All Stories

The Chimborazo hillstar is native to the Andes of Ecuador and southern Colombia.

An ornithologist discovered a hummingbird “hive” in Ecuador‘s High Andes—a major departure for the solitary animals.

Today, Amber Valley looks like any number of small, rural communities, but a couple dilapidated log cabins hint at what was once the northernmost all-Black settlement in the world.

A portrait of the Hatfield family, sworn enemies of the McCoys.

If you have a disagreement with your neighbor today, you might head to small-claims court. In 19th-century rural America, such disputes were often solved with the business end of a gun.

We give you an obscure word with four definitions—one correct, three made up. Can you identify the correct one?

Skylab 2 commander Peter Conrad attempts to take a shower aboard the spacecraft in 1973.

Here on Earth, we tend to take showering for granted. But getting clean isn’t so easy without the force of gravity helping you out.

Nurse Agnes from Uganda’s Bwindi Community Hospital prepares a vaccination against measles.

Before the measles vaccine, there were between 3 and 4 million cases in the U.S. per year. Now, it’s less than 500.

From the box office bomb he loved to the job he got by kicking Fonzie through a window, Hanks’s filmography is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re gonna get.

Being in a carrier is not usually a cat’s favorite activity.

It doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience.

Misconception No. 4 : It snows a lot.

Robert Kennicott, pictured against Alaska’s Kennicott Glacier, was a key figure in the Smithsonian’s formative years.

In 1866, Kennicott was found dead near the Yukon River. It would be 150 years before anyone knew why.

Many alligators were found in Alachua County‘s sewage system.

Alligators living in the sewers isn’t just an urban legend.

This map caused a stir in the early 2000s.

From a U.S. map with only 38 states to a probable hoax, these maps definitely had geographers buzzing.

See if you can decipher this twisted tune.

It’s time to play Tune Twist, where we translate the lyrics of popular songs into multiple languages and then back into English. Can you figure out what the song is, or who performed it?

Where did this weather-related idiom come from?

Where did this curious expression come from, and what’s so right about rain, anyway?

The names of all three of these folks have gotten the adjective treatment.

From David Lynch to Queen Elizabeth I, these folks achieved a type of lexical immortality when their names became adjectives.

“Gaslighting“ is the most commonly searched term in the U.S.

If you’ve ever looked up the definition of “gaslighting,” you’re not alone.

These coffee-flavored marshmallows kick the classic recipe up a notch.

How a largely forgotten U.S. president became a South American idol.

A detail of Edvard Munch’s ‘The Sick Child,’ a portrait of his sister who died of tuberculosis at age 15.

Tuberculosis may seem like a historic malady, but it’s still the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Here’s what you need to know about its past and current outbreaks.