Unlock a Comet’s Secrets

The lander will hopefully reveal new truths about what the icy objects actually are

In 1794, President Washington commissioned a wampum belt for the Canandaigua Treaty

Illuminating the Treaties That Have Governed U.S.-Indian Relationships

These documents were both a cause and a salve for the fraught relations between the United States and Indian Nations

Rooms: At the Cooper Hewitt, once Andrew Carnegie’s mansion, Kalman’s selections will be displayed in the Music Room.

Famed Illustrator Maira Kalman Takes on the Cooper Hewitt’s Collections

In her latest book, the noted artist juxtaposes treasured personal objects with items from the Smithsonian design museum

Why Does the Nile Flow North and More Questions From Our Readers

Your questions answered by our experts

What Lies Beneath Stonehenge?

A new Smithsonian Channel show reveals groundbreaking research that may explain what really went on there

The Invention of the “Snapshot” Changed the Way We Viewed the World

A century before drones cruised the skies, American camera hounds made photography a personal art

Switching testing scenarios used to take 20 minutes. Rolling waters can now be calmed in just 30 seconds.

The Navy Tests Its Ships in This Indoor Ocean

New technology can precisely recreate eight open-water conditions

In the public imagination, heat waves remain a B-list natural disaster.

Forecasters Will Soon Be Able to Predict Heat Waves Weeks in Advance

In the public imagination, heat waves remain a B-list natural disaster, but in reality, they are deadly

A dense flock of starlings in the sky above Rome.

How Just One Bird Can Urge an Entire Flock to Change Directions

The equations that describe these movements are equivalent to those that govern waves

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Discussion

From our readers

A bold conservation vision calls for a return to the South’s once-vast longleaf pine forests.

Can the World Really Set Aside Half of the Planet for Wildlife?

The eminent evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson has an audacious vision for saving Earth from a cataclysmic extinction event

Tennis player Renée Richards recently donated her tennis racket, along with a trophy, a dress and a number of other items to the Smithsonian.

Pioneering Tennis Player Renée Richards Recalls the Glory Days of Wooden Rackets

After winning the New York State men’s title in 1964, Richard Raskind became Renée Richards and a civil rights icon

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The 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards

Recognizing ten of the past year’s most amazing achievements and the innovators behind them

Why Do Bugs Die on Their Backs and More Questions From Readers

You asked, we answered

Salvatore Scarpitta’s Sal Cragar, 1969.

When A Race Car Becomes a Work of Art

Salvatore Scarpitta’s automative wonder goes on view at the Hirshhorn

Do Animals Have Rhythm?

If they did, who could ask for anything more?

How Scientists Are Using Games to Unlock the Body’s Mysteries

They’re not just for kids anymore

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From the Editor

From the Editor

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