smithsonian national museum

Science

Travel Through Time With A Whale Detective

12:55pm June 07, 2017

by Madeline K. Sofia

Join NPR's Madeline Sofia on a tour of the largest collection of whale bones in the world. Curator Nick Pyenson takes us backstage to see Smithsonian specimens that aren't on display in museums.

Explorer Robert Kennicott's remains are now on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Smithsonian Solves 150-Year-Old Mystery Death Of Collector And Puts Bones On Display

9:34am May 15, 2017

by Scott Greenstone

Explorer Robert Kennicott disappeared one day in 1866. For more than a century, the cause of his death has been a mystery — but the Smithsonian has solved it.

Queue Listen Now

National Museum of African American History Opens Its Doors

2:00pm September 24, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

More than 100 years after it was originally proposed, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is opening its doors in Washington, D.C.

"Market Symphony" is a new audio installation at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. The exhibition layers sound from a market in Lagos, Nigeria. The speakers are installed on enamelware trays which are often used in markets.

Arts

Symphony Of The City: Nigerian Artist Draws Songs From The Bustling Market

5:06pm January 31, 2016

by NPR Staff

Emeka Ogboh's exhibition, "Market Symphony," brings listeners the rich sounds of a Lagos market. "There are stories in the soundscape," he tells NPR's Michel Martin. "There are stories from the city."