In this episode, over 282 million people in 59 countries suffered acute food insecurity in 2023, according to the Global Report on Food Crises; FAO warns about the food insecurity [...]

Indonesia and Sao Tome and Principe receive their first designations from FAO along with Austria’s second system

Through painstaking work, photographer Drew Gardner transformed Elizabeth Jenkins-Sahlin into her ancestor, a famous women’s rights activist. (Credit: Drew Gardner)

Selected by Mary Ellen Mark for our special issue, this up-and-coming photographer discusses his work

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. 

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

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

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.

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

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

The Smithsonian National Zoos Snore & Roar program gives visitors a behind the scenes look (Video and Reporting by Megan Gambino and Ryan Reese). Read more at http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2008/09/sleep-over-party-at-the-zoo/

Five categories (People, Arts, Nature, Travel and Mobile) and a grand prize of $2,000.

Credit: Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum

Credit: Carlos Jaramillo, German Bayona and Edward Duarte, using Gplates and VideoPad by NCHsoftware

Selected by Reza for our special issue, this up-and-coming photographer discusses her work

After arriving at the zoo obese, Nikki the Bear was put on a strict diet by the zoo nutritionists with great results (Video by: Ryan R. Reed). Read more at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/nikki-the-bear-lost-110-pounds-on-the-national-zoo-diet-46145236/

Jeff Bezos | Smithsonian Magazine’s 2016 American Ingenuity Award Winner for Technology The Princeton-educated Amazon founder, Washington Post owner and new-economy pioneer also helms an innovative spaceflight company, Blue Origin, which he founded in 2000. This year it became the first aerospace manufacturer to launch, land and relaunch a rocket into space—an essential leap toward our extraterrestrial future. Bezos aims to revolutionize travel and work in space by making spaceflight so inexpensive that entrepreneurs will rush to create new businesses that have not even been imagined yet. Blue Origin’s achievement has been described as comparable to the shift from the sail to the steam engine. Read more about Bezos’ work: http://smithmag.co/GICDO2 | #IngenuityAwards And more about the American Ingenuity Awards: http://smithmag.co/77xPqy

Primatologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa studies chimps in hopes of uncovering how they learn and communicate

Aziz Ansari | Smithsonian Magazine’s 2016 American Ingenuity Award Winner for Performing Arts The actor, comedian and author is being honored for his starring role as Dev Shah in “Master of None,” the Netflix series that he created with Alan Yang. Like the character he plays, Ansari is the son of Indian immigrant parents, and his smart, surprising take on life, love, technology and cultural identity in the United States has helped make the show “the year’s best comedy straight out of the gate,” as the New York Times put it. Among Ansari’s other accomplishments are his unforgettable portrayal of the loopy Tom Haverford on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” his best-selling book about dating in the internet age, Modern Romance (co-authored with Eric Klinenberg), and his blockbuster stand-up act that sold out Madison Square Garden. Read more about Ansari’s work: http://smithmag.co/jvdAaL | #IngenuityAwards And more about the American Ingenuity Awards: http://smithmag.co/77xPqy

The cheetah cubs will be named after the fastest male and female American Olympic athletes in the 100-meter dash at the London Olympics.

Explore the history of the Aztecs, their incredible achievements in art, architecture, and warfare, as well as the factors that led to their decline. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Producer: Nicki Marko Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

Behind the scenes of Smithsonian magazine's iPad app. To learn more about the app, visit: http://www.smithsonian.com/app

From the moment they arrived at the concentration camp, Jews and other Holocaust victims were treated like animals, and only a lucky group survived the experience.

No one had ever launched, landed and relaunched a rocket into space until the company's historic achievement.

Watch the famous chef make the classic French dish, but stay for her inventive use of a blowtorch

Take a walk through jazz history with pianist John Eaton as he recollects his career of the past five decades (Meredith Bragg)

Read more about elephants at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Male-Elephants-Bond.html Keepers and pachyderms alike are enjoying the new Asian elephant exhibit, Elephant Trails, at the National Zoo.

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

Watch Dr. Suzan Murray perform her morning rounds (Kenneth R. Fletcher)

In the spring of 1945, with the Third Reich crumbling, the Nazis hid their stolen art in a sealed salt mine. But when U.S. troops arrived, they found that the opening to the mine had been destroyed.

After reviewing more than 30,000 photos, the editors of Smithsonian magazine are proud to announce the winning submissions. Learn more about the finalists and winners of 2024 here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/see-winners-21st-annual-smithsonian-magazine-photo-contest-180984001/. --- 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

More on the crocs at Smithsonian.com: http://j.mp/SWhbxZ The two Cuban crocodiles are the first for the zoo since 1988.

Part of the visual album of Joan Baez' "Whistle Down the Wind," this cover of Joe Henry's "Civil War" was directed by New York University's Deborah Willis

Biologist and videographer Mark Moffett's footage of ants gets up close and personal with the leaf-cutter species of the insect

The American Ingenuity Award winner describes what it takes to tell a great story

In Bostwana's Makgadikgadi Pans, researcher James Bradley studies how the zebras travel across the great expanse of land

Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have achieved a degree of power in the music industry that singer/songwriters of earlier eras like Joan Baez—as the folk icon tells us—never even contemplated. Six decades ago, Baez was part of a folk revival that regarded music not merely as entertainment but as a vessel for political engagement and social change. In the documentary Joan Baez: I Am a Noise, the now-83-year-old musician and activist reflects on her career and legacy. Smithsonian senior editor Jennie Rothenberg Gritz interviewed Baez about the film and about the shifting intersection of art and activism. We present excerpts from that conversation in this episode. Then, veteran music critic Evelyn McDonnell discusses how the political dimensions of pop music have changed since Baez’s era, and what it means that many fans now look Beyoncé and Taylor Swift not just for great music, but for comment on the state of the world. Clips from Joan Baez: I Am a Noise in this episode are used with permission from Magnolia Pictures & Mead Street Films. Learn more about that film here (https://www.magpictures.com/joanbaez/) . Evelyn McDonnell’s latest book is The World According to Joan Didion (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-world-according-to-joan-didion-evelyn-mcdonnell?variant=41001679487010) . You can learn more about Evelyn and her work at her site, Populism (https://populismblog.wordpress.com/about-2/) . 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.

The figurative painter talks about the artistic process, his education and his influences.

Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Herman-Leonards-Eye-for-Jazz.html With just a camera as his ticket, Herman Leonard captured jazz icons performing on and off stage.

Feel a sneeze coming on? Don’t hold it in! In this one-minute video, our Ask Smithsonian host, Eric Schulze, explains why we sneeze.

Five categories (People, Arts, Nature, Travel and Mobile) and a grand prize of $2,000.

Two weeks before he died, the legendary astronaut wrote a letter in recognition of Jeff Bezos' work, read at the 2016 American Ingenuity Awards Smithsonian magazine American #IngenuityAwards

Credit: Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

After reviewing more than 30,000 photos, the editors of Smithsonian Magazine are proud to announce the Grand Prize Winner. #shorts

The science behind rat zombies

The American Ingenuity Award winner on the connection between history and music

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