A small pebble with ornate markings is Britain’s earliest piece of Mesolithic art—but what do the markings denote, and was it worn for cosmetic purposes or spiritual ones?

A large portion of Indiana's economy relies on an invaluable crop: corn. Popcorn plants like Pop Weaver have perfected the production of our favorite movie snack down to a science.

We asked visitors to the National Mall what they thought should be in the Smithsonian collections in 2050. The consensus? Lady Gaga and much more...

How did a god fearing church-goer like Lizzie Borden become a suspect in the gruesome crime of the century? Her inconsistent account, and an eerie nonchalance, immediately damaged her credibility with investigators.

To save a species from extinction, scientists scour the Panamanian jungle for the few remaining frogs. But will they be too late?

Credit: David Marshall, University of Bristol

The entertainment curator at the American History Museum shows cinematic highlights from the museum's collections, including Dorothy's red slippers and Superman's cape (Produced by: Ryan Reed). Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Night-at-the-Museum.html

Take a virtual tour of the Kangaroo Conservation Center in Dawsonville, Georgia

In 1969, three men traveled to the moon cameras documented their every move

More on Kathleen Turner and her show at Arena Stage: http://j.mp/T0IkkZ Before taking the stage in "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins," Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner discusses the woman who inspired the show.

By 2020, the Starkey Hearing Foundation plans to donate one million hearing aids to kids in the developing world

In this trailer, experts discuss the importance of sharks to the health of coral reefs. Marine ecologist Enric Sala of Scripps Institution of Oceanography talks about the role of sharks as top predators in ocean ecosystems. Peter Knight, executive director of WildAid, and Sonja Fordham of the Ocean Conservancy detail the decline of shark populations worldwide as a result of fishing pressure

Coffee - it's a staple of American life, and inside the vaults of the National Museum of American History, they know the secret to its wide spread success: packaging

Find out what it takes to build a museum large enough to house 130 aircraft

Researchers are able to track Venus flytrap plants that were stolen from protected areas

Art car designers tour the country with their cars, some thousands of miles a year, not for fame or money, but just to make people smile. (Produced by: Abby Callard and Ryan Reed)

The MIT professor believes many of the financial products sold today will be rightly regarded as not in the best interest of consumers

A blue-throated side-blotched lizard defending his territory against an orange-throated side-blotched lizard

If you need something while up in space, soon all you'll have to do is print it.

Our skin is an endlessly complex organ. Luckily, in this one-minute video, our Ask Smithsonian host Eric Schulze is here to explain exactly what happens after you get a scrape.

Smithsonian magazine covers history, science and culture in the way only it can — through a lens on the world that is insightful and grounded in richly reported stories. On There's More to That, meet the magazine's journalists and hear how they discover the forces behind the biggest issues of our time. 

Every week, the Floyd Country Store draws musicians and their fans from across southwest Virginia

The first computer is thought to be the invention of a 19th century mathematician

Follow the "Nation's T-Rex" as it travels from Montana to Washington

Tod Machover, an MIT professor whose classroom produced Guitar Hero and Rock Band, talks about a future in which everyone can make music

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma talks with the founder of the Girls Computing League about the promise of her generation

Scientists have created thin polymer sheets that expand and contract when in contact with water

Cocktail historians differ on the birthplace of the word "cocktail," but they cherish America' invention of drinks like the mint julep (Meredith Bragg)

Zookeepers at the National Zoo keep orangutans mentally stimulated with an innovative use of iPads

Under exuberant coach, Knute Rockne, Notre Dame set the standards for football excellence. But off the field, the Fighting Irish was a PR sensation, capturing the hearts of a riveted nation.

A chick in the process of hatching as the female adult looks on

A London blacksmith has perfected a technique known as pattern welding to create elaborately-designed replica Saxon swords and knives. He demonstrates his technique on camera.

http://smithsonian.com/ask Now it's your turn to ask the Institution's experts your questions about science, history, art or culture

After mapping the movement of stars for years, astronomers believe they have found a black hole at the center of the Milky Way

A series of remarkably well-preserved human remains in a remote cave in Scotland has archaeologists grappling with a staggering question: were these bodies brought here during the Bronze Age to be mummified?

How many of your questions can our host, Eric Schulze, answer in 45 seconds?

Chef Darin Nesbit demonstrates how to cook cricket-crusted redfish. (Still Image: Natthanan Chumphookaew/iStock)

Smithsonian.com's puzzle master and your gaming adventure guide

The Liège-Guillemins railway station looks like it belongs far in the future: a vast curving monolith of glass, steel and concrete curves extending high above the train tracks. Just as astonishing as its design is the fact that it was built while the normal train schedules continued, with no disruption.

Discover evidence of natural selection and evolution at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum (Meredith Bragg)

Building captive colonies for eventual re-introduction to the wild, scientists from Atlanta rescue endangered frogs and other amphibians threatened with extinction by a fatal fungus spreading through South American forests

Visitors to Nantucket were able to ski through wide strips of slushy ice left on the beach in February 2015.

The space suits used by the astronauts on Gemini 7, known as grasshopper suits, were designed for comfort. But after two weeks inside them, that was the last thing on the crew’s minds.

Experts are working on a unique experiment that will use an inflatable aeroshell/heat shield to protect a spacecraft when entering a planet's atmosphere or returning to Earth

The Alvin Ailey dance troupe performs from its signature Revelations

Take a calming breath, then watch this video to find out

In about four billion years from now, the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will crash together Visualization: NASA, ESA, and F. Summers, STScI Simulation credit: NASA, ESA, G. Besla, Columbia University, and R. van der Marel, STScI