American History

Old School Games Make a Comeback – How Arcades and Rubik’s Cubes Are Becoming Cool Again

In Brooklyn, you can drink beer while you do just about anything at some themed bar. Shuffleboard, darts, pool, mini-golf, horror movies, steampunk, old school arcade games; you name it and you can find it. And now the hipsters have an unlikely ally: Rubik’s cube obsessives. Together, this not-so-odd couple is bringing back the games […]

August 8, 2012

Landing Curiosity on Mars was Way Harder and Way Less Expensive than the Olympics

Landing a car-sized rover on a distant planet using a sky crane is really hard, and really awesome.

August 6, 2012

The Only Footage of Mark Twain in Existence

This silent film footage was taken in 1909 by Thomas Edison at Mark Twain’s estate

August 6, 2012

170 Years of America’s Evolution In One Animated GIF

In one click, the drifting lines and changing colors take you through 170 years of history.

August 3, 2012

Old-Timey Olympians Show How Things Have Changed

Clendenin’s photos evoke the feeling that for all the changes seen by the modern Olympic games, the athletes themselves could be transposed across time

August 1, 2012

Read a 2007 Essay in Smithsonian by Gore Vidal, Last Writer of His Kind

Why more writers should be as fearless, and as prickly as Vidal

August 1, 2012

Why Experts are Almost Always Wrong

No one, not even the experts, really knows what’s about to happen

July 31, 2012

Amelia Earhart, Fashionista

A few highlights of coverage celebrating Amelia Earhart’s 115th birthday

July 24, 2012

Today’s the Shared Anniversary of Ruin Porn Poster Children Detroit, Machu Picchu

July 24th marks double jackpot for the intrepid explorers of years past as well for as fans of the latest photographic trend, “ruin porn.”

July 24, 2012

PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes with “Parks and Rec” at the Smithsonian

Amy Poehler and Adam Scott talk about filming at the Smithsonian and around D.C. for NBC’s Parks and Recreation

July 20, 2012

Here’s What Nixon Would Have Said if Apollo 11 Hadn’t Returned

July 20, 2012

Six Guys Stood At Nuclear Ground Zero And Lived To Tell The Tale

In 1957, five Air Force officers volunteered (and one cameraman was voluntold) to stand directly below a mid-air detonation of a 2-kiloton nuclear warhead

July 19, 2012

Five Things Leslie Knope Should See at the Smithsonian

As NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” prepares to shoot its season five in D.C., we offer up five must-sees for the newest city councilmember of Pawnee, Indiana

July 17, 2012

Events July 13-15: After Hours at the Museum of African Art, Cranes and Clouds, “Don Juan” Screening

This weekend, hit up the Museum of African Art after hours, create Korean art and view a screening of “Don Juan”

July 12, 2012

For Coal Miners, Back to Black Lungs

July 11, 2012

Smithsonian Gets Google Mapped

Smithsonian and Google Maps launched an easy to use application Tuesday providing step by step directions inside 17 museums and the National Zoo

July 11, 2012

Fifty Years Ago, Lyndon Johnson Answered the First Satellite Phone Call

Telstar 1, which launched 50 years ago today, was the world’s first commercial satellite, and a testament to government-industry cooperation

July 10, 2012

Why Store-Bought Popsicles Drip Less

Just in time for another scorching July day, the history of the modern popsicle - and why the store-bought ones are less drippy than the DIY kind

July 9, 2012

This One Beautiful Video Sums Up All of Space Shuttle History

July 9, 2012

It’s a Small World After All: “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon”

“Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” shows how one relatively unknown but well-connected artist was linked to many of art and society’s most influential people

July 6, 2012