Articles

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

This past October, Ruben Ghazarayan (above left with his brother Karen at the 2018 Smithsonian Folklife Festival) fought on the frontlines of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, his brother is selling their Armenian cross-stones to support their families during the conflict.

In Times of Conflict, How Can We Support the People Who Keep Culture Alive?

A Smithsonian research fellow weighs in on the ways culture proves both vital and resilient

Many U.S. grocery stores carry marinades and seasonings from Jamaican companies.

A Brief History of Jamaican Jerk

It's more than just a seasoning or a flavor. Jerk is a whole culture worthy of celebrating, especially at Christmastime

Centrosaurus had the first well-documented case of malignant bone cancer in a non-avian dinosaur.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2020

Paleontologists uncovered a great deal about the “terrible lizards” this year

Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command talks on the phone as part of a video celebrating the NORAD Santa Tracker's 65th year.

Smithsonian Voices

Why NORAD Tracks Santa Claus

How did a misdialed phone number lead to a holiday tradition.

The original photos from late 1800s by famous snowflake photographer Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, are stored in the Smithsonian Archives. His pictures were instrumental in helping scientists examine snow’s crystalline properties.

Smithsonian Voices

Why Scientists Find Snowflakes Cool

Mineralogists study snowflakes to learn more about how water in its solid phase behaves

From a profile of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer to a celebration of collector's items and a history of the StairMaster, these are 25 stories you might have missed in 2020.

Twenty-Five of Our Favorite Stories From 2020

Smithsonian editors highlight some articles you might have missed from the past year

The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia, is regularly rated as one of the best restaurants in the world.

Satisfy Your Travel Cravings With These Seven Cookbooks From Famous Hotels

Conjure up the experience of staying at some of the best inns, lodges and resorts in the U.S. by cooking their signature dishes

One of the human bone points analyzed in the study, found by Willy van Wingerden in January of 2017.

Ancient European Hunters Carved Human Bones Into Weapons

Scientists suggest 10,000-year-old barbed points washed up on Dutch beaches were made for cultural reasons

When all was said and done, Thomas Edison would call his talking dolls his "little monsters."

The Epic Failure of Thomas Edison's Talking Doll

Expensive, heavy, non-functioning and a little scary looking, the doll created by America's hero-inventor was a commercial flop

Will Cotton, Molasses Swamp II, 1999, oil on linen

Smithsonian Voices

Top Ten Favorite Holiday Movies as Seen in American Art

What is cozier than watching old holiday movies on a chilly winter’s night? Pairing them up with favorite artworks from SAAM's collection, that’s what

A young girl lightly pats the backs of others with a survachka on Christmas Day in Bulgaria.

A Globe-Trotter's Guide to Holiday Games

Staying home for Christmas and New Year's? Try one of these festive traditions from around the world

The statue of Hannah Dunston has been vandalized with red paint in recent months

Why Just 'Adding Context' to Controversial Monuments May Not Change Minds

Research shows that visitors often ignore information that conflicts with what they already believe about history

Often overshadowed by more famous jets in World War II, the Ar 234 B-2—known as the Blitz, or Lightning—had caught the Allies by surprise when the nine soared through the skies on December 24, 1944.

With Lightning Speed and Agility, Germany's Ar 234 Blitz Jet Bomber Was a Success That Ultimately Failed

Only one is known to survive today and it is in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

Tens of millions of years of bird evolution guided some of the most important elements of human-powered flight.N

Smithsonian Voices

How We Lifted Flight From Bird Evolution

The path to flight in modern birds was full of forks, twists and dead ends

Americanization, a mural by Dean Cornwell.

How the Belief in American Exceptionalism Has Shaped the Pandemic Response

A political scientist discusses how national identity influences how the country has dealt with the Covid-19 crisis

The Schmidt Ocean Institute’s submersible SuBastian, which was responsible for several discoveries in 2020, is retrieved from the water.

The Top Ten Ocean Stories of 2020

From the discovery of a giant coral reef pinnacle to a shocking estimate of plastics on the seafloor, these were the biggest marine moments of the year

A portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven by August Klober, circa 1818

How Young America Came to Love Beethoven

On the 250th anniversary of the famous composer’s birth, the story of how his music first took hold across the Atlantic

A nurse administers the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a patient in London on December 8. Some experts say the fastest way to test second-generation COVID-19 vaccines is through human challenge trials.

A Brief History of Human Challenge Trials

For more than two centuries, scientists have been intentionally infecting patients with dangerous diseases in order to learn more

Sequencing entire genomes from ancient tissues helps researchers reveal the evolutionary and domestication histories of species.

Smithsonian Voices

How Ancient DNA Unearths Corn's A-Maize-ing History

New study shows how extracting whole genomes from ancient material opens the door for new research questions and breathes new life into old samples

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