African cuisine has always been well represented in the United States, particularly in dishes characterized as “Southern” in origin, like gumbo or hoppin’ john. But even before chef Serigne Mbaye’s New Orleans eatery Dakar NOLA was named (https://www.eater.com/24175309/james-beard-awards-2024-winners-restaurant-and-chef-awards) the Best New Restaurant of 2024 at the James Beard Awards this week, the contributions of the African diaspora to the American diet had at last begun to enjoy a long-overdue reappraisal via reality television, Netflix docuseries and, most important, a number of widely praised dining establishments: If you want to book a table at Tatiana (https://www.tatiananyc.com/story/) in Manhattan, Dept of Culture (https://www.deptofculturebk.com/) in Brooklyn or Kann (https://kannrestaurant.com/) in Portland, you’d better plan ahead, because their tables are often booked up well in advance. In this episode, Smithsonian contributor Rosalind Cummings-Yeates explains how the ascendancy of pan-African cuisine from “auntie” restaurants into the rarefied fine dining sphere is part of a larger and more meaningful campaign of cultural reclamation. And Mbaye tells us why it was so important to him to make Dakar NOLA (https://www.dakarnola.com/) a showcase of the distinctive flavors of Senegal, where he spent his formative years. Read Rosalind's Smithsonian story about the rise of West African fine dining in the U.S. here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/these-chefs-are-elevating-african-and-caribbean-cuisines-from-carryouts-to-fine-dining-180984466/) . See the full list of 2024's James Beard Award winners here (https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/the-2024-james-beard-award-winners) . 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 / photography by Katherine Kimball, Joshua Brasted, and Jeremy Tauriac Music by APM Music.

This is video of the new hermit crab species Pylopaguropsis mollymullerae taken by Ellen Muller at dive site 'Something Special', southern Caribbean. Credit: Rafael Lemaitre and Ellen Muller

The CIA used birds, cats and even dolphins to help them on covert operations.

An incredible trove of archaeological artifacts has been unearthed once again at Saqqara—including 100 coffins, and incredibly rare statues dating back 4,500 years.

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

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was the only unit comprised entirely of Black women to have been deployed overseas during World War II, and it had served a critical function: clearing the backlog of mail that marked the only line of communication between American soldiers in Europe and their loved ones back home. In this episode, we speak with retired Army Colonel Edna Cummings, who made it her business to get the 6888 their belated recognition, and with Smithsonian magazine senior writer Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, who wrote about Col. Cummings' quest (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-all-black-female-WWII-unit-saved-morale-battlefield-180981540/) for the March 2023 issue of Smithsonian. NOTE: In the interval since we recorded our interview with Col. Cummings, another veteran from the 6888 has died. With the passing of Crescencia J. Garcia last month at the age of 103, there are now five women who served in the 6888 during World War II who remain alive. Learn more about the women of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion at the Women of the 6888th site (https://www.womenofthe6888th.org/) . 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. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz. Music by APM Music.

The American Ingenuity Award winner on the connection between history and music

Tensions intensified between Cuba and the United States in October 1962 as they appear destined to plunge the planet in global war

The 12,000 year old skeleton of a teenage girl was found in Hoyo Negro, an underwater cave system on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Tired of waiting to catch your flight? Then strap on your very own jetpack and off you go!

But at speeds nearing 100 mph, there's a fine line between helping and hurting

Regular dust bathing removes pest and parasites and keeps the wild bird's iridescent feathers in top condition. (Credit: Carla Rhodes)

The American Ingenuity Award winner is on the brink of using the human genome to provide better diagnostics for deadly diseases

A shipwreck discovered off New Zealand dates to a time before Cook's arrival

Teeth are key to identifying elderly remains

The noisy-but-shy bird, known as the hoiho, has earned the most votes for a second time amid threats to its survival

The artist's cityscapes, once dismissed as too masculine, would later influence the floral artworks that became central to her iconic style

Experts are carefully uncovering traces of the original paint and fragments of gold leaf that once adorned the 2,000-year-old Temple of Edfu

Una Pizza Napoletana on the Lower East Side has claimed the top spot in an annual ranking of pizzerias around the globe

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

If the structures look familiar, it's probably because nature has been using them for a long time in places like nautilus shells, zebra stripes and onions

An A.I.-assisted study identified 303 previously unknown geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert. The art features surprising figures, like orcas holding knives

On this day in 1690, "Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick" attracted colonial officials' ire by repeating a scandalous rumor and condemning a British alliance with the Mohawk

Called the Australasian narrow-nosed spookfish, the cryptic species lives deep in the ocean off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia

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

Built by the Moche people in the seventh century, the stunningly painted space shows signs of heavy use, including an eroded throne and traces of human hair

The show coincides with an initiative that will give away 49 of the tree's saplings to individuals and communities across the country

The USS Stewart was purposefully sunk off the coast of California after the war

Lizzy, the avatar based on the novel’s Elizabeth Bennet, will hold period-accurate conversations with visitors at Jane Austen’s cottage home

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

During the restorations, visitors will be able to see the famous site via a temporary walkway, which officials will use to study the flow of foot traffic

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 two artifacts donated by Blue Origin achieved record-breaking feats and will extend the museum's story of trailblazing space travel into the present

"Transforming Energy," the artist's first museum show in China, focuses on "artworks and objects that actively engage the audience"

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

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

The structure—also the earliest of its kind in the Asian country—dates to around 350 C.E.

NOAA designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary this month, following a decade of advocacy by supporters. The protected site will be finalized after a 45-day review period

Owner George Frandsen has some 8,000 coprolites from dinosaurs, sharks and other creatures

The looming sculpture features a small camera above an eight-foot-tall screen, which displays live video from Lithuania, Poland and Ireland

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

An assessment from the International Union for Conservation of Nature paints a grim picture of the extinction risk of the world's trees

A new study suggests the seismic energy traveled outward from a previously unmapped fault, emanating from the hypocenter in bouncing waves that shook distant areas

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

On its 66th flyby of the king of planets, Juno has captured spectacular views of the stormy atmosphere, processed by citizen scientists

The viral king penguin chick at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is beginning to lose his youthful down, a process that will give him his distinctive and waterproof adult plumage

Some 250 volunteers transported more than 2,000 books

In the late 19th century, city officials turned the final resting place for 10,000 souls into what's now Greenwich Village’s James J. Walker Park

Get acquainted with the Big Apple’s major sights by browsing through these remarkable travel photos submitted to our photo contest

It fell to Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman whose racial identity was kept secret for decades, to catalog J.P. Morgan's immense collection of books and art