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At the Smithsonian

Why Do We Still Have Morse Code and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answer

Langston Hughes powerfully speaks for those excluded.

Breaking Ground

What Langston Hughes’ Powerful Poem “I, Too” Tells Us About America’s Past and Present

Smithsonian historian David Ward reflects on the work of Langston Hughes

Conservationists assess the bell, which was not rung throughout much of the 20th century after it fell into disrepair.

Breaking Ground

Historic Bell Helps Ring in New African American History Museum

Why President Obama won’t cut a ribbon when the new museum opens this Saturday

Resurrection City Mural (detail), 1968

Breaking Ground

A Mural on View in the African American History Museum Recalls the Rise of Resurrection City

The 1968 Hunger Wall is a stark reminder of the days when the country’s impoverished built a shantytown on the National Mall

Do outdoor cats need to die?

The Moral Cost of Cats

A bird-loving scientist calls for an end to outdoor cats “once and for all”

How the Heated, Divisive Election of 1800 Was the First Real Test of American Democracy

A banner from the Smithsonian collections lays out the stakes of Jefferson vs. Adams

Founder James Smithson (1765-1829) published a paper in search of better way to brew coffee and then considered how his method might work with hops to make beer.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Founder of the Smithsonian Institution Figured Out How to Brew a Better Cup of Coffee

Almost two hundred years ago, James Smithson devised a method for better brewing. We recreated it.

In an artist's interpretation, the forested and warm Late Cretaceous is abruptly destroyed by a six-mile wide asteroid.

Life Bounced Back After the Dinosaurs Perished

The devastation was immediate, catastrophic and widespread, but plants and mammals were quick to take over

Parliament Funkadelic Mothership, "Musical Crossroads" exhibition

Breaking Ground

Exclusive Photography From Inside the African American History Museum Offers a Hint of What Is to Come

Architecture photographer Jason Flakes brings his unique lens to the Smithsonian’s brand new museum

A beta version of the 3D interactive exhibit that is set to open in 2017.

Breaking Ground

Google Is Redefining 3D Tech at the New African American History Museum

Next spring, visitors will interact with artifacts beyond those in the physical exhibitions

Batang and her infant are doing well and Zoo staff report she is nursing the new male Bornean orangutan.

UPDATE: Meet the National Zoo’s Latest Bouncing Baby—an Orangutan (New Video)

A historical birth of a male Bornean orangutan, the first in 25 years, took place in Washington, D.C.

It is thought that Nat Turner was holding this Bible when he was captured two months after the rebellion he led against slaveholders in Southampton County, Virginia.

Breaking Ground

Nat Turner’s Bible Gave the Enslaved Rebel the Resolve to Rise Up

A Bible belonging to the enslaved Turner spoke of possibility says curator Rex Ellis of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Ask Smithsonian: How Does the World Look to the Color Blind?

Most people who are color blind can see colors, they just have trouble distinguishing between specific kinds

Envelopes and other artifacts from the 2001 anthrax attacks are on view in “Behind the Badge: The U.S. Postal Inspection Service” at the National Postal Museum.

The Anthrax Letters That Terrorized a Nation Are Now Decontaminated and on Public View

Carriers of the deadly anthrax bacteria, these letters—on loan from the FBI—can be seen at the National Postal Museum

After just moments in the air, flight 1549 collided with a flock of geese.

Smithsonian Expert Fills in the Missing Science Behind the Movie “Sully”

Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove shares her story of analyzing the bird remains or “snarge” scraped from the engines of flight 1549

Pablo Picasso by Albert Eugene Gallatin, 1934

Commentary

Why It Takes a Great Rivalry to Produce Great Art

Smithsonian historian David Ward takes a look at a new book by Sebastian Smee on the contentious games artists play

Zora Neale Hurston by Carl Van Vechten, Noble Black Women: The Harlem Renaissance and After,1935, printed 1983

These Rarely Seen Photographs Are a Who’s Who of the Harlem Renaissance

Carl Van Vechten captured and archived images of most of the era’s great artists, musicians and thought leaders

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Breaking Ground

The Musical Lineup for the Opening of the African American History Museum Is Announced and It’s Great

The ‘Freedom Sounds’ Festival includes D.C. Go-Go band Experience Unlimited, Public Enemy, The Roots, Living Colour and more

Bicycle made by Raleigh in the 1980s in 893 pieces

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These Photos of Deconstructed Devices Reveal Their Hidden Beauty

Engineer-artist Todd McLellan finds marvel in blowing out the mundane

Fuselage from Flight 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, September 11, 2001

Remembering 9/11, From a Scrawled Note to a Scrap of Fuselage

How objects both ordinary and extraordinary help us reflect on the devastation

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