A new law enforcement tool is marking alleged criminals without their knowledge

Uncover the dark and curious truth behind the death of one of America's most beloved authors, Edgar Allan Poe. For centuries, the circumstances surrounding his death have remained shrouded in mystery, sparking endless speculation and debate. Was it murder, disease, or something even more sinister? ___ A little more information: In 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore. He was taken to a hospital but died four days later, with no clear explanation for his condition. Theories about his demise range from alcoholism to rabies to a neurological disorder. Some suggest a more sinister plot, involving foul play or a conspiracy. Despite extensive speculation, Poe's death ultimately remains an enigma, adding to the haunting allure of his literary legacy. #unsolvedmysteries #gothicliterature #theraven #edgarallanpoe #truecrime #Smithsonianmagazine Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@SmithsonianMagazine Read more about the mystery of Edgar Allan Poe’s death here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936/ How did Edgar Allan Poe become such a prolific and popular storyteller, even after his death? Learn more about his history here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/edgar-allan-poe-became-era-premier-storyteller-180971001/ For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Get More Smithsonian Magazine: Official Site: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smithsonianmagazine/ X: https://x.com/smithsonianmag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SmithsonianMagazine/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Director of Programming: Nicki Marko Manager of Programming: Michelle Mehrtens Scriptwriter: Dan Wolf Video Editor and Narrator: Adam Benavides

The legendary Stan Lee, creator of the Avengers, Spiderman and Iron Man, has partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to launch the first global online course about superheroes to fans around the world.

Listen for the subtle clicks of the eland bull's knees

Equipped with wings and a propeller, Moulton Taylor Aerocar aerobile was capable of taking off from a stoplight or the runway

See how researchers at Smithsonian's National Zoo are trying to glean insight into elephant foraging behavior and more.

Learn how to stage a sit-in right next to the Greensboro lunch counter, the location of one of the civil rights movement's most famous protests (Video by: Katy June-Friesen). Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Courage-at-the-Greensboro-Lunch-Counter.html

What caused the Plague? And what methods did people use to combat the spread? Learn about its origins, past outbreaks (including the Black Death), and the long-lasting impact of its legacy today. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Producer: Nicki Marko Producer: Sierra Theobald Video Editor: Natalie Cline Graphic Designer: Kevin Schoenblum

The science behind going belly up

Researchers from the University of West Florida are slowly uncovering the remains of a 16th-century shipwreck of a Spanish galleon in the shallow, murky waters near Pensacola

Read more about the event here: http://j.mp/TyPfBO The world famous Chinese artist uses pyrotechnics to turn a 40-foot-tall pine tree into an optical illusion.

Have you ever wondered whether lie detectors actually...work? Join us as we delve into the history and science behind these devices - from how they measure "deception" to the controversies surrounding their use. This video is the first episode of the National Treasure series, where we share behind-the-scenes stories of objects in the Smithsonian Collections. --------- To learn more about the exhibition "Forensic Science on Trial" at Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, read below: What a 100-Year-Old Lie Detector and 150-Year-Old Arsenic Tests Tell Us About Forensic Science Today https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/what-a-100-year-old-lie-detector-and-150-year-old-arsenic-tests-tell-us-about-forensic-science-today-180984623/ Forensic Science on Trial https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/forensic-science-trial Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Producer: Nicki Marko Producer & Editor: Sierra Theobald Motion Designer: Ricardo Jaimes Original Footage: Cade Martin

Experts may not agree on all the specifics, but here's what we do know.

Richard Saul Wurman, the founder of the popular speaker series, shares his ideas for how to make learning more interesting

The North American Orchid Conservation Center is working to ensure the survival of some of the most unique plants in the world

Uncover the bittersweet story of this ancient treat. Read more at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/

Smithsonian magazine commissioned Drew Gardner for a project that connects Black Americans today to their lost ancestry. Read about Gardner’s project and process, as well as more details about the subjects of this incredible series here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/descendants-black-civil-war-heroes-wear-heritage-pride-180983397/ Video produced by Sierra Theobald. Special thanks to Drew Gardner Additional credits: Emma MacBeath, WikiTree US Black Heritage project; Ottawa Goodman, research and coordinator; Sam Dole, Penumbra Foundation; Elizabeth Zuck, set design; Calvin Osbourne, props and costume; Angela Huff, hair and make up; Diego Huerta, Lexia Krebs, behind-the-scenes filming; background prints by Fujifilm USA

Read more about elephants at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Male-Elephants-Bond.html Keepers and pachyderms alike are enjoying the new Asian elephant exhibit, Elephant Trails, at the National Zoo.

Courtesy of GoPro

Read more about the Hindenburg disaster: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/80th-anniversary-hindenburg-disaster-mysteries-remain-180963107/ Seventy-five years after the tragedy, a curator at the National Postal Museum made a discovery that shed new light on what happened to the doomed dirigible

While President Kennedy may be one of the best known gravesites in Arlington, there are many other notable Americans buried in these sacred grounds (Ryan Reed and Molly Roberts). Read more at http://smithsonian.com/arlington

Deep in the jungles of Brazil, photographer Steve Winter explains how he managed to capture stunning images of one of the world's top predators. Read more about jaguars at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/video/Photographing-the-Elusive-Jaguar.html

Discover why scientists think we are in a new geologic age and what it means for our future.

In Panama, researchers recorded army ants crafting living bridges to take the most efficient route along the forest floor. (Christopher R. Reid, Matthew J. Lutz, Simon Garnier, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology)

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey recently released the largest ever 3-D map of the sky with some 540,000 galaxies

Take a walk through jazz history with pianist John Eaton as he recollects his career of the past five decades (Meredith Bragg)

Recently digitized footage shows Marine in dugouts in the field, working on building a hospital and assisting the wounded on the front lines. (U.S. Marine Corps History Division and Moving Image Research Collections, University of South Carolina)

Manufacturing of bitumen-lined water bottles in the traditional method of Native Californian Indians. Credit: Nicholas Radtkey, UC Davis & Sabrina Sholts

Watch the famous chef make the classic French dish, but stay for her inventive use of a blowtorch

Astrophysicist Stephen Murray explains how X-ray energies can be used to understand dark matter and its place in the universe

No one had ever launched, landed and relaunched a rocket into space until the company's historic achievement.

In 1918, Lulu Hunt Peters—one of the first women in America to earn a medical doctorate—published the best seller Diet and Health With Key to the Calories, making a name for herself as an apostle for weight reduction in an era when malnutrition was a far greater public health threat than obesity. She pioneered the idea of measuring food intake via the calorie, which at the time was an obscure unit of measurement familiar only to chemists.  A century later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db360.htm) that 42 percent of American adults are clinically obese and that Type 2 diabetes is on the rise (https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p1229-future-diabetes-surge.html) . With those who can afford it now turning to pharmaceuticals to help them lose weight, we’ll examine why and how calorie counting has failed to help Americans maintain a “healthy” weight.  In this episode of “There’s More to That,” we hear from food historian Michelle Stacey about Peters’ legacy—and from Ronald Young Jr., creator and host of the critically acclaimed podcast “Weight For It (https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/weight-for-it) ,” about how American society continues to stigmatize what he calls “fat folks” for reasons that have nothing to do with public, or even individual, health. A transcript is below. To subscribe to “There’s More to That,” and to listen to past episodes on the complex legacy of Sojourner Truth (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-to-separate-fact-from-myth-in-the-extraordinary-story-of-sojourner-truth-180983820/) , how Joan Baez opened the door for Taylor Swift (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/before-beyonce-taylor-swift-ran-world-joan-baez-180983893/) , how machine learning is helping archeologists to read scrolls (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-artificial-intelligence-is-making-2000-year-old-scrolls-readable-again-180984264/) buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago and more, find us on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/theres-more-to-that/id1694965155?ign-itscg=30200&ign-itsct=podcast_box_player) , Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4NYRCRxkYJTLjW71sqYOFv?si=08fa62c3e59d450f&nd=1) or wherever you get your podcasts. Read Michelle Stacey's story about Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters in the June 2024 issue of Smithsonian here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/doctor-pioneered-counting-calories-century-ago-were-still-dealing-with-consequences-180984282/) . Listen to Ronald Young, Jr.'s podcast "Weight For It" here (https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/weight-for-it) . Find prior episodes of our show here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast/) . There’s More to That is a production of Smithsonian magazine and PRX Productions. From the magazine, our team is Chris Klimek, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our team is Jessica Miller, Adriana Rosas Rivera, Genevieve Sponsler, Rye Dorsey, and Edwin Ochoa. The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales. Fact-checking by Stephanie Abramson. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz. Music by APM Music.

Erosion, evaporation, and a leaky faucet, our host Eric Schulze breaks it all down.

From their jaw-dropping hunting abilities to their unique physicality, owls are truly captivating creatures. Join us as we delve into the world of these mysterious birds of prey. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Producer: Nicki Marko Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

Discover the incredible ways in which living organisms illuminate the darkness of the deep sea, lush forests, and even our own backyards. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Director of Programming: Nicki Marko Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

The story of how Thaddeus Lowe reinvented reconnaissance at the encouragement of President Lincoln.

1,000 scientists in 40 countries are searching for answers 100 miles below our feet

From the moment they arrived at the concentration camp, Jews and other Holocaust victims were treated like animals, and only a lucky group survived the experience.

Watch one of Amelia Earhart's final takeoffs, July 2, 1937

Think blockbuster movie and you’ve got an idea of how this story ends

From the kitchen of his new restaurant in Brooklyn, the chef talks about what it takes to fuse Asian cuisine with an American twist

Researchers at a conservation center in Thailand tested many variables to study an elephant’s gait and how they accelerate when facing danger

Did you ever think you’d hear the words "skunk," "anti-aircraft weaponry" and "nipple squirters" in the same sentence? Brace yourself and watch this one-minute video, where Ask Smithsonian host Eric Schulze sticks his nose into the science of skunk spray.

After Hurricane Ike destroyed thousands of homes and inflicted an estimated $30 billion in damages in 2008, engineers hatched an ambitious plan to protect southeast Texas and its coastal refineries and shipping routes from violent storms. The $34 billion collaboration spearheaded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a harbinger of the type of massive public works projects that could be required to protect coastal cities like New York and Miami as sea levels rise and hurricanes become less predictable and more severe due to climate change. Smithsonian magazine contributor and Texas native Xander Peters reflects on his experiences growing up in a hurricane corridor and tells us how the wildly ambitious effort came together. Then, Eric Sanderson, an ecological historian, tells us how the project could be applied to other low-lying coastal cities. Read Xander Peters' Smithsonian magazine story about the Ike Dike here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/galveston-texas-plan-stop-next-big-storm-hurricane-ike-180984487/) . Let us know what you think of our show, and how we can make it better, by completing our There's More to That listener survey here (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfS90zjBZ2oGa9JxVa-R5affKcOHaR2-ib1_KZeWm3HDQXJIA/viewform) . Find prior episodes of our show here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast/) . Listen to the New York Botanical Garden podcast "Plant People" here (https://www.nybg.org/plantpeople/) . There’s More to That is a production of Smithsonian magazine and PRX Productions. From the magazine, our team is Chris Klimek, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our team is Jessica Miller, Adriana Rosas Rivera, Genevieve Sponsler, Rye Dorsey, and Edwin Ochoa. The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales. Fact-checking by Stephanie Abramson. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz  Music by APM Music.

A night at the museum with the Smithsonian's "Laser Cowboys" http://j.mp/17Vclt8 Using laser scanners and high-tech computer software, Vince Rossi and Adam Metallo are recreating a digital Dinosaur Hall before it's dismantled

Photojournalist Lucian Perkins reunites Naval Academy graduates Sandee Irwin and Don Holcomb, 30 years after his photo captured the new gender dynamics at the school (Photography Interview and Production by Lucian Perkins; Music: Kevin MacLeod; Photos from World War II, Korea and Vietnam by the U.S. Army and Air Force). Read more at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/up-in-arms-over-a-co-ed-plebe-summer-30290895/

Victory Mail allowed servicemen during World War II to transmit letters to their loved ones back home quickly and easily (National Postal Museum). Read more at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/before-email-there-was-v-mail-1-180949023/

In July 1925, a young science teacher named John Scopes was in court, accused of contravening the Butler Act—a Tennessee law that prohibited the teaching of evolution in schools.