All upcoming Daytime programs

Over nearly 250 years, the National Mall has evolved into the symbolic heart of the nation’s capital, designed to express the ideals of the new republic through landscape, architecture, and monumentality. In the second program of a two-part series, Carolyn Muraskin, examines the post–World War II era, when the Mall became a space not only for remembrance but also for activism and expanding historical narratives as memorial design shifted away from heroic monumentality toward more personal forms of reflection—an evolving effort to represent an increasingly complex American story. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Discover how listening more closely to our bodies can shift our understanding of health, connection, and happiness. Giulia Enders, physician and star of Netflix’s Hack Your Health, explores the extraordinary intelligence within our bodies. Tapping thousands of years of biological ingenuity and the latest scientific insights, Enders examines what our immune system can teach us about security, how wound healing mirrors emotional recovery, and what our bodies show us about what we truly need to thrive.

When Octavian received the title Augustus from the Roman Senate in 27 B.C.E., he inaugurated a new political order known as the Principate. The shift marked the beginning of an era defined by stability, cultural renewal, and the calculated use of imagery to legitimize imperial rule. Art historian Renee Gondek discusses how art and architecture shaped and communicated the emerging identity of the Augustan era. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Marking the 150th anniversary of pivotal 20th-century Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s birth, speaker and concert pianist Rachel Franklin combines an illustrated lecture with live piano demonstrations to examine how de Falla forged his unique, seductive voice with such enchanting stage and concert pieces as El amor brujo, La vida breve, and Noches en los jardines de España.

Romania’s 1916 entry into World War I forced all four Central Powers to divert elite troops and vital supplies from other strained fronts. Historian Indy Neidell notes Germany was stretched so thin its leaders even feared Denmark might exploit the situation. Despite major offensives, the Central Powers failed to conquer Romania. As Russia collapsed, Romania remained a crucial Entente asset, helping finally exhaust the Central Powers by 1918.

Between 1945 and 1970, American artists transformed modern art. Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and Lee Krasner introduced large, gestural paintings that redefined artistic expression. Their breakthroughs paved the way for Pop artists—Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and James Rosenquist—who turned consumer culture and mass media into bold imagery. Art historian Jennie Hirsh traces how these movements reshaped postwar American art and its lasting cultural impact. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

What makes a writer’s space so fascinating? Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s reflections on the importance of space for creativity, author Katie da Cunha Lewin examines how writers have worked everywhere from quiet garden rooms and shared family tables to bustling cafés and buses. She offers vivid portraits of memorable creative spaces, including Woolf’s tranquil room at Monk’s House, Ernest Hemingway’s Paris cafés, and Maya Angelou’s deliberately bare hotel rooms.

On July 23, 1999, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory into an orbit that takes it about a third of the way to the moon. Since then, Chandra—operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory—has sent back to Earth images of the spectacular remains of exploded stars, found black holes, and contributed to the study of dark matter and dark energy. A panel of experts from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Northrop Grumman takes you behind the scenes to see how one of the most powerful space telescopes ever built operates.

Roman North Africa was a central force in the empire. From Morocco to Libya, Rome built on Phoenician, Punic, Numidian, and Libyan foundations. In Algeria, Timgad shows Rome’s strict military planning along the desert frontier. Tunisia’s Carthage became a major Roman capital and agricultural hub feeding Italy. Libya’s Leptis Magna and Cyrene prospered through trade linking the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa, moving grain, oil, animals, and people. Archaeologist Darius Arya illustrates how the region fed Rome, connected continents, and blended African, Punic, Greek, and Roman cultures into a powerful provincial system.

In a fascinating four-part series, curators and historians from the National Air and Space Museum trace the history of flight, from humanity’s early aspirations for aerial transit, to 12 breathtaking seconds at Kitty Hawk, to the advances that came with global combat, and how jet engines and digital technology are opening a new future for aviation. This session focuses on early flight.