Researchers at a conservation center in Thailand tested many variables to study an elephant’s gait and how they accelerate when facing danger

In 1918, Lulu Hunt Peters—one of the first women in America to earn a medical doctorate—published the best seller Diet and Health With Key to the Calories, making a name for herself as an apostle for weight reduction in an era when malnutrition was a far greater public health threat than obesity. She pioneered the idea of measuring food intake via the calorie, which at the time was an obscure unit of measurement familiar only to chemists.  A century later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db360.htm) that 42 percent of American adults are clinically obese and that Type 2 diabetes is on the rise (https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p1229-future-diabetes-surge.html) . With those who can afford it now turning to pharmaceuticals to help them lose weight, we’ll examine why and how calorie counting has failed to help Americans maintain a “healthy” weight.  In this episode of “There’s More to That,” we hear from food historian Michelle Stacey about Peters’ legacy—and from Ronald Young Jr., creator and host of the critically acclaimed podcast “Weight For It (https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/weight-for-it) ,” about how American society continues to stigmatize what he calls “fat folks” for reasons that have nothing to do with public, or even individual, health. A transcript is below. To subscribe to “There’s More to That,” and to listen to past episodes on the complex legacy of Sojourner Truth (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-to-separate-fact-from-myth-in-the-extraordinary-story-of-sojourner-truth-180983820/) , how Joan Baez opened the door for Taylor Swift (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/before-beyonce-taylor-swift-ran-world-joan-baez-180983893/) , how machine learning is helping archeologists to read scrolls (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-artificial-intelligence-is-making-2000-year-old-scrolls-readable-again-180984264/) buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago and more, find us on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/theres-more-to-that/id1694965155?ign-itscg=30200&ign-itsct=podcast_box_player) , Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4NYRCRxkYJTLjW71sqYOFv?si=08fa62c3e59d450f&nd=1) or wherever you get your podcasts. Read Michelle Stacey's story about Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters in the June 2024 issue of Smithsonian here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/doctor-pioneered-counting-calories-century-ago-were-still-dealing-with-consequences-180984282/) . Listen to Ronald Young, Jr.'s podcast "Weight For It" here (https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/weight-for-it) . 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.

Follow team LEO A DALY as they replicate the Discovery space shuttle's arrival in Washington, D.C. for CANstruction

In the 1920s, the U.S. was in full thrill-seeking mode. From horse-diving (you have to see it to believe it) to barnstorming. And at the center of many of these activities were a group of daring young women.

"OK Go made music videos relevant again." – Stephen Colbert OK Go​, Damian Kulash Jr. and Trish Sie​ won the Smithsonian magazine​ American Ingenuity Award for Visual Arts for pushing the music-video envelope with their zero-gravity video for "Upside Down & Inside Out." Read more about their work and see the video here: http://smithmag.co/HZ8vzr 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

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

What was the motivation behind the American Ingenuity Award winner's medical breakthrough that will save thousands of lives

The National Gallery of Art organized a comprehensive exhibit of Robert Frank's work (Images courtesy of: National Gallery of Art; Produced by: Diane Bolz and Brian Wolly)

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

This unmanned aerial vehicle can be launched from, and land on, a moving ship thanks to new technology Narrated by T.A. Frail Script by Brendan McCabe Video courtesy of Insitu

Anthony Atala | Smithsonian Magazine’s 2016 American Ingenuity Award Winner for Life Sciences The director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Atala is a surgeon and leading expert in creating living human tissues and organs to replace those that are defective or damaged. He has spent the past decade attempting to construct living organs using 3-D printing technology. Atala implanted the world’s first laboratory-grown organ into a human in 1999 and, this year, he and his colleagues “printed” cartilage, bone and muscle tissue before successfully implanting them into a lab animal. That’s a crucial first step toward Atala’s long-term goal of overcoming the dire shortage of donated organs with custom-made body parts. Read more about Atala's work: http://smithmag.co/SiiV2J | #IngenuityAwards And more about the American Ingenuity Awards: http://smithmag.co/77xPqy

Hungry for an answer? Host, Eric Schulze, dishes one up in less than a minute.

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

With hundreds of new uranium mining claims filed within just a few miles of Grand Canyon National Park, a proposed new law would close the area to mining development and prevent radioactive contamination from discharging into the park

Have you ever wondered why Yellowstone is full of hot springs, bubbling mudpots and geysers like Old Faithful? In this one-minute video, Ask Smithsonian host Eric Schulze explains the supervolcano that lies beneath this national park and answers the life-or-death question: Will it erupt in a fiery inferno anytime soon?

Learn about this often misunderstood creature

The science behind rat zombies

The musicians of the Union and Confederate armies provided strong memories of the homes left behind for the battlefield.

Julie Montagu, the American-born Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, is meeting up with an expert on 18th century dance. Her aim is to learn about the dances performed in that era.

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

More on 3D scanning: http://j.mp/JM43KD Specialists are using new technology to unravel a mystery in the Smithsonian collections.

Soaring over Utah, it's easy to imagine that you've left Earth and have stepped onto another planet.

On September 2, 1935, Florida was hit by the most intense hurricane ever recorded—a category 5. Despite early warnings by the weather authorities, a calamitous loss of life shocked the nation

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

During World War II, Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps used scraps and found materials to create beautiful works of art.

Curator Larry Bird takes you inside the history of the Bradford dollhouse

"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.

“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

The Galeón Andalucía, which is now making its way to London, was designed to resemble the armed merchant vessels manufactured by Spain and Portugal between the 16th and 18th centuries

Female worker bees, which forage for the whole colony, struggle more to detect scents in the heat than males do, per the recent research

More than 250 years after a teenage Mozart wrote "Serenade in C," a copy of the piece has surfaced in the collections of a German library

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

Unexplored iron-rich magma could help power current and future technologies

Sea robins have "the body of a fish, the wings of a bird and multiple legs like a crab"

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

Though breast cancer mortality is declining overall, Asian American women and women under 50 have experienced an uptick in diagnoses of the disease

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered microRNA, tiny molecules that play a crucial role in how cells develop, paving the way for new treatments for diseases

Home to more than 300 artists, the neighborhood was submerged under the record-high waters of the French Broad River

No one was injured in the blast, and authorities are investigating why the ordnance detonated after so many years underground

Experts added a carbon fiber pole to help anchor the "Apollo Belvedere," which had developed cracks along the legs and knees. Now, the looming Roman sculpture is finally back on display

Two comb jellies can merge their digestive and nervous systems and even sync their bodily functions, according to new research. The discovery could have implications for human medicine

Created from more than 25,000 high-resolution images, the digital model shows artifacts from the ill-fated expedition, including a boot, dishes and a flare gun

New research traces the genetic underpinnings of the enzyme amylase, which helps humans digest starches and sugars

The sprawling estate, which is the largest privately owned home in the country, will open its doors in November after a month-long closure

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

Government corruption, loved ones becoming ill or dying, cyberterrorism and nuclear weapons topped the list of Chapman University's annual survey

The president atoned for the federal government's role in forcing Native American children into boarding schools, where many were abused and more than 900 died

By analyzing an old lidar survey, researchers found evidence of more than 6,500 ancient structures in a previously unexplored area of Campeche

After a years-long restoration, the unique device that recorded hits like "Come Together" and "Here Comes the Sun" is now fully functional

The one-minute composition, which dates to the 1830s, was found on a piece of paper about the size of an index card at a museum in New York City