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

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

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

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

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

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. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Credit: David Marshall, University of Bristol

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Credit: Ken Catania, PNAS, 2016

Sometimes, in fact, nature is stranger than fiction

You might think twice about picking that chip off the carpet and putting it into your mouth.