SI-Q
What can mimic a bug or whack you in the face to get what it wants?
Orchids.
With their beauty, mystery and deceit, the Smithsonian's collection of nearly 8,000 live orchids try every trick in the book just to get pollinated.
SI—Q
What highway runs throughout the U.S. but can't be traveled by car?
Nam June Paik's "Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii." This 49-channel, closed-circuit video installation is on display at the American Art Museum. It suggests the enormous scale of the nation that confronted the young Korean artist when he arrived in the U.S. in 1964.
Lady slipper orchids are just some of the varieties in the exhibition “Orchids of Latin America.”
via smithsonian
smithsonian
Check out our newest behind-the-scenes video - 3D scanning/printing at the Smithsonian: http://t.co/O7aJk6Su6x
This is the smallest shark, a dwarf lantern shark – smaller than a person's hand!
This folk art guitar has a two chambers for stashing strings, picks or snacks
SI—Q
How is hip-hop like the microchip?
Both grew out of communities that were innovation hotbeds—the microchip from Silicon Valley and hip-hop from the Bronx. The Smithsonian studies how inventive communities form and impact culture.
Abraham Lincoln's life mask by sculptor Clark Mills, 1865
Venus fly-trap anemone, deep in the Gulf of Mexico
Hokusai’s Mt. Fuji: an icon in Japanese art
SI—Q
How many oceans are on the planet?
One. While we use many names--the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian--what we think of as separate oceans is actually one vast ecosystem. Smithsonian scientists are studying the life of our ocean--everything from the ancestors of whales to conserving coral reefs to the effects of climate change.
This is the fossilized dung of a Giant Sloth, estimated to be 100,000 years old.
Japanese sumo wrestlers in competition, 1875
SI—Q
What do a Dead drummer and an astrophysicist have in common?
Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, a Smithsonian Folkways artist, worked with distinguished astrophysicist Margaret Geller of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to translate the data of the cosmos into music. Trippy!
Smithsonian scientists used a CT-scanner to non-invasively examine this Peruvian mummy.
Are tattoos art?
SI—Q
What animal has the largest eyes?
The giant squid. At up to 10 inches in diameter, giant squid have eyes the size of dinner plates. These massive organs allow giant squid to detect objects in the lightless depths of the ocean. Two specimens of this elusive species can be seen at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Perhaps his most famous muse, Andy Warhol printed Marilyn Monroe's lips onto canvas in 1962.
Your distant cousin, Australopithecus.
SI—Q
Thousands of species of birds have flown the sky; how many species of humans have walked the Earth?
Most scientists agree that there have been at least 18 separate species of humans through time, including Homo habilis, Homo neanderthalensis and us—Homo sapiens. Smithsonian scientists are conducting research to learn more about how these early humans lived and why we are the only remaining humans.
via smithsonian
smithsonian
SUPER om nom nom! Sweat pants, rope and golf balls found inside whales as @nmnh gets a new whale: http://t.co/wEaJbvQd0F
SI—Q
Which animal can have a brain so large it overflows into its legs?
Spiders. Smithsonian researchers report that the brains of tiny spiders are so large that they fill their body cavities and overflow into their legs. Nine species of spiders were measured. As the spiders get smaller, their brains get proportionally bigger, filling up more of their body cavities.
Born into slavery, Nat Love became a legend of the American West as “Deadwood Dick.”
via smithsonian
smithsonian
Live free or die hard with these Hollywood police badges from @amhistorymuseum: http://t.co/j7RI7RJff0
"Snake Charmer," 1935, by Dennis Burlingame
Two fishing cat kittens born in May are the first of this species to reproduce at the National Zoo.
SI—Q
Where is the best place to sleep at the Smithsonian?
Under Phoenix the right whale during a Smithsonian Sleepover at the Natural History Museum!
Native American Julia Keefe is an accomplished singer of a uniquely American art form: jazz.
SI—Q
What did Alexander Graham Bell know about the dead body in the Smithsonian Castle?
In 1903, Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone and a former Smithsonian board member, brought James Smithson's remains from Italy to Washington, D.C. Today, Smithson, who never set foot in the United States while he was alive, is entombed in a marble crypt in the Smithsonian Castle.
Henri Matisse exaggerated the female figure in this terracotta sculpture.
Cute or creepy? The vampire squid got its name from its black skin and red eyes.
Meet one of the newest members on T-Rex’s family tree: Daemonosaurus.
SI—Q
What traditional holiday candy honors the dead?
Calaveritas de azúcar are skulls made of white sugar that are part of traditional Día de los Muertos celebrations throughout Latin America, according to the Smithsonian Latino Center. The Day of the Dead is not a day of grieving but a day to welcome the spirits of the deceased with food and flowers.
The red-eyed treefrog is being studied in Panama.
Go behind the scenes of the Seriously Amazing ad photo shoot.
SI—Q
What can you make with an old green coat and a ping-pong ball?
The original Kermit the Frog! He was painstakingly made from a green coat discarded by Jim Henson's mother with eyes that were each half of a ping-pong ball. In 1955, Henson's "Sam and Friends" featuring Kermit and other early puppets debuted on local Washington, D.C., television.
SI—Q
Who was a fan of nine-inch nails in 1903?
China's Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908). While posing for a series of photographic portraits in 1903 and 1904, she adorned her hands with long, gold-filigreed fingernail covers.They were traditionally worn in the Qing court, as were her “horse-hoof” shoes.
Doug Aitken’s ‘Song 1’ creates liquid architecture, mixing concrete, music and video.
"US Highway 1," 1962, by Allan D'Arcangelo
How do you move a 3,000-lb. sculpture? Very carefully.
"Amor Africano" by Freddy Rodriguez
The “Spirit of Tuskegee” was used to train Tuskegee Airmen from 1944 to 1946.
SI—Q
When is being blue in the face a good thing?
When you're Roy Lichtenstein’s “Modern Head.” The 31-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture at the American Art Museum is part of a series Lichtenstein began in the late 1960s that explored the idea of creating images of human figures that look like machines.
“The Big Chair” symbolizes the creativity of the Anacostia neighborhood in Washington, D.C.
The headgear that Muhammad Ali wore while training for his battle against Sonny Liston.
SI—Q
Who was the first dog to travel across country by car?
Bud the Bulldog. He rode along with H. Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker when they took the first successful drive from coast to coast in 1903. You can see the car they drove and Bud’s dashing eye goggles at the American History Museum.
Photographer Steven Cummings blurs the lines between fine art and commercial art.
Sculptor Henry Bertoia designed this chair as "a study in space."
SI—Q
Was Dr. Seuss a wartime propagandist?
Yes, against mosquitoes. During WWII, while a captain in the U.S. Army, Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel created a pamphlet to warn against the dangers of malaria, as personified by a lady mosquito. In the Pacific, 7 out of 8 soldiers admitted to the hospital had illnesses such as mosquito-borne malaria.
A study for Georgia O’Keefe’s “New York Interpreted: The Bridge”
Before there was the National Zoo, the Smithsonian exhibited animals right on the National Mall.
SI—Q
How much did James Smithson leave the United States in his will?
$515,169.00. He left almost his entire estate to the United States to found “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” This donation today would be worth almost $12 million – less than 2% of our operating expenses. We rely on public generosity for 30% of our funding.
“Moe” Asch was the founder of Folkways Records and produced more than 2,100 classic recordings.
1972 Jackson Five outfit from the National Museum of African American History and Culture collection
SI—Q
What exactly is “snarge”?
Snarge is the term used for the feathers and residue left after a bird collides with a plane. Scientists in the Smithsonian’s Feather ID Lab examine snarge to identify the species of birds involved in the hundreds of bird strike cases they solve each year, aiding with aviation safety.
The Smithsonian’s 2012 Folklife Festival celebrated the late music legend Chuck Brown.
Classic R&B record labels include Stax, which recorded the timeless duo Sam and Dave.
SI—Q
Which album by John Lennon won't be found on the top music charts?
His childhood stamp album. The album features more than 550 stamps from several countries. Already a budding artist, 9-year-old Lennon added his own touches, drawing mustaches and whiskers on the images of Queen Victoria and King George VI. The album is at the National Postal Museum.
A ceremonial Cambodian ting mong figure dancing to traditional music.
"The Blue Thread," 1984, by Will Barnet
SI—Q
What is a laufmaschine? (Hint: It has nothing to do with sitcom laugh tracks.)
The draisine, also known as the "laufmaschine" or running machine, is one of the oldest surviving ancestors of the modern bicycle. In 1817, Karl Drais designed and built a two-wheeled, wooden vehicle that was straddled and propelled by walking swiftly.
Martin Sharp’s poster references two of Bob Dylan’s most iconic songs. Can you find all the lyrics?
Surfer Tom "Pōhaku” Stone makes a traditional Hawaiian surfboard for the museum's collection.
SI—Q
What should you do if a troculus invades your home?
Call a chimney sweep! Once known as a troculus, the bird now known as the chimney swift originally nested in hollow trees. Smithsonian ornithologists say that when early settlers cleared the forests and built European-style houses, the birds began nesting in chimneys.
