Many cultures have found ways to preserve the human body after death, but how? In this one-minute video, our Ask Smithsonian Host, Eric Schulze, wraps up the answer.

More on biomimicry: http://j.mp/RI3OOB Scientists believe the iridescent wings of the morphos butterfly could be used in technology to benefit humans.

The Huichol people of west-central Mexico have designed the Vochol—a car turned work of art

A modern medical mystery

Watch breathtaking underwater footage off the Panama coast, where coral reefs reproduce in a flurry of carefully-timed action. Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/A-Coral-Reefs-Mass-Spawning.html

Hung Huynh, winner of Season 3 of Top Chef, prepares the giant clam two different ways, raw and fried. Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Happy-As-Clams.html

The sweet science behind our sense of taste

Gasp! The answer will amaze you. Still Image Credit: MaFelipe / iStock

Not to worry—shut-eye comes easily to these aquatic mammals

Have you ever wondered how a simple shot can keep you from dying a horrible death? In this one-minute video, Ask Smithsonian’s host, Eric Schulze, unravels how vaccines boot-camp our bodies into shape, getting us ready to fight off deadly diseases.

While camouflaged on the ocean floor off the coast of Israel in the Red Sea, octopods use their arms to grab unsuspecting prey

You don’t actually see microwaves, you only see what they do to your food. So how, exactly, does it warm up your lunch?

Christopher Nolan's epic new film "Oppenheimer" is no mere biopic… nor is it the first attempt to capture the father of the atomic bomb in fiction. We look at prior dramatizations of this very complicated man—including one wherein J. Robert Oppenheimer played himself!—and examine why they worked or didn't. In the episode: Physicist-turned-photographer Minesh Bacrania shares his experience photographing inside the top-secret labs at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where J. Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists created the first nuclear weapon. Next, with Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer exceeding commercial expectations, Smithsonian magazine writer Andy Kifer discusses the complexities of Oppenheimer's genius and how prior attempts to depict him in film and television and on stage have fared. Read Andy Kifer’s “The Real Story Behind Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer” here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-christopher-nolans-oppenheimer-180982529/) . See Minesh Bacrania’s photographs of Los Alamos and read Smithsonian senior editor Jennie Rothenberg Gritz’s text here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/exclusive-behind-scenes-look-los-alamos-lab-where-robert-oppenheimer-created-atomic-bomb-180982336/) or in the July/August 2023 issue of Smithsonian. 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, Genevieve Sponsler, Adriana Rozas Rivera, Terence Bernardo, and Edwin Ochoa. The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz. Music by APM Music.

Watch how the artist directs his team so when a photograph is taken, Bolin is completely camouflaged by his surroundings

Atlantic staff writer Frank Foer interviews Damion Thomas about athletes moving from a position of apathy to engagement

Have you ever felt embarrassed by the need to carry a towel, or even a fresh shirt, with you during the most sweltering months of the year? You shouldn’t. Sweating is one of the most remarkable ways our bodies protect themselves when the mercury heads north. With summer temperatures spiking around the world as the sweat-filled Olympic Games begin in Paris, we’re joined by Sarah Everts, a Smithsonian contributor and the author a marvelous book called The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration. She explains why the body’s thermostat is so ingenious, and how it cools athletes—and the rest of us. Plus: A series of snack-sized anecdotes about the Olympics! Let us know what you think of our show, and how we can make it better, by completing our There's More to That listener survey here (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfS90zjBZ2oGa9JxVa-R5affKcOHaR2-ib1_KZeWm3HDQXJIA/viewform) . Find prior episodes of our show here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast/) . Read Smithsonian magazine's coverage of the Olympics (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-paris-summer-olympics-smithsonians-guide-to-the-games-2948430/) , past and present, here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-the-olympics-gave-out-medals-for-art-6878965/) , here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-wheaties-became-breakfast-champions-180978246/) , here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/breaking-will-debut-at-the-summer-olympics-180984199/) , and here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-graphic-artists-olympic-pictograms-changed-urban-design-forever-180978256/) . 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 facts of Sojourner Truth’s life are inspiring: Born into slavery in the late 1790s, she became an influential abolitionist and Pentecostal preacher, transfixing audiences from the mid 1840s through the late 1870s with her candid and powerful voice, not to mention her singing. Tall and strong, Truth was physically formidable, too. No one was using the term “intersectionality” in the 19th century, but Truth embodied this idea, declaring that her Blackness and her womanhood were equally essential facets of her identity. But many people, both in Truth’s lifetime and in the approximately 140 years since her death, have found it useful to recast Truth as they wish to remember her instead of as she was. There’s no better example of this than “Ain’t I a woman?,” the hypothetical that Truth supposedly put to the audience when she addressed a women’s rights convention in 1851 in Akron, Ohio—the city where a public plaza will be dedicated in her honor this spring. There’s reason to doubt she said that, or at least that she said it in that way. In this episode, we speak with two historians who’ve dug into Truth’s complicated legacy and challenged much of what’s been written about this American icon. Cynthia Greenlee reported on recent efforts to honor Truth (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/remarkable-untold-story-sojourner-truth-180983691/) for the March 2024 issue of Smithsonian. Nell Irvin Painter wrote the groundbreaking 1996 biography Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol, and she’s hard at work on a follow-up volume titled Sojourner Truth Was a New Yorker and She Didn’t Say That. Together, Greenlee and Painter help us understand us who Sojourner Truth really was, and why several generations of activists have claimed her as a symbol — at the expense of our understanding of her as a person. Read Cynthia Greenlee’s March 2024 Smithsonian story about Sojourner Truth here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/remarkable-untold-story-sojourner-truth-180983691/) . You can learn more about Dr. Greenlee and her work at her site (https://www.cynthiagreenlee.com/) . You can learn more about Dr. Nell Irvin Painter’s work as an author, artist, and historian at her site (http://www.nellpainter.com/) . And read more here for the history of Mar-a-Lago (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-mar-a-lago-180965214/) mentioned in our dinner party fact. 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.

Garrison Brothers use local ingredients and antique machinery to create the smooth spirit

Henry Ford spent the majority of the war as a pacifist. By 1917, however, his state-of-the-art assembly line was churning out vital engine parts to feed the war machine.

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.

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

Duke University scientists used vibrations from a loudspeaker to understand how water beads and rolls off lotus leaves

Slowed-down recordings from a lab experiment show two snake species striking at a test glove. (Video clips courtesy of David Penning)

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.

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

As the British marched towards the White House, the first lady ordered a portrait of George Washington to be saved

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

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/

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.

Researchers recently identified James Fitzjames, a captain on the ill-fated HMS Erebus that went looking for the Northwest Passage in 1845

Scientists sent bioengineered heart tissue samples to the ISS to study how to keep astronauts safe during future long-term space travel

While expectations are high for some special sightings, experts warn that comets are notoriously fickle and unpredictable

While the annual shower usually makes for a sleepy showing, it has been known to produce fantastic outbursts in the past

A new exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History combines satellite observations and historical data to offer a "larger-than-life look" at our planet's climate today

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS should be visible to the naked eye as it passes Earth on its way out of our solar system

A new study sheds light on the muscular, dexterous appendage, suggesting trunk wrinkles are more important than many people realize

While the Orionids, peaking early Sunday and Monday, might be hard to see because of the waning gibbous moon, these zippy meteors can produce long "trains" that last up to several minutes

Identified as an Arctic fox, the animal is believed to have been kept in captivity far from its native habitat in the tundra. Now, it's receiving care from wildlife officials

Scurvy diagnoses in Australia and Canada suggest doctors should consider testing for vitamin C deficiency in patients experiencing poverty, food insecurity and social isolation

A team of roboticists, paleontologists and biologists are building robots to simulate crucial evolutionary developments that can’t be tested with static fossils

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

Babies who were conceived and born during the period of rationing in the United Kingdom were less likely to develop certain diseases as adults, a new study finds

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

Once one of the world’s most dangerous border crossings, Berlin's symbol of death and division has been turned into a tangible way to experience history

A century on, the country’s most beloved Thursday spectacle reaches new heights

A clinical social worker explains the vital role of the old-fashioned rotary phone for those dealing with death and loss

The terms “snake oil” and “snake-oil salesperson” are part of the vernacular thanks to Clark Stanley, a quack doctor who marketed a product for joint pain in the late 19th century

Monday marks the first Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in St. John's to include the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We're proud to present again two documentaries that tell a remarkable story.

Kate MacEachern is a Canadian veteran from Ballantynes Cove, N.S., but her service years are far from over. She has spent about two years living in Ukraine, delivering humanitarian aid to communities across the country.

The Montreal English Theatre Awards ceremony is being held this evening at Le Gesù theatre. For the community, it's a time to celebrate their achievements and resilience coming out of the pandemic, together.