Before fitness influencers made getting your steps in a trend, pedestrianism had the nation on their feet

In the Jim Crow South, activists became martyrs at the hands of white racists, all for the just cause of using the vote to fight for equality and freedom

Texts like the "Sortes Astrampsychi" promised insights on clients' love lives, career prospects, financial woes and families

"Spectropia" demystified the techniques used by mediums who claimed they could speak to the dead, revealing the "absurd follies of Spiritualism"

The Sacro Bosco's meaning is the subject of debate, with scholars alternatively describing the sprawling complex as a memorial, an allegorical site or a tribute to ancient civilizations

After he was forced off the German stage in 1934 by antisemitic hecklers, Leo Reuss found a daring way to hide in plain sight

A new exhibition at the British Library explores the public, private and spiritual lives of such figures as Joan of Arc, Christine de Pizan and Hildegard of Bingen

With flinty perseverance and a golden touch, Belinda Mulrooney earned an unlikely fortune in the frozen north and reshaped the Canadian frontier

When the U.S. Army massacred a Lakota village at Blue Water, dozens of plundered artifacts ended up in the Smithsonian. The unraveling of this long-buried atrocity is forging a path toward reconciliation

During and after the Civil War, inventive illustrations allowed Democrats and Republicans to turn American ballots into powerful propaganda

As a child, the future president acquired a marine animal's skull, which became the first specimen in his natural history collection

The British explorer named dozens of geographical features and sites in the region, ignoring the traditions of the Indigenous peoples who’d lived there for millennia

A new film revisits the 90 minutes before the first episode of "Saturday Night Live" premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975

The bronze wreath immortalized the moment when the members of the Honor Guard removed their hats and placed them on the president's grave during his burial

An exhibition at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens explores how Western intellectuals viewed the climate crisis between 1780 and 1930

Fifty years ago, on October 5, 1974, David Kunst completed the first verified circumnavigation of the globe on foot. Along the way, he met Princess Grace of Monaco, raised money for UNICEF and lost a brother to bandits

In the early 1990s, historians and the public alike questioned how Disney's America would accurately and sensitively document the nation's thorny past

In a new biopic starring Kate Winslet, Miller's many lives—as an artist, model, muse, cook and war correspondent—need little embellishment

Newspaper editor Horace Greeley unsuccessfully ran against incumbent Ulysses S. Grant in November 1872. Twenty-four days later, he died of unknown causes at a private mental health facility

Historians say that Sarah Emma Edmonds exaggerated many aspects of her wartime experiences. Still, she bravely served in the Union Army, becoming one of hundreds of women who fought in the conflict in secret

By raising her son to be curious about the natural world, this mother helped shape the trajectory of the National Museum of Natural History

The ancient burial structures, strikingly similar all across Europe and the mediterranean, have puzzled scientists and historians for centuries

As The Meg hits theaters, dive into what we really know about this chompy predator

An unlikely friendship with Guy Burgess, the infamous British double-agent, brought unexpected joy to Stanley Weiss

Food is a focal point for understanding broader environmental problems. In this podcast, we learn how food buyers are influenced in surprising ways.

On this episode of Generation Anthropocene, we dive into one of the most underappreciated elements on the periodic table

A Two-Day Festival in the historic Arts & Industries Building brings community, artists and scholars together for a “Culture Lab”

When the National Transportation Safety Board office in Alaska first hears about a plane going down, protocol is to begin gathering information

After more than a century of searching, scientists have discovered a gene in snails that may control asymmetries inside many animals

Manufacturing a Bentley in the traditional way is a time-consuming nod to their brand heritage. Each hand-crafted wheel can take 4.5 hours to finish

The artificial waste could fertilize the ocean and sequester carbon

In the international competition, people with physical disabilities put state-of-the-art devices to the test as they race to complete the tasks of everyday life

The terms “snake oil” and “snake-oil salesperson” are part of the vernacular thanks to Clark Stanley, a quack doctor who marketed a product for joint pain in the late 19th century

It’s easy to write bugs off as pests, but consider the ways in which they have positively impacted our lives

On the island of Laeso in Denmark, one man is reviving the lost art of eelgrass thatching and, in doing so, bringing attention to a plant that has great potential

A clinical social worker explains the vital role of the old-fashioned rotary phone for those dealing with death and loss

These images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest show how communities in Mexico and beyond mark Día de los Muertos.

A century on, the country’s most beloved Thursday spectacle reaches new heights

It fell to Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman whose racial identity was kept secret for decades, to catalog J.P. Morgan's immense collection of books and art

Renaissance paintings, medieval archives, cloistered orchards—how one Italian scientist is uncovering secrets that could help combat a growing agricultural crisis

A new book charts the history of pet cemeteries and honors the universal experience of grieving an animal companion

In a twist befitting its pages, the satirical, anti-establishment publication that delivered laughs and hijinks to generations of young readers gets the respect it always deserved with a new museum exhibition

The trend is a result of women deciding to have children later in life and the use of medically assisted reproduction methods

In summer months above the North and South Poles, glowing clouds occasionally form naturally at sunset under the right conditions

As of last Wednesday, at least 3,500 sea turtles have been rescued from freezing waters in the midst record-breaking winter storm

In one reef, three million sea cucumbers released 64,000 metric tons of nutrient-packed poo back into the ecosystem

The surge of hungry four-legged visitors to Belushya Guba is part of a larger trend

"Fascinating, Captain"

The tongues of bird-like dinosaurs and pterosaurs, however, may have been more mobile

It's curtains for the NASA mission's close relationship with the satellite