The public tours of the historic residence hadn't been overhauled in decades. For two years, the first lady's office has been working to make them more interactive and educational

The team was analyzing the structure of a royal palace’s gate when they discovered 12 statues made out of sandstone

A new exhibition spotlights the Spanish artist's printmaking talents, which he began honing in his 20s. In the decades that followed, he produced thousands of breathtaking creations

A "staggering array" of markings have been hiding in plain sight carved into the walls of Gainsborough Old Hall, a 500-year-old home in Lincolnshire, England

When fishermen found the endangered loggerhead sea turtle off Vancouver Island in February, she was listlessly floating in a bed of kelp

The species may have been carried to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta in ballast water on ships

This brief chapter of art history is often overlooked. Now, an exhibition in New York City makes a strong argument for the integral role played by four artists in the city of Siena

The Shipwreck Treasure Museum in Cornwall, England, is selling its collection, which includes items connected to nearly 150 shipwrecks

The votive plaque was found amid the ruins of an ancient Roman fortress. Researchers think a temple dedicated to the mysterious deity may have stood nearby

The 237-million-year-old remains are among the oldest silesaurid fossils ever found, adding to paleontologists' understanding of this still-mysterious group of prehistoric reptiles

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is showcasing works full of the Surrealist artist's signature motifs—such as apples, pipes and bowler hats—in addition to lesser-known pieces

The Manhattan district attorney's office has obtained an arrest warrant for Edoardo Almagià, who has been accused of working with looters and dealing stolen artifacts for years

The farthest spacecraft in the universe went momentarily rogue, but scientists breathed a sigh of relief when it reconnected at an unexpected radio frequency

Thousands of years ago, our ancestors used symbols to track the sale of textile and agricultural products. New research suggests that these markings informed the development of writing

An exhibition in London is showcasing more than 600 artworks and artifacts—including costumes, props and sketches—from the famous filmmaker’s career

When the war ended, Allied soldiers tracked down Nicolas de Largillierre's "Portrait de femme à mi-corps" with the help of a savvy French curator who had been working for the resistance

Antonia, a cloned black-footed ferret at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, has produced two healthy offspring that will help build genetic diversity in their recovering population

In a rare technique among mammals, the bats burn proteins from blood, rather than carbs or fat, to power their pursuits of prey, according to a new study

Steve Lazarides' personal collection of prints, original works, handwritten press releases and burner phones sold at auction for around $1.4 million

On its 66th flyby of the king of planets, Juno has captured spectacular views of the stormy atmosphere, processed by citizen scientists

The 3,800-year-old site near the city of Luxor holds the remains of 11 individuals, who may have been members of the same family. Researchers think the tomb was used for several generations

The beloved reptile in Australia died last weekend and was thought to be up to 120 years old, though that age is only an estimate. Research on his bones might reveal a more exact number

The 4,500-year-old pyramids of Giza are the backdrop for "Forever Is Now," which features sculptures, installations and immersive artworks that explore the relationship between the past and present

The robbers only made away with two of the screen prints, which they swiped from a gallery in the Netherlands. They abandoned the other artworks on the street

The bone, described two decades after its discovery, suggests the species might have grown up to 20 percent bigger than other terror birds

Found in a cremation cemetery in Belgium, the skeleton includes bones dating to the Neolithic period and a Roman-era skull, according to a new study

While testing the "infinite monkey theorem," mathematicians found that the odds of a chimpanzee typing even a short phrase like "I chimp, therefore I am" before the death of the universe are 1 in 10 million billion billion

Once the first primate made a break, the 42 others followed suit in a simple case of monkey-see, monkey-do

It's not the first time savvy entrepreneurs have marketed canned air to tourists. Similar products have been sold at vacation destinations for decades

It takes two weeks to dress the venue (which is in a mall, remember) for the occasion each year

An increasing number of people in France espouse a clothing-free lifestyle

An investigation by David D. Kirkpatrick of the New York Times revealed the buyer's identity

The Whitney Museum has been gifted 400 works by the famed pop artist, while the Smithsonian Archives of American Art will receive half a million documents

Some 250 volunteers transported more than 2,000 books

This story and others have come to light during a project to translate and digitize a series of texts about archbishops in York, England

‘Our goal is to provide full flexibility, 24/7,’ one resident said. ‘If you want to cut the lawn at 4 a.m., then you do it.’

It's not clear how the juvenile male ended up so far north, but experts suggest he was motivated by his appetite

On this day in 1912, a team found the remains of Robert Falcon Scott and the crew of the "Terra Nova" expedition. A would-be rescuer said he was forever haunted by the "horrible nightmare"

A new study has shattered historians' long-held assumptions about some of the people who died in Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 C.E.

During a release of captive-bred snails in September, researchers discovered wild-born individuals from the Partula tohiveana species—which had been considered extinct in the wild—marking a huge milestone in a global effort to save them

Sławomir and Szymon Milewski were searching for a Roman road when they stumbled upon the cache of coins, which is worth more than $120,000

Mary, a 54-year-old Asian elephant at the Berlin Zoo, is the “queen of showering,” but her companion Anchali seems to have figured out how to exploit that habit to play pranks

The 1951 artwork, "La Grande Dame (The Cat Woman)," stands over six feet tall and features paintings of "hybrid creatures and lush dreamscapes"

Sharks have been losing teeth for 400 million years. Here’s a guide to uncovering some of these plentiful fossils across the country

The Cuban-American actor and producer has stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, but this new honor pays tribute to his start as a musician in South Florida

The team traveled from New Zealand to Tonga along a humpback highway to collect environmental DNA and raise awareness of the plight of the marine mammals

Cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula are time capsules preserving remnants of Maya culture and fossils of extinct megafauna

From Setsubun in Japan to Fèt Gede in Haiti, these festivals relish in the macabre

These images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest capture quintessentially Cuban scenes

Eight years into living in Longyearbyen, on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, I embrace the seasonal plunge into total darkness