Sometimes, in fact, nature is stranger than fiction

E.O. Wilson discusses his new book, "Half-Earth," and his recent and thought-provoking proposal to devote half the surface of the Earth to nature. The livestream video features E.O. Wilson and Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History.

Credit: Smithsonian Digital Studio

A mata mata turtle can go 15 minutes between breaths--it's another one of the Smithsonian's National Zoo's many unique animals. Join the Zoo's experts for an inside look at some of its 2,000 rare and extraordinary creatures.

Credit: Ken Catania, PNAS, 2016

An infected ant's bright red abdomen looks like a berry

In 1905, New York City hosted a grand procession for the last living soldier of a war that ended 90 years earlier

For the first time ever, researchers observed a cricket as a pollinator for a flower

So what exactly factors into how we end up being right or left-handed? In this one-minute video, Ask Smithsonian host Eric Schulze breaks down the science of being a southpaw.

A crow named Icarus uses a short tool to extract a long tool, which he then uses to fish out a piece of meat.

A curator from the Houston Museum of Natural Science explains how the terra cotta warriors were discovered and what they reveal about China’s Qin dynasty

The bizarre-looking Australian native takes a swim. (Still Image: JohnCarnemolla/iStock)

Dismembered war captives from the 17th century uneartherd

Carefully planned gardens provide visitors a place to relax and reflect during their visit to the Smithsonian.

Marine biologist Nancy Knowlton discusses a research trip to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in Panama, where she and her collaborators collected data on coral reef populations. Reef sustainability is closely tied to coral reproduction. Then director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Knowlton, who has since been hired to lead the Smithsonian's Ocean Initiative, has reservations about the long-term future of corals

In 1536, Thomas Cromwell spotted an opportunity to enrich his master, Henry VIII, and further increase his own standing: the dissolution of the monasteries and claiming their wealth for the Crown.

Watch a video on the restoration of Gorongosa Park. The video was originally featured on Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria and produced by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Art and music lovers who attended the museum's premier event were treated to Andy Warhol's "Shadows" and live music

The American Ingenuity Award winner warns that no place on Earth is safe from the dangers of global warming

Every Veterans Day, Jeremy Redmon thinks about his father, Donald Lee Redmon — an Air Force veteran who survived more than 300 combat missions over Southeast Asia, but who took his own life when Jeremy was 14. This year, Redmon traveled back to Hanoi with a group of former prisoners of war, many of whom had flown the same missions as his dad. Jeremy asked these veterans questions he was never able to ask his own father, about how they’d healed from the war and lived rewarding lives thereafter. In this episode, guest host Jennie Rothenberg Gritz speaks with Redmon about the complexities of the Vietnam War, as well as his own experiences as a reporter in Iraq. Then, Vietnamese American author Mai Elliott discusses her family’s experiences in North and South Vietnam, and how her feelings about the conflict changed throughout the 1960s. Read Jeremy Redmon’s Smithsonian story “Fifty Years After Their Release, Former Vietnam POWs Journey Back to Hanoi” here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fifty-years-finding-freedom-vietnam-vets-healing-journey-hanoi-180983052/) . Order Mai Elliott’s book The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family here (https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Willow-Generations-Vietnamese-Family-ebook/dp/B074JBTTZ3?ref_=ast_author_mpb) . 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 Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Chris Klimek, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our team is Jessica Miller, Adriana Rosas Rivera, Genevieve Sponsler, Terence Bernardo, 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 massive lava stream from Kilauea Volcano flows into the ocean from a lava tube at the Kamokuna ocean entry on the southeast side of the Big Island at sunrise. Credit Elyse Butler

The water torture cell escape was arguably Houdini’s most memorable stunt. So much so that many people wrongly assume it killed him–a myth invented by the 1953 movie about his life starring Tony Curtis.

Between the unusual court shape and specialized equipment, jeu de paume is a game that must be seen to be believed

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough offers personal insights on the realities of climate change and the best ways for society to adapt

Sara Seagers groundbreaking research ranges from the detection of exoplanet atmospheres to innovative theories about life on other worlds to development of novel space mission concepts. Dubbed an astronomical Indiana Jones, she is on a quest to discover a true Earth twin. A professor at MIT, she was named in Time magazines 25 Most Influential in Space.

Kenneth Morris is the great-great-great-grandson of the heralded abolitionist and helped compile an illustrated biography of his ancestor. (Credit: Drew Gardner)

When did we start getting cuddly with cats? And have those tabbies really been tamed? In this one-minute video, Ask Smithsonian host Eric Schulze investigates the surprising history and science behind today’s house cat.

Bonnie, the subject of a recently published paper, is the Smithsonian National Zoo’s famous whistling orangutan

A remote camera captures the first-ever video of an erupting underwater volcano

After his arrival in Omaha in 1892, Tom Dennison - nicknamed the "Grey Wolf" - controlled the city's street's for more than 30 years

It looks like a fairly nondescript plank of wood, found in the fields of Star Carr. But from an archaeological perspective, it’s far more significant: It’s the oldest piece of carpentry found anywhere in Europe.

Why the American Ingenuity Award winner believes higher education should be a basic human right

By late September 1918, in a bid to contain the spread of the flu, the U.S. had made the decision to cancel the draft. It was too little, too late—in October alone, over 200,000 Americans were killed by the disease.

In March 1895, Boston and New York City began an epic and highly competitive race to become the first American city with a working subway system.

Caretakers feed the new baby clouded leopards at the Zoo's research facility in Virginia

Scientists are researching how the rodent can become less susceptible to its feline foe.

Our host, Eric Schulze explains how 1 + 1 = 0 when it comes to sound

Artist Michael Kirby spent four days painting an image from "Falnama: The Book of Omens" in front of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Read more at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/muralist-uses-the-sidewalk-outside-the-sackler-gallery-as-canvas-20678724/

Aerial America: Wilderness premieres Sunday, Sept. 7 at 9PM ET/PT

The Black Death of 1348 was a devastating event, wiping out half the population of Britain. And in churches like this one, drawings on the wall provide a haunting visual record of the scale of the tragedy.

In the jungles of Cambodia, villagers travel along abandoned railway tracks on a norry, a rickety transport of spare lumber with a speedy (and loud) motor attached Video, Photographs and Narration by Russ Juskalian

Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter interviews the co-founder of MIT’s Little Devices Lab about democratizing health technology

The biological urge is too strong to resist for penguin chicks as they fledge and dive into the water for the first time.

"Be prepared” might not cover it when it comes to super storms.

In 1967, a horrific fire broke out during a routine pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Kennedy, Florida. It would claim the lives of three NASA astronauts

The Moab Music Festival combines timeless music with nature's beauty