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If cats and dogs made up their own country, they would rank fifth in terms of meat consumption.

We Won’t Be the Only Ones Eating Lab-Grown Meat—Our Pets Will Too

Pet food companies are looking to the future with cell-cultured meat

The boba shortage is expected to affect the entire bubble tea industry in the U.S., especially businesses on the West coast.

West Coast Bubble Tea Shops Brace for Boba Shortage as Cargo Ships Jam Los Angeles Ports

The popular sweet drink might not be available in some locations for awhile due to shipping delays

Illustration of the enslaved laborers moving cotton in New Orleans

Before the Civil War, New Orleans Was the Center of the U.S. Slave Trade

Untroubled by their actions, human traffickers like Isaac Franklin built a lucrative business providing enslaved labor for Southern farmers

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Remembering Tulsa

Looking Back at the Tulsa Race Massacre, 100 Years Later

Confronting the murderous attack on the most prosperous black community in the nation

Sea beans, otherwise known as sea asparagus and pickleweed, belong to the genus Salicornia, marsh plants that thrive in salty soils.

How One Farmer Is Introducing Americans to Sea Beans

In Charleston, South Carolina, Heron Farms is attempting to grow a gangly, salt-tolerant plant in the face of sea level rise

Regenerative farming, which centers on building soil health, is one promising pathway for decreasing agriculture’s carbon footprint.

To Meet Ambitious Emissions Goals, Large Food Companies Are Looking to Lock Carbon in Soil

But the logistics of moving farmers in their supply chains to regenerative agriculture practices can be complicated

Maggie Lena Walker

Smithsonian Voices

How Maggie Lena Walker Became the First Black Woman to Run a Bank in the Segregated South

Time to reclaim the legacy and success of the first Black woman in the nation to organize and run a bank in the segregated South

The Dollar lift was 2,360 feet long and rose 634 feet in elevation.

How a Railroad Engineer From Nebraska Invented the World’s First Ski Chairlift

The device was part of an elaborate plan on behalf of Union Pacific to boost passenger rail travel in the American West

Two filmmakers launched a nationwide fundraiser to help save the surviving bars.

LGBTQ+ Pride

The Rise and Fall of America’s Lesbian Bars

Only 15 nightlife spaces dedicated to queer and gay women remain in the United States

Bellerby & Co. is a studio in London that makes globes by hand.

Take a Peek Into One of the Last Studios Still Making Globes by Hand

Spinning a globe is one way to ‘travel’ the world during the pandemic

Shef, which currently operates in the Bay Area and New York City, features meals made by chefs specializing in dozens of cuisines and hundreds of dishes.

Sick of Quarantine Cooking? New Companies Let Chefs Prepare Homemade Meals for You

Startups like Shef and WoodSpoon give Covid-impacted professional chefs and excellent home cooks a platform for sharing their food

Researchers are hoping to track the conditions lobsters experience as they travel through the supply chain with an eye to reducing the number that die along the way.

A New Device Tracks Lobsters as They Move Through the Supply Chain

Researchers hope the technology can be used to reduce the number of the crustaceans that die along the way

Steam hides a vendor stirring mulled wine with sea buckthorns at a Christmas market in Svobody Square, Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine.

Virtual Travel

This Holiday Season, Travel With Your Nose

The scents that you find most comforting can help you feel like you’re on the road, even when you’re not

PEZ has designed about 1,400 different character heads and innumerable variations.

How PEZ Evolved From an Anti-Smoking Tool to a Beloved Collector’s Item

Early in its history, the candy company made a strategic move to find its most successful market

In a typical year, the Columbus Washboard Company in Logan, Ohio, sells about 80,000 washboards.

Only One Factory in the United States Still Makes Washboards, and They Are Flying Off of Shelves

Sales of the antique tools have boosted since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with people wanting to avoid a trip to the laundromat

Farms have been processing their heritage turkeys earlier to keep them small.

Turkey Farmers Scramble to Meet Need for Smaller Thanksgiving Birds

They’ll just be thankful when the year is over

Canned cocktails are a craze again.

The Intoxicating History of the Canned Cocktail

Since the 1890s, the premade cocktail has flip-flopped from novelty item to kitschy commodity—but the pandemic has sales surging

The color, known specifically as Falu red, has been a consistent symbol of pastoral life in Sweden.

Why Are All Swedish Cottages Painted Red?

One company has exclusive rights to the source of the iconic pigment—a copper mine’s supply of iron deposits that may last just a century more

Teaching computers to assess the emotional tone of a piece of writing—a task called sentiment analysis—is becoming more widely used as researchers, companies and even mental health professionals delve into people’s social media musings for insights.

How Algorithms Discern Our Mood From What We Write Online

While sentiment analysis is far from perfect, it distills meaning from huge amounts of data—and could one day even monitor mental health

To make up for some of the missing income, and to bring much-needed attention to conservation efforts right now, many safari companies have pivoted to virtual experiences.

Virtual Travel

Want to Support Wildlife Conservation in Africa? Start by Going on a Virtual Safari

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the beleaguered safari industry is livestreaming game drives to draw attention to its cause

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