Follow the Ancient Amber Road
See the remnants and relics of key routes between Venice and St. Petersburg for transporting amber through the ancient world
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A 3.8-Million-Year-Old Skull Puts a New Face on a Little-Known Human Ancestor
The cranium of a male Australopithecus anamensis, a close relative of Lucy, provides clues about one of the earliest hominins to walk on two legs
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Divers Get an Eerie First Look Inside the Arctic Shipwreck of the HMS Terror
Marine archaeologists exploring the 19th-century vessel could discover clues about what befell the sailors of the Franklin expedition
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The Accidental Invention of the Slinky
The idea for the timeless toy sprung to mind when Naval engineer Richard James dropped some coiled wires
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Why Molokai, With All Its Wonders, Is the Least Developed of Hawai'i's Islands
Even centuries before Captain Cook’s arrival, its resources were exploited by outsiders
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A Warming Climate Threatens Archaeological Sites in Greenland
As temperatures rise and ice melts, Norse and Inuit artifacts and human remains decompose more rapidly
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How Engineers of New Energy Technology Are Taking Cues From Nature
From sunflower spirals to schooling fish, renewable energy innovators are uncovering ideas for improving efficiency and output in natural phenomena
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Four U.S. CRISPR Trials Editing Human DNA to Research New Treatments
Breaking down how the gene editing technology is being used, for the first time in the United States, to treat patients with severe medical conditions
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How to Discover Dinosaurs
Smithsonian paleontologist Hans Sues reveals some of his tips for finding and excavating a Mesozoic monster
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These High-Tech Scarecrows Will Keep Pesky Creatures Away
From robots to digitized recordings, farmers are upping their game when it comes to protecting their crops
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What the Restoration of Iraq’s Oldest University Says About the Nation's Future
The Mustansiriya has withstood centuries of war, floods and architectural butchery, but can it survive its own restoration?
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The Hard-Drinking Early Smithsonian Naturalists of the Megatherium Club
William Stimpson created a fraternity of young scientists and named it for an extinct North American sloth
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I Spent the Night at a Library in Wales and You Can Too
Housing more than 150,000 written works, Gladstone's Library is the only residential library in Great Britain
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Special Skull Windows Helped Dinosaur Brains Keep Cool
Dinosaur skulls had many cavities and openings, some of which may have held blood vessels to help cool off the animals' heads
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The History of How School Buses Became Yellow
Rural educator Frank Cyr had the vision and pull to force the nation to standardize the color of the ubiquitous vehicle
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Rare Ancient DNA Provides Window Into a 5,000-Year-Old South Asian Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization flourished alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt, but the early society remains shrouded in mystery
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How College Dorms Evolved to Fit America's Gender and Racial Politics
Ever since the 17th century, educators and architects designed university housing with societal mores in mind
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How Photographer Stephen Wilkes Captures a Full Day in a Single Image
In his new book 'Day to Night,' the photographer uses technology to play tricks on the eye
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Riveting Footage Captures the Destruction of Last Year’s Volcanic Eruptions in Hawaii and Guatemala
A new documentary from Smithsonian Channel shows the explosive activity at the Kilauea and Fuego volcanoes
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Fossil Mix-Up Could Rewrite the History of Beetles, the Largest Group of Animals on Earth
The reclassification of a 226-million-year-old beetle species could change our understanding of insect evolution
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What Happened the Day a Giant, Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Hit the Earth
Using rock cores from Chicxulub crater, geologists piece together a new timeline of the destruction that followed impact
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