What’s the world record for deepest vertical dig? Go ahead, take a guess. We bet you won’t come close to the surprising answer unearthed in this one-minute video by Ask Smithsonian host, Eric Schulze. Then, stick around to find out what scientists found lurking below.

Put your hands together for our host, Eric Schulze, as he dives into history to answer your questions.

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

As a part of a television broadcast, world travelers Hal and Halla Linker toured the Afghan countryside in 1973, years before the Soviets invaded and the Taliban took control of the Buddhist site

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?

Host Eric Schulze opens the floodgates of knowledge to reveal the answer.

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

"They have given mankind a completely new way of looking at the universe." – Stephen Hawking, congratulates Kip Thorne, Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Ronald Drever, the first scientists to detect gravitational waves. | Smithsonian magazine #IngenuityAwards The Smithsonian has been celebrating innovation in American culture for more than 150 years, and following in this tradition, Smithsonian magazine presents the American Ingenuity Awards, honoring revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, education and social progress.

Home to the worlds largest shell collection, the Smithsonian catalogues and studies shells both large and small, spiky and smooth (Brendan McCabe).

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

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.

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

Not one to hide from the bitter truth, our host, Eric Schulze dishes up the answer

Selected by Eli Reed for our special issue, this up-and-coming photographer discusses his work

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

Feeling blue? Try watching this one-minute video. Our Ask Smithsonian host, Eric Schulze, explains how colors affect our moods.

Forensic anthropologist Doug Owsley discusses the skeletal specimens in a new exhibit at the Natural History Museum (Meredith Bragg). Read more at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/meet-the-scientist-who-reads-bones-40315000/

Carleton Watkins' 19th-Century Photographs of Yosemite Valley (Produced and Narrated by: Brendan McCabe. Text by Bruce Hathaway). Read more at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/john-muirs-yosemite-10737/

“Superman isn’t coming. It is a moment in our time when we must look to ourselves, and not take for granted or wait for something from the top to come down, but rather…pick up the torch, carry the torch, to find information and the truth…” – Erin Brockovich applauds Marc Edwards and LeeAnne Walters for their work exposing the Flint water crisis | Smithsonian Magazine American #IngenuityAwards Read more about Edwards and Walters’ work: http://smithmag.co/D4dIHy The Smithsonian has been celebrating innovation in American culture for more than 150 years, and following in this tradition, Smithsonian magazine presents the American Ingenuity Awards, honoring revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, education and social progress. http://smithmag.co/R7hyRO

This video does not contain hidden messages that will make you want to watch more Smithsonian videos.

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

A new paper analyzes three decades of fatalities around the world and predicts how "superbugs" will affect human health in the future

Archaeologists unearthed a series of mudbrick rooms filled with religious tributes, soldiers' personal effects, engraved weaponry and animal bones

The annual award ceremony featured costumes, songs and paper airplanes as scientists recognized comedic research across ten disciplines

The discoveries include sharks, shorebirds, mammals and saber-toothed salmon, with the oldest remains dating to almost nine million years ago

A new study identified the tiny pollutants in the olfactory bulbs of eight cadavers, suggesting microplastics can travel through the nose to the brain

A ring could explain a mysterious arrangement of impact craters near the equator and might even have caused an ice age, according to a new study

The Horned Serpent Panel from southern Africa predates the first Western scientific description of the dicynodont, a large mammal ancestor with tusks, by at least a decade

A roughly 33-foot-long asteroid called 2024 PT5 will chart a horseshoe-like path around our planet

The world’s slowest mammal is at risk of extinction by the end of the century due to their low metabolic rate and climate change

The "John Evenson" tugboat was helping another ship enter the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal in Wisconsin when it sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1895

The Kyoto museum will feature interactive exhibits, gaming artifacts, workshop spaces and oversized controllers inspired by iconic video games

The wild canines have the same muscles used by domestic dogs to create the wide-eyed, pleading look that captures humans' hearts

The small town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, is one of the only sources of high-purity quartz on Earth, but it has been left battered by the storm's heavy rains

For years, the owner's son had wondered about the artwork, which features the Spanish painter's signature. Now, some experts think it's the real deal

Orbiting Barnard's star, the nearest solo star to Earth, the world is too hot to be habitable—a scorching 257 degrees Fahrenheit

At the site known as Oued Beht, archaeologists uncovered evidence of a large farming settlement where people used advanced techniques

Researchers still don't know what the open-mouth facial expression means or whether it's akin to smiling in humans—but several animals make a similar face during play

The Canadian Post-Impressionist artist was famous for her evocative landscapes and paintings incorporating motifs from First Nations groups

David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper revealed how amino acids shape protein structure, a finding that could aid in drug discovery

Milagra, Spanish for “miracle,” was hatched and raised in captivity by foster condor parents after her mother died of avian flu in April 2023

The Gestapo seized the Impressionist painting from storage after its owners fled from their home in Vienna. Now, the piece has been returned to their granddaughters

The grassroots organization, Nihon Hidankyo, was lauded for "demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again"

A Dutch museum famous for displaying art in unconventional locations had placed a pair of painted beer cans in a glass elevator shaft

In the ’90s, many scientists disputed an epidemiologist’s warning that the fast-paced life extension of the 20th century would plateau. Now, a new study suggests he was right

A pair of 3-year-old giant pandas—a male named Bao Li and a female called Qing Bao—have officially arrived at the Zoo, where they will first acclimate to their new home

The success is a giant leap toward the company's goal to take humans and cargo all the way to Mars on the world's biggest and most powerful launch vehicle

Scientists aren't sure how the circular indentations some 450 feet below the surface formed, but they hope to investigate further

The final 3D atlas of the sky will help scientists study dark matter and dark energy, which make up 96 percent of the universe but remain mysterious

Travis Gienger, who nicknamed his prize-winning pumpkin "Rudy," has been growing gourds for nearly 30 years