Discover astonishing butterfly facts and delight in learning about the superlatives of butterflies, from the largest to the smallest to the fastest. Whether you're a nature enthusiast, an avid butterfly lover, or simply someone looking to expand their knowledge, this video is sure to leave you spellbound. Subscribe to our channel for more exciting videos exploring the wonders of the natural world. Don't miss out on future uploads where we uncover the secrets and hidden beauty of various flora and fauna, aiming to instill a deeper appreciation for the enchanting world we live in. --- Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Breeding-the-Perfect-Bull.html Donnell Brown and his fellow cowboys combine modern science with their decades of experience with cattle ranching to create the perfect specimen of beef.

Lola, a Lagotto Romagnolo trained to sniff out and dig up black truffles in her native Washington, is ready for a challenge: to find truffles out of season on a hot day where their distinctive odor dissipates really quickly. Video courtesy of Smithsonian Channel.

A short movie explores 3D scans of some of the mid-Cretaceous lizards found trapped in amber. (courtesy of Daza et al., Science Advances)

Tensions intensified between Cuba and the United States in October 1962 as they appear destined to plunge the planet in global war

The 12,000 year old skeleton of a teenage girl was found in Hoyo Negro, an underwater cave system on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The answer…and why you should care

Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Arcimboldos-Feast-for-the-Eyes.html The Hapsburg Dynasty's court painter's unique style of portraiture, using fruits, vegetables and animals to compose his faces -- has fascinated artists and the general public for centuries.

Discover how Ella Jenkins' joyful songs and storytelling have inspired generations of young listeners, while her commitment to advocacy has profoundly affected the world of music and beyond. --------- 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 Producer & Editor: Sierra Theobald Motion Designer: Ricardo Jaimes

The two discussed their ancestors’ legacy more than 150 years after the famous figures both attended the Seneca Falls Convention. (Credit: Drew Gardner)

Despite the fact that it’s over 5,000 years old, Maeshowe, Orkney's answer to Stonehenge, is in amazing shape. But why did Neolithic Britons go to such great lengths to build it?

Last summer, news reports of orcas deliberately tearing the propellers off of yachts in the Strait of Gibraltar thrilled observers who were eager to cast these intelligent and social pack hunters as class warriors striking a blow for the “common mammals” against the one percent. That turned out to be wishful thinking, according to guest Lori Marino, a biopsychologist who studies whale and dolphin intelligence. She told us that these six-ton whales were just having fun—if they wanted to harm the occupants of those boats, we’d know it.  Even so, these encounters are becoming a predictable seasonal occurrence between the months of May and August: A 50-foot charter vessel sank after its hull and rudder were damaged in an orca encounter near the Strait of Gibraltar on May 12. So here again is our episode on the perils of assigning human motives to wild animals, featuring Marino and Smithsonian assistant digital science editor Carlyn Kranking. This episode was originally released in September 2023.   Dr. Marino invites you to learn more about The Whale Sanctuary Project at their site (https://whalesanctuaryproject.org/about-the-whale-sanctuary-project/) . You can also see Dr. Marino in the documentary films Blackfish (2013), Unlocking the Cage (2016), and Long Gone Wild (2019). Find prior episodes of our show here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast/) . And read the transcript of this episode here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-wild-animals-really-just-like-us-180982939/) . There’s More to That (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast) 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.

Two titans of the era went head-to-head in a heated race for the presidency. The stakes were high. The very future of a young nation hung in the balance. Join us as we explore the revolutionary ideas that shaped this critical moment in American democracy. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

What did analysts find in the recon photographs from the Cuban Missile Crisis? http://j.mp/RwFMbj Former CIA analyst Dino Brugioni was one of the first to spot missiles in Cuba in October 1962.

OK Go, Damian Kulash Jr. and Trish Sie | Smithsonian Magazine’s 2016 American Ingenuity Award Winners for Visual Arts Specializing in the whimsical and unexpected, these artistic dynamos have collaborated on some of the most arresting music videos ever made. This year’s “Upside Down & Inside Out” showcases the OK Go band members in a gravity-defying gambol shot aboard a Russian jetliner flying parabolas to induce periods of weightlessness. (“Here It Goes Again,” a treadmill ballet released in 2006, won a Grammy Award for best short-form video.) OK Go, formed in Chicago in 1998 and now based in Los Angeles, features Tim Nordwind (bass), Andy Ross (guitar), Dan Konopka (drums) and Damian Kulash Jr. (vocals and guitar). “Upside Down & Inside Out” is the fourth video that Kulash has co-directed with Sie, an acclaimed choreographer and film director who is also his sister. Read more about their work: http://smithmag.co/HZ8vzr | #IngenuityAwards And more about the American Ingenuity Awards: http://smithmag.co/77xPqy

A learning simulation, combined with fMRI readings, is able to predict the visualizations seen by a dreamer in real time

Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/In-Search-of-the-Mysterious-Narwhal.html Staff writer Abigail Tucker relates her experiences reporting from the small Arctic village of narwhal hunters.

Merry "Corky" White, author of Coffee Life in Japan, traces the history of coffee culture in the United States

Theater students in Scunthorpe, England, rehearse for their performance celebrating the life of homegrown cyclist Lal White

Mount Erebus in Antarctica erupts

Smithsonian staff writer Abigail Tucker came across imperiled zebras, dusty savannahs and perilous roads while researching the Tanzanian lions. Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Truth-About-Lions.html

Using archived ethnographic research, Linda Yamane is bringing back the language of the Ohlone, a Northern California tribe. Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/american-indian-heritage.html

Our host, Eric Schulze, explains how science is tackling this puzzling question from space.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., it covered the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum under tons of ash. Millennia later, in the mid-18th century, archeologists began to unearth the city, including its famed libraries, but the scrolls they found were too fragile to be unrolled and read; their contents were thought to be lost forever. Only now, thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning, scholars of the ancient world have partnered with computer programmers to unlock the contents of these priceless documents. In this episode of “There’s More to That,” science journalist and Smithsonian contributor Jo Marchant tells us about the yearslong campaign to read these scrolls. And Youssef Nader—one of the three winners of last year’s “Vesuvius Challenge” to make these clumps of vulcanized ash readable—tells us how he and his teammates achieved their historic breakthrough. Read Smithsonian’s coverage of the Vesuvius Challenge and the Herculaneum scrolls here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-students-decipher-first-passages-2000-year-old-scroll-burned-vesuvius-eruption-180983738/) , here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/buried-ash-vesuvius-scrolls-are-being-read-new-xray-technique-180969358/) , and here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeologoists-only-just-beginning-reveal-secrets-hidden-ancient-manuscripts-180967455/) . 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.

http://j.mp/z7WXi2 Researchers and scientists work together to find a way to play recordings made by the studio of inventor Alexander Graham Bell

The American Ingenuity Award winner is using geographic information systems to map history's most iconic landscapes

Lonnie Bunch, the director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, discusses the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, one of America's greatest monuments.

Archaelogists uncover what appear to be cat mummies–a common practice around the Ptolemaic period. But an x-ray scan reveals a surprise: the mummies are just bandages. So what happened?

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

Photographer Drew Gardner has a passion for history. His long-term project, “The Descendants,” (https://www.drewgardner.com/descendants)  wherein he recreates famous portraits of historical figures featuring their direct offspring, is his most visible expression of this interest. But like a lot of people who study history, Gardner has in recent years begun to contemplate more deeply the question of whose stories have been judged worthy of preservation, and whose have been allowed to fade into obscurity. That was how he decided to shift his specific focus to locating and photographing Black American descendants of Civil War veterans. You can take a look at Gardner’s photographs and read magazine editor Jennie Rothenberg Gritz’s exploration of their meaning here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/descendants-black-civil-war-heroes-wear-heritage-pride-180983397/) . On the latest episode of the Smithsonian podcast “There’s More to That,” (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast)  I speak with Janisse Flowers and her 9-year-son, Neikoye, who are descended from the Civil War drummer boy David Miles Moore Jr. After some reflection, Janisse and her husband decided to grant Gardner’s request to photograph Neikoye dressed in a replica of Moore’s Union Army uniform. Both Janisse and Neikoye share their surprise over how this experience made them more conscious of their heritage. I’m also joined by Gardner himself, who describes the challenges—and, he hopes, the potential benefits—of asking Black Americans to revisit one of the most painful chapters of America’s history by (almost) literally stepping into their ancestors’ shoes. You can learn more about Drew and his work at his website (https://www.drewgardner.com/) . 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, 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.

The answer has everything to do with falling flat on your face

More on the unsuccessful plot to kill Lincoln: http://j.mp/VnSZ9g During his inauguration tour in 1861, the president's life was threatened in the city of Baltimore.

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. Taught by "The Dark Knight" producer Michael Uslan, students will go into the vaults of the Smithsonian collection and hear from industry experts. Register now (http://bit.ly/1DsdJ3W) and beginning May 5, 2015, you can become a certified expert on superheroes. Sign up for the verified certificate to earn an original piece of artwork from top artist Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman, New X-Men) with Phil's, Stan Lee’s, and Michael Uslan’s signatures.

In the spring of 1961, black and white civil rights activists rode buses to protest the segregationist policies of the Deep South Script and narration: Marian Holmes Photos courtesy of Corbis, Getty Images and Library of Congress Audio clips courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways (https://folkways.si.edu/)

Eric Schulze delves into little Rover's mind to see what all that racket is about

X-rays of the mummy of an ancient Egyptian noblewoman reveal an assortment of health issues: from curvature of the spine, known as scoliosis, to other deformities that could be the result of polio.

With an 80-acre scale model of the 1.6 million-acre Everglades wetland system, scientists study how to restore the flow of water that was interrupted years ago

By 1953, six years after the Bell X-1 first went supersonic, that airplane and others were routinely flying at more than twice the speed of sound. On December 17, 1953the 50th anniversary of the Wright brothers first powered flight at Kitty HawkMajor Yeager sat down at the Pentagon for an informal press briefing to discuss his own Mach 2.43 flight in the X-1 five days earlier. Video: Department of Defense, Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

Research in Tanzania shows that impalas follow baboons to sausage trees to share fruits and feel safer from predators. (Video courtesy Brooke Davis)

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

In the spring of 1961, black and white civil rights activists rode buses to protest the segregationist policies of the Deep South (Marian Holmes, Brian Wolly, Photos courtesy of Corbis, Getty Images and Library of Congress, Audio clips courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways. Read more at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-freedom-riders-then-and-now-45351758/

Humans have been modifying plants since the beginning of agriculture, but now, globalization and new technologies have given us more control and more power over our food than ever before.

As the space shuttles complete their final missions, curator Valerie Neal at the National Air and Space Museum highlights the spacecraft's history and legacy in manned space flight.

David Lynch | Smithsonian Magazine’s 2016 American Ingenuity Award Winner for Education As a filmmaker, Lynch has a reputation for creating dark, surreal movies such as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart as well as the TV show “Twin Peaks.” In the education world, he's becoming known for something very different: promoting inner peace. Over the past decade, the David Lynch Foundation has sponsored Transcendental Meditation classes for half a million children in places as far-flung as the Bronx, Detroit, Los Angeles, Congo and the West Bank. The program, called Quiet Time, is now at the center of one of the largest-ever studies of meditation for children—a 6,800-pupil research project conducted by the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago and designed to learn if meditation can help kids in highly stressful environments fare better at home and in school. Read more about Lynch’s work: http://smithmag.co/9sHhtm | #IngenuityAwards And more about the American Ingenuity Awards: http://smithmag.co/77xPqy

Capturing a piece of an asteroid and bringing it to Earth is even more difficult than it is time-consuming. After four years in space, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx craft made a brief landing on the asteroid Bennu to collect samples of the ancient rock. Six months later, part of the spacecraft began its journey home to Earth, and earlier this fall, that sample collection canister landed, via parachute, in Utah. Scientists will be studying those samples of Bennu for decades in the hope of unlocking the mystery of how life on Earth began — but they’ve already learned enough to get them excited. In this episode, we speak with Linda Shiner, the former editor of Air & Space / Smithsonian magazine, about the challenges and triumphs of the OSIRIS-REx mission, and what scientists hope it will teach us about how life on Earth began. 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, 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.

Teeth are key to identifying elderly remains

In a 11-4 vote, the City Council decided to remove the 65-foot-tall monument from its location in the heart of the city

Officials in Extremadura are hoping to attract digital nomads and tech workers in a bid to boost the region's shrinking population

Investigators discovered that the original print of "The Roaring Lion" had been sold to a buyer in Italy

A melting glacier caused a mountain in Greenland to collapse into a narrow fjord, setting off an oscillating wave that rattled seismic detectors around the world