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The Volta’s electric eel, Electrophorus voltai, emits the strongest shocks of any animal on Earth. Although these eels were thought to be loners, the species was recently seen hunting in a group.

Smithsonian Voices

Shocking Study Finds Electric Eels Hunt Together

The study challenges what researchers know about eels’ supposed loner behavior

Three of Yosl Cutler’s surviving puppets: two Jewish characters and one Russian. These were constructed circa 1933.

Smithsonian Voices

The Life and Death of a Yiddish Puppet Theater

Puppets weren’t a common form of entertainment in Jewish culture

“A key tenet of ... constitutional democracy is the peaceful transfer of power following U.S. presidential elections, dating back to the republic’s first presidential election,” said Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in a statement. “This week, that core belief was shaken.”

History of Now

How the Smithsonian and Other Museums Are Responding to the U.S. Capitol Riot

Leading institutions have started collecting artifacts and working to contextualize last week’s violent attack

A meteorite in the process of being recovered by volunteers in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program. The shiny fusion crust on this meteorite suggests it may be an achondrite.

Smithsonian Voices

What Antarctic Meteorites Tell Us About Earth’s Origins

Each year, Smithsonian scientists collect hundreds of meteorites from Antarctica that reveal details about the origins of Earth and our solar system

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From His Tattered Chair, TV’s Archie Bunker Caricatured America’s Divides

The 1971 show aired the fraught political differences that were “All in the Family”

Every mark in Robert McCurdy’s portraits, above: Untitled (The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso), is meticulously rendered from the baby hairs that frame his subjects’ temples to the crow’s feet that border their eyes.

Why Robert McCurdy’s Photo-Realist Portraits Stop Viewers in Their Tracks

The key to these singular portraits of influential leaders of our time rests in the gaze and the exacting details of the clothing

This is the first time that dwarfism has been documented in captive or wild giraffes.

Scientists Report First Instances of Dwarf Giraffes

Two individuals spotted in the wild seem to have classic long necks but unusually short, stubby legs

After composing and transcribing music for my wedding day, Red Baraat was born. Dave Sharma leads the baraat (wedding procession) on dhol, as I walk with my mother, family, and friends. August 27, 2005.

Smithsonian Voices

Musician Sunny Jain Reflects on Jainism, Jazz and the Punjabi Dhol Drum

While the originations of the dhol are not known with complete certainty, what is known is that it is a sound that has migrated

From left: “Left Side Right Side” (still) by Joan Jonas, 1972. Alice Walker by Bernard Gotfryd. Louis Armstrong (detail) by Philippe Halsman.

Smithsonian Voices

Warm Up Your Winter With the National Portrait Gallery’s Online Events

Visitors and families can enjoy all the museum has to offer from the comfort of their own homes

Still from the 1974 film Julie by Robert and Ingrid Wiegand

Women Who Shaped History

Women Artists Reflect on How They Helped Shape SoHo

A Smithsonian online event kicks off a new monthly series exploring the pioneering art films and videos made by women

North American species like the Colorado potato beetle and the fall armyworm have become invasive elsewhere.

Ask Smithsonian

Have Any North American Species Become Invasive Elsewhere in the World?

You’ve got question. We’ve got experts

The carriage that Ulysses S. Grant rode to his second inauguration is one of 900 items in the exhibition "The American Presidency."

Secretary Lonnie Bunch on the Year Ahead for Museums

After a year fraught with challenges, we must build on our strengths for a common purpose

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Artisan America

Artisan America

A year-long celebration of craft in the United States

By studying recent mass extinctions on islands like Hawaii, Dr. Helen James is painting a picture of bird biodiversity today. Her research involves digging up fossils in caves to study bygone species, like the Kioea.

Smithsonian Voices

Meet One of the Curators Behind the Smithsonian’s 640,000 Birds

Helen James’ work on avian extinction helps in understanding how bird species today respond to threats like human encroachment and environmental change

Smithsonian Associates Streaming presents "Mr. President: An Evening with Martin Sheen" on January 19.

Smithsonian Voices

An Evening With Martin Sheen and 24 Other Smithsonian Programs Streaming in January

Kick off the New Year with Smithsonian Associates’ virtual multi-part courses, studio arts classes and study tours

The costume worn by Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther during his Marvel Studios debut (2016's Captain America: Civil War), from the collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

How Black Panther Changed Comic Books (and Wakanda) Forever

The Marvel superhero pounced on the scene in the ‘60s and never looked back

The otherworldly terrain dazzled early explorers. In 1827, trapper Daniel Potts noted that geysers erupted with a roar like “that of thunder.”

The Lost History of Yellowstone

Debunking the myth that the great national park was a wilderness untouched by humans

A mask and a wary eye reflects the current conditions of the global pandemic in the 2017 award-winning photograph Muerto Rico by ADÁL.

The Award-Winning Artist ADÁL Has Died. Read One of His Final Interviews

The Puerto Rican artist won the National Portrait Gallery’s People’s Choice award for his devastating image ‘Muerto Rico’

Closed to the public and financially strained, museums nevertheless managed to create thought-provoking alternatives to in-person viewing.

Virtual Travel

The Top Ten Online Exhibitions of 2020

From a Smithsonian show on first ladies to Mexican muralists, Rembrandt and the making of the Met, these were some of our favorite virtual experiences

Alice is unlike any other Stanley crane.

Smithsonian Voices

Eight Aww-Inspiring Videos of the Year’s Best Animal and Conservation Stories

From a litter of chirping cheetahs and the birth of a lovable giant panda cub to groundbreaking coral reef research and new strides in animal care

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