In natural history museums around the world, art and science intersect in the design of dioramas and other exhibits. We'll talk with some of the artists and scientists involved.

A comprehensive site from the National Museum of American History about the rights of citizens and the power of states as seen in the Japanese American internment. Primary resources abound in interactive multimedia galleries.

As part of a series of podcasts featuring the remembrances of veterans of World War I, this podcast tells the inspirational story of the Christmas Truce in December 1914, when the soldiers from both sides met in No Man's Land to...

Soundwalk is an interactive, acoustic walk through American pop culture. Listen to soundbites captured from popular movies, political speeches, famous quotes, and notable broadcasts.

The Bishop Museum in Honolulu is in a quandary. Do they display ancient, rare artifacts from Hawaii's history, or do they return these items to the sacred burial caves per the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act?

Hear about the First World War from those who were there. Discover how the war affected everyone who lived through it in these podcasts, featuring original recordings from IWM's sound collection. The series takes you from the outbreak of...

A new book profiles the life of Carl Akeley, a pioneering taxidermist responsible for the look of natural history museum displays around the country.

NPR reports on an exhibit at San Diego's Natural History Museum, which features 120-million-year-old fossils discovered in northeastern China that reveal a link between birds and dinosaurs.

Ancient Egyptian stela with text in Greek, hieroglyphs and demotic. The Rosetta Stone is one of the British Museum's best known objects and a valuable key to the decipherment of hieroglyphs. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum...

A silver cup that offers a rare glimpse into the world of sexual love in ancient Rome. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at the Warren cup, which features such explicit images of homosexual acts that it was once...

Aboriginal shield collected by Captain Cook. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at a shield owned by one of the first Indigenous Australians to set eyes on Europeans, as they descended on Botany Bay in 1770. What can...

One of the world's earliest coins, minted in ancient Turkey about 2,500 years ago. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at how a powerful new state found a dramatic way to help run its increasingly complex economy and...

Found in France and dating back 13,000 years, this is a carving of two swimming reindeer. The creator of this carving was one of the first humans to express their world through art. But why did they do it? Neil MacGregor, Director of the...

Philadelphia's Mutter Museum has a lot of heart, and other organs too. [5 mins. 3 secs.]

A ceremonial stone belt from central America. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at the ceremonial version of the leather and fibre padding used in an ancient ball game - the world's oldest-known organised sport....

Roof tile with image of an intimidating face intended to scare evil spirits from a house. The tile is from Kyongju, the ancient capital of Korea. Similar tiles were used earlier in China, but once introduced into the Korean peninsula,...

Hoard of coins and other items buried in a silver cup. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, examines a great Viking treasure hoard that was discovered by metal detectors in a field in North Yorkshire. This recent discovery...

A simple chipped stone from the Rift Valley in Tanzania marks the emergence of modern humans. Faced with the needs to cut meat from carcasses, early humans in Africa discovered how to shape stones into cutting tools. From that one...

At the end of the Ice Age, one of the most important parts of human existence was finding enough food to survive. Taking a pestle from Papua New Guinea as an example, Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, asks why our ancestors...

An ancient Egyptian papyrus from around 1550 BC, used to train scribes. It contains 84 different calculations to help with various aspects of Egyptian life, from pyramid building to working out how much grain it takes to fatten a goose....

Colossal statue of Ramesses II, one of ancient Egypt's most famous and successful pharaohs. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, considers the achievements of Ramesses II, a ruler who built monuments all over Egypt, inspired a...

Sculpture of a half-man, half-horse rearing over a dead human from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Carved out of marble around 440BC, these beautiful figures continue to generate huge controversy around the world for the fact that they...

Coin showing Alexander the Great, issued by one of his successors. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, tells the story of Alexander the Great through a small silver coin that was made years after his death. One of history's...

Bronze mirror decorated with dancing cranes. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at this mirror which comes from a time when the Japanese suddenly cut themselves off from the outside world and stopped all official...