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At the Smithsonian

Still from Santiago Sierra and Jorge Galindo’s "Los Encargados [Those in Charge]," 2012.

Upending Those in Charge

How two artists staged a motorcade in Madrid, touting portraits of upside down politicians to question those in power—in Spain and across the globe.

Dr. David J. Skorton, president of Cornell University, is named as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

David J. Skorton is Named the Smithsonian’s 13th Secretary

The president of Cornell University is chosen to head up the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, 9 research organizations and the Zoo

Karita Mattila as Tosca ready to jump to her death in Puccini's perennial favorite that opened the 2009-2010 Met HD Season

Can Museums and Other Institutions Keep up With Digital Culture?

Get with it, or get left behind in the digital dust

Shera nurses her four lion cubs at the Zoo.

National Zoo Celebrates Second African Lion Cub Birth in Three Months

On Sunday, 9-year-old lion Shera became the mother of four new additions to the pride

Demaking, says Ed Fries, is "like haiku" for programmers, an exercise in "enforcing constraints on yourself as a tool for creativity."

Demaking Halo, Remaking Art: ‘Halo 2600’ Developer Discusses the Promise of Video Games

Ed Fries talks with Smithsonian magazine about programming the Atari 2600 and shaping the future of interactive media.

How Motel Ownership Offers Indian-Americans a Gateway to the American Dream

America’s motels are owned mostly by families from the Indian state of Gujarat, a new exhibit tells the story of life behind the lobby walls

Fossil whale skeletons, evidence of an ancient mass stranding of the animals, discovered during the building of the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile in 2011.

New Research

Scientists Solve the Mystery of a Nine-Million-Year-Old Mass Whale Die-Off

Ancient blooms of toxic algae appear to have killed dozens of whales at once

Workers furnish Queen Mary's Dollhouse in the drawing room of Lutyen's London apartment

From Bauhaus to Dollhouse: When Architects Think Small

For some architects, miniature houses are a big deal

Dublin at twilight.

The Inside Scoop on Jury’s Irish Cabaret in Dublin, Where Blarney Met Vaudeville

Rediscover a classic Smithsonian Folkways recording of an Irish variety show that first tickled tourists in 1963

Which Animal is the Smartest, How Did Fingernails Evolve and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Invitees to the museum’s grand reopening in 2008 admire the newly restored flag.

Previewing the Smithsonian’s Plans for the 200th Anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner

And at the same time, the American History Museum celebrates its 50th birthday

A pigeon trap, on view at the Air and Space Museum, used by Nobel Prize winners Penzias and Wilson to remove the birds roosting in the radio antenna's large horn.

Think Big

How Two Pigeons Helped Scientists Confirm the Big Bang Theory

For decades, astronomers had debated how the universe began. Then, in 1964, they had their “Eureka!” moment

An artist's rendition of the Big Bang.

What Astronomers Are Still Discovering About the Big Bang Theory

A half-century after it was confirmed, the theory still yields new secrets

Why Was Beyonce Not Cool Enough for the Smithsonian’s New “Cool” Exhibit?

When two scholars decided to pick 100 of the coolest Americans, it got dicey; here’s why

David Datuna's "Portrait of America" is the first artwork in the world to use Google Glass technology.

Seeing Art Through Google Glass

David Datuna became the first artist to incorporate the technology into a public art piece; now, “Portrait of America” is coming to the Smithsonian

"I began to wonder," says Smithsonian researcher Dolores Piperno, who studies the ancestor of the corn plant, "what did the plants actually look like between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago? Did they look the same?"

To Decode the Mystery of Corn, Smithsonian Scientists Recreate Earth as it Was 10,000 Years Ago

As part of a groundbreaking study, researchers built a greenhouse “time machine”

Winter Olympics

Winter Olympians From the Smithsonian Vaults

From the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, a team of former champions, heroes and icons

Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the U.S. perform during the ice dance free dance at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Nice, France, on March 29, 2012.

Winter Olympics

Why Reality TV May Bring Team USA Its First Gold in Ice Dancing

Amy Henderson, curator of the Smithsonian’s “Dancing the Dream” exhibition, chronicles the meteoric rise of a dazzling sport once considered vulgar

Walker Hancock, Lamont Moore, George Stout and two unidentified soldiers in Marburg, Germany, June 1945.

Austria

The True Story of the Monuments Men

Without the work of these curators and professors, tens of thousands of priceless works of art would have been lost to the world forever

American Cool at the National Portrait Gallery

Join curators Frank Goodyear and Joel Dinerstein in a sneak peek of their new show

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