This Secret Passageway May Have Been Part of the Underground Railroad. Now, Preservationists Say It's in Danger

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Humans Might Struggle to Make Babies in Space. Sperm Gets Disoriented in Microgravity, a New Study Suggests

What Did Ancient Pompeians Burn as Offerings to Their Gods? New Research Reveals the Surprising Answer

A Truck Driver Spent 20 Years Making This Astonishing Scale Model of Every Single Building in New York City

Could Python Blood Lead to the Next Generation of Weight-Loss Drugs?

These Snorkeling Scientists Stumbled Upon a Surprising Trove of Fossils in a Texas Water Cave

Is This 1,800-Year-Old Mosaic the First Known Image of a Woman Fighting Wild Beasts in an Ancient Roman Arena?

To Finance Their Lifestyle, a Young French Couple Went to Cambodia to Steal Antiquities. They Did Almost Everything Wrong

This C-3PO Head From 'The Empire Strikes Back' Just Sold for More Than $1 Million at Auction

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The 'Cicada' Variant of Covid-19 Is Spreading in the United States. Here's What You Need to Know

Art Thieves Steal Paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse Worth More Than $10 Million, Fleeing the Scene in Just Three Minutes

When Did the Earth's Crust Start to Shift? Scientists Uncover Evidence of Plate Tectonics Happening 3.48 Billion Years Ago

Watch Unprecedented Footage of Sperm Whales Helping a Newborn Calf Take Its First Breaths

Charles Dickens Searched the Streets of London and Found Inspiration for His Evocative Fiction

With ‘Doonesbury,’ Garry Trudeau Found a Way to Inform and Entertain a Generation of Newspaper Readers, One Panel at a Time

Abigail Adams Asked Her Husband to 'Remember the Ladies' as He Drafted America's Laws. Here's What She Really Meant

Cascade Red Foxes Are Notoriously Reclusive. So How Did This Photographer Capture These Stunning Images of the Endangered Species?

Did Neanderthals Use Birch Bark Tar as an Antibiotic to Treat Wounds and Infections?

These Long-Lost Photos of the Chelsea Hotel Reveal Intimate Portraits of Its Bohemian Residents—From Patti Smith to Bob Dylan

Astronomers Discover a Rare Primitive Star That Provides a Chemical Snapshot of the Early Universe

These 17-Million-Year-Old Fossils Could Rewrite the Evolutionary Tree of Apes—Including Humans

Sharks in the Bahamas Test Positive for Drugs, Including Cocaine and Painkillers, in a New Study

When America Found Itself Ready to Roll, Route 66, Stretching From Chicago to Los Angeles, Was the Road of Endless Possibilities

Was Spinosaurus Really a 'Hell Heron'? Digging Into the Star of Netflix’s 'The Dinosaurs'

Willem de Kooning Didn't Get His Big Break Until His 40s. See the Stunning Abstract Paintings That First Captivated Audiences

Does This Skeleton Found Beneath a Dutch Church Belong to D'Artagnan, the Man Who Inspired 'The Three Musketeers'?

A Clump of Human Brain Cells on a Computer Chip Learned to Play the Nostalgic Video Game 'Doom'

Why Was This 2,000-Year-Old Sling Bullet Inscribed With the Word 'Learn'?

Scientists Identify the World's First Known Dog, Which Pushes Back the Animals' Genetic Record by About 5,000 Years

See 15 Images of Wondrous West Africa From the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Two Green 'Fireballs' Streaked Across the West Coast Sky, Some of the Latest in a String of Dazzling Meteors Above the U.S.

Fish Traps Have Been Banned on the Columbia River for Nearly a Century. Could Bringing Them Back Help Save Salmon?

'The King and I' Spotlights an English Governess Who Modernized Siamese Society. The Real Anna Leonowens Exaggerated Her Influence and Lied About Her Origins

'The Sopranos' Changed How Television Told Stories. These Scripts, Sketches and Set Designs Reveal What Made the Mob Drama So Thrilling

These Never-Before-Seen Photos Show Astronaut Neil Armstrong Relaxed and Smiling After He Almost Died in the Gemini 8 Emergency

Scientists Say This 600-Year-Old Grape Seed Is 'Genetically Identical' to Modern Varieties Used to Make Pinot Noir

In a First, the World's Most Expensive and Volatile Substance—Antimatter—Traveled by Truck

Vivid Dreams Might Be Key to Feeling Well Rested When You Wake Up, According to a New Study

Nine Black College Students Were Arrested in 1961 for Reading at a Segregated Public Library. Their Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Have Long Been Overlooked

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams' 'Remember the Ladies' Letter

This Spellbinding Exhibition Explores How Ancient Cultures Used Magic to Navigate Life's Challenges

NASA Aims to Launch the World's First Planet-Hopping Spacecraft Powered by Nuclear Fission

See the Stunning 171-Year-Old Sketch That Helped Put Yosemite on the Map

Archaeologists Discover an Intact Cannonball From the Battle of the Alamo—One Day Before the Pivotal Conflict's 190th Anniversary

Scientists Capture the First Known Footage of Sperm Whales Headbutting, a Long-Debated Behavior That Inspired 'Moby-Dick'

In One of the Wettest Places on the Planet, Indigenous People Build Bridges and Ladders Out of Living Tree Roots

How a Small Winter Flower Has Attracted Droves of Admirers—and Offers a Symbol of Resilience

A New Nail Polish Might Someday Solve Touch Screen Struggles for Users With Long Fingernails

Archaeologists Are Mystified by These 2,000-Year-Old Bodies Found Seated Upright and Facing West in France

A Bronze Age Loom Sheds New Light on Mediterranean Textile Practices