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.

For decades, in a tradition imported from Belgium, bowlers in Michigan have rolled their balls at feathers, not pins (Edited and produced by: Roberta Cruger)

Daring anglers hook sharks from the cabin of a huge airship in Fisher Island

The two discussed their ancestors’ legacy more than 150 years after the famous figures both attended the Seneca Falls Convention. (Credit: Drew Gardner)

Credit: Leftwich Lab

Two titans of the era went head-to-head in a heated race for the presidency. The stakes were high. The very future of a young nation hung in the balance. Join us as we explore the revolutionary ideas that shaped this critical moment in American democracy. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

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

Two lionfish in Papua New Guinea swim gracefully

Some of the brightest minds in the world gathered at Smithsonian's "The Future is Here" conference to discuss the great triumphs and future innovations in science and technology http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ideas-innovations/The-Future-is-Here.html

Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/In-Search-of-the-Mysterious-Narwhal.html Staff writer Abigail Tucker relates her experiences reporting from the small Arctic village of narwhal hunters.

Jeffersons respect for the enlightenment ideals of memory, reason and imagination shaped how he organized his library (Video: Molly Roberts). Read more at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/on-the-hunt-for-jeffersons-lost-books-38566672/

Serving 30 million people in seven states and Mexico, the drying Colorado River can still be saved by sustainable measures and collaboration

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.

This traveling exhibit reveals the mystery behind some of the women that helped shape this country's social and cultural landscape

"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.

More on the unsuccessful plot to kill Lincoln: http://j.mp/VnSZ9g During his inauguration tour in 1861, the president's life was threatened in the city of Baltimore.

The legendary Stan Lee, creator of the Avengers, Spiderman and Iron Man, has partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to launch the first global online course about superheroes to fans around the world. Taught by "The Dark Knight" producer Michael Uslan, students will go into the vaults of the Smithsonian collection and hear from industry experts. Register now (http://bit.ly/1DsdJ3W) and beginning May 5, 2015, you can become a certified expert on superheroes. Sign up for the verified certificate to earn an original piece of artwork from top artist Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman, New X-Men) with Phil's, Stan Lee’s, and Michael Uslan’s signatures.

X-rays of the mummy of an ancient Egyptian noblewoman reveal an assortment of health issues: from curvature of the spine, known as scoliosis, to other deformities that could be the result of polio.

A pirogue's eye view of the inlet at the edge of Harper. Some of the first groups of freed American slaves landed on the shores of West Africa near here. (Credit: Clair MacDougall)

When Gary Roberts found this orphaned elephant next to its dead mother, he made an attempt to fly it to safety

Selected by Eli Reed for our special issue, this up-and-coming photographer discusses his work

Fifty years ago, the Amazon comprised 14 percent of the Earth's surface. Now, it covers just 6 percent.

Smithsonian magazine commissioned Drew Gardner for a project that connects Black Americans today to their lost ancestry. Read about Gardner’s project and process, as well as more details about the subjects of this incredible series here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/descendants-black-civil-war-heroes-wear-heritage-pride-180983397/ Video produced by Sierra Theobald. Special thanks to Drew Gardner Additional credits: Emma MacBeath, WikiTree US Black Heritage project; Ottawa Goodman, research and coordinator; Sam Dole, Penumbra Foundation; Elizabeth Zuck, set design; Calvin Osbourne, props and costume; Angela Huff, hair and make up; Diego Huerta, Lexia Krebs, behind-the-scenes filming; background prints by Fujifilm USA

The 16th president is widely celebrated for his role in helping to abolish slavery and preserving the Union during the Civil War. But did you know these facts about this iconic figure in American History? --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

Jane Butel, author and expert on food from the American Southwest, reveals the stories behind how chili peppers, beef and wine became part of the region's cuisine (Meredith Bragg)

Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Hazel-Scotts-Lifetime-of-High-Notes.html In a performance filmed for World War II soldiers, Hazel Scott begins with a section from Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" and ends with a jazzy tune (Army / Navy Screen Magazine).

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.

This video does not contain hidden messages that will make you want to watch more Smithsonian videos.

Members of the Gullah community discuss the changes facing them today

Teeth are key to identifying elderly remains

Some researchers initially dismissed the remains of Palaeopascichnus lineari as teeny turds from a bygone era

A melting glacier caused a mountain in Greenland to collapse into a narrow fjord, setting off an oscillating wave that rattled seismic detectors around the world

Officials launched an investigation and recovered the $360,000 print less than a week after it vanished from Grove Gallery. Two men have been charged for the crime

"A Soldier's Journey," a 58-foot-long bronze artwork depicting vivid scenes from the war, was illuminated for the first time at a ceremony on September 13

A new paper analyzes three decades of fatalities around the world and predicts how "superbugs" will affect human health in the future

Archaeologists unearthed a series of mudbrick rooms filled with religious tributes, soldiers' personal effects, engraved weaponry and animal bones

Kleptoparasitism, in which a bird harasses another to steal its food, might introduce avian flu to the continent, currently the only one without the severe H5N1 strain

Scientists identified traces of the drug in the brain tissue of two individuals buried in the crypt of a hospital in Milan

The discoveries include sharks, shorebirds, mammals and saber-toothed salmon, with the oldest remains dating to almost nine million years ago

A ring could explain a mysterious arrangement of impact craters near the equator and might even have caused an ice age, according to a new study

The “beloved” rodent named Cinnamon was spotted this week with help from drones. She has been wandering and eating grass after escaping her zoo enclosure last Friday

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

Scientists have created "a form of information immortality" meant to instruct future species on how to recreate humans. But who, or what, will find it?

The Horned Serpent Panel from southern Africa predates the first Western scientific description of the dicynodont, a large mammal ancestor with tusks, by at least a decade

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

The baby pygmy hippopotamus in a Thailand zoo has taken the internet by storm, and keepers hope she will help gain momentum for conservation efforts