The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is organizing its first-ever Global Conference on Animal Health Innovation, Reference Centres and Vaccines from 23 to 25 September at FAO headquarters [...]

Yet another reason to fight light pollution

Christopher Gray | Smithsonian Magazine’s 2016 American Ingenuity Award Winner for Youth Achievement Christopher Gray is the founder and CEO of Scholly, the groundbreaking web and mobile app that matches current or future college students who need financial support with scholarships that can help them. Scholly has been downloaded 850,000 times and has connected college students with some $50 million in scholarships. Philadelphia-based Gray, an ABC “Shark Tank” winner and recipient of a $100,000 grant from philanthropist Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest competition, sees his digital platform as a 21st-century tool for helping countless young Americans achieve their college dreams without piling on crushing debt.

Nearly 300,000 people gather every Memorial Day to witness the legendary Indianapolis 500, one of the greatest spectacles in U.S. racing

Chris Mah, researcher at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in the invertebrate zoology department, describes the characteristics of different sea star species observed on the final dive of the Laulima O Ka Moana expedition. (Credit: Video courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2017 Laulima O Ka Moana)

The Siberian jay screeches at predators when they are near, but uses a different call for each deadly intruder

To soar over Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire is to be transported back in time to the age of William Shakespeare, a man born in humble circumstances who would go on to become the most celebrated writer of all time.

Archaeologists in Saqqara make a dazzling discovery: a late period Egyptian coffin with a gilded mask. Now, to bring it to the surface, they use a pulley known as a "tambora," a technology that dates back to Ancient Egypt

Henry Ford was a genius who virtually created the automobile industry as we know it. But what's less lauded was his talent for publicity—and his ability to partner with other pioneers such as Ohio's Harvey Firestone.

See the process involved when a massive specimen arrives at the Smithsonian

Much more than you’d think – and it’s whirling around at dangerously high speeds

In 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers arrived home when he was shot and killed. It would be over 30 years before his killer was brought to justice.

Our host explains why you should never say ‘no’ to a hungry pregnant woman

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

Under exuberant coach, Knute Rockne, Notre Dame set the standards for football excellence. But off the field, the Fighting Irish was a PR sensation, capturing the hearts of a riveted nation.

Zookeepers at the National Zoo keep orangutans mentally stimulated with an innovative use of iPads

Scientists have created thin polymer sheets that expand and contract when in contact with water

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma talks with the founder of the Girls Computing League about the promise of her generation

The first computer is thought to be the invention of a 19th century mathematician

If you need something while up in space, soon all you'll have to do is print it.

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

Art car designers tour the country with their cars, some thousands of miles a year, not for fame or money, but just to make people smile. (Produced by: Abby Callard and Ryan Reed)

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

In this trailer, experts discuss the importance of sharks to the health of coral reefs. Marine ecologist Enric Sala of Scripps Institution of Oceanography talks about the role of sharks as top predators in ocean ecosystems. Peter Knight, executive director of WildAid, and Sonja Fordham of the Ocean Conservancy detail the decline of shark populations worldwide as a result of fishing pressure

By 2020, the Starkey Hearing Foundation plans to donate one million hearing aids to kids in the developing world

More on Kathleen Turner and her show at Arena Stage: http://j.mp/T0IkkZ Before taking the stage in "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins," Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner discusses the woman who inspired the show.

In 1969, three men traveled to the moon cameras documented their every move

A large portion of Indiana's economy relies on an invaluable crop: corn. Popcorn plants like Pop Weaver have perfected the production of our favorite movie snack down to a science.

A small pebble with ornate markings is Britain’s earliest piece of Mesolithic art—but what do the markings denote, and was it worn for cosmetic purposes or spiritual ones?

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

"Be prepared” might not cover it when it comes to super storms.

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

Aerial America: Wilderness premieres Sunday, Sept. 7 at 9PM ET/PT

Scientists are researching how the rodent can become less susceptible to its feline foe.

Caretakers feed the new baby clouded leopards at the Zoo's research facility in Virginia

Why the American Ingenuity Award winner believes higher education should be a basic human right

It looks like a fairly nondescript plank of wood, found in the fields of Star Carr. But from an archaeological perspective, it’s far more significant: It’s the oldest piece of carpentry found anywhere in Europe.

Sara Seagers groundbreaking research ranges from the detection of exoplanet atmospheres to innovative theories about life on other worlds to development of novel space mission concepts. Dubbed an astronomical Indiana Jones, she is on a quest to discover a true Earth twin. A professor at MIT, she was named in Time magazines 25 Most Influential in Space.

Every Veterans Day, Jeremy Redmon thinks about his father, Donald Lee Redmon — an Air Force veteran who survived more than 300 combat missions over Southeast Asia, but who took his own life when Jeremy was 14. This year, Redmon traveled back to Hanoi with a group of former prisoners of war, many of whom had flown the same missions as his dad. Jeremy asked these veterans questions he was never able to ask his own father, about how they’d healed from the war and lived rewarding lives thereafter. In this episode, guest host Jennie Rothenberg Gritz speaks with Redmon about the complexities of the Vietnam War, as well as his own experiences as a reporter in Iraq. Then, Vietnamese American author Mai Elliott discusses her family’s experiences in North and South Vietnam, and how her feelings about the conflict changed throughout the 1960s. Read Jeremy Redmon’s Smithsonian story “Fifty Years After Their Release, Former Vietnam POWs Journey Back to Hanoi” here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fifty-years-finding-freedom-vietnam-vets-healing-journey-hanoi-180983052/) . Order Mai Elliott’s book The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family here (https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Willow-Generations-Vietnamese-Family-ebook/dp/B074JBTTZ3?ref_=ast_author_mpb) . 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 Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, 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.

Watch a video on the restoration of Gorongosa Park. The video was originally featured on Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria and produced by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

In 1536, Thomas Cromwell spotted an opportunity to enrich his master, Henry VIII, and further increase his own standing: the dissolution of the monasteries and claiming their wealth for the Crown.

Carefully planned gardens provide visitors a place to relax and reflect during their visit to the Smithsonian.

Dismembered war captives from the 17th century uneartherd

A crow named Icarus uses a short tool to extract a long tool, which he then uses to fish out a piece of meat.

In 1905, New York City hosted a grand procession for the last living soldier of a war that ended 90 years earlier