Culture Watch

A paper peepshow resembles a pocket-sized stage set, complete with backdrop and paper cut-out scenes, which expand to create an illusion of depth. The world's largest collection, which includes over 360 paper peepshows along with other optical wonders, has been gifted to the Victoria & Albert Museum. more »

In the first experiment, 322 participants watched, listened, or read one of six communicators’ opinions about controversial political and social topics — war, abortion, and music — that they either supported or opposed. A second experiment tested whether the same effect held true for communicators' own written speech. Once again, observers dehumanized communicators with differing political beliefs, but their responses were more favorable when they saw or heard the speech being presented than when they read the speech. more »

Ever wonder what happens to all those battered bicycles chained to street poles or abandoned on bike racks, with rusting pedals, bent frames and missing tires or handlebars? In Denver, they're sold at auction. In New York City, they're sent to a scrap recycling center. And in Chicago, they're handed off to a nonprofit that donates many of them to developing countries where people may have no transportation. Bike Walk Wichita reconditions them for free and the police distributes them to homeless people who have jobs but no transportation. more »

The museum features a series of openings — 'lenses' — throughout the exhibition spaces that frame views of the Washington Monument, the White House and other Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. These framed perspectives remind visitors that the museum presents a view of American through the lens of the African American experience. "Save Our African American Treasures" is one of the museum's signature programs. more »