Southwest
From Alabama to Texas, US travel spots to soak up American science and innovation
The United States has led the world in science and innovation for most of its history, and that claim has been backed up by science.
To cite one notable testament of leadership in global science: The U.S. boasts 411 winners of Nobel Prizes in physics and medicine.
The number of Americans among Nobel Prize honorees dwarfs the U.K., which is the No. 2 nation on the list with 137 winners, and is more than the next four nations combined.
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The U.S. has led the world in advances in atomic and nuclear power, space travel and the digital economy.
A cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex head that was found in Montana and excavated by noted dino-hunter Jack Horner (pictured left). A boy (pictured right) is seen exploring a Mercury space capsule at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The nation also boasts one of the world’s richest repositories of dinosaur fossils.
Here’s a look at five family-friendly tourist landmarks to visit as you learn more about American science.
Alabama – U.S. Space & Rocket Center
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama, 2010. (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
The family-friendly showcase of American exploratory power boasts perhaps the world’s largest display of rocketry and memorabilia from various NASA programs.
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Among the highlights at the Huntsville museum: the Apollo 11 virtual reality experience, which puts visitors inside the mission that first put men on the moon; and summertime “astronaut chats” with the nation’s most celebrated space explorers.
Michigan – Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation
The “Sweepstakes” car, part of the “Driven To Win” exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. (Wes Duenkel/The Henry Ford via AP)
Few did more to shape modern America than Henry Ford. The Museum of American Innovation is a fitting tribute to that impact — highlighted by a heavy dose of our country’s national history. The Henry Ford, as it’s often known, is a collection of several sites sprawling across 250 acres.
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The flagship museum includes jaw-dropping Americana memorabilia, such as the Rosa Parks bus, George Washington’s camp bed and the limousine in which President Kennedy was assassinated, among many other exhibits and events.
Montana – Museum of the Rockies
A replica of the 66-million-year-old creature, dubbed the “Nation’s T. rex,” which was found by ranchers Kathy and Tom Wankel, stands outside the Museum of the Rockies. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Long before humans inhabited North America, the land was ruled by dinosaurs, notably the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex. Skeletons of the giant “king of the lizards” were first found in the American West.
The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman offers one of the world’s greatest collections of North American dinosaur fossils — not just the T.rex but also the horned Triceratops and a nearly complete skeleton of an Allosaurus, a predecessor of the lizard king.
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The museum also includes exhibits dedicated to native peoples of the area and to the homesteaders who settled Montana in the 19th century.
New Mexico – White Sands National Park
Ripple patterns are captured in White Sands National Park, New Mexico. (Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))
This geological oddity is an American wonder for its natural beauty and sobering role in the history of modern warfare.
It was on this site in July 1945 that American scientists, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, first unleashed the power of the atomic bomb, a victory of American ingenuity and industrial power amid World War II.
The achievement also had lingering ramifications for mankind. The Trinity test at White Sands was a prelude to the atomic attacks the following month on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan that ended World War II.
White Sands National Park includes 275 square miles of glistening gypsum sand — the largest dunefield of its kind on Earth — surrounded by the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range.
The park today offers spectacular vistas and touring by automobile, hiking, biking or pack animals. It still closes for missile testing.
Texas – Space Center Houston
Apollo 13 – NASA, 1970. Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas: Three of the four Apollo 13 flight directors applaud the successful splashdown of the Command Module Odyssey, 17 April 1970. Artist NASA. (Photo by Heritage Space/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
“Houston, we have a problem.”
The phrase entered the American lexicon in 1970 when astronauts aboard the Apollo 13 mission reported a potential disaster to flight control at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The more recent addition, Space Center Houston, opened in 1992. It is considered the world’s most prestigious aerospace museum and serves as the visitors’ center to the famed NASA complex. It has a spectacular collection of rocketry and artifacts.
Among the treasures: the space capsules flown and returned to Earth by the Mercury 9, Gemini 5 and Apollo 17 missions, the latter of which in 1972 carried astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, the last two men to walk on the moon.
The museum also showcases a collection of moon rocks and space suits.
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Long Beach will hold a pride festival this weekend after the one they originally had scheduled was canceled.
Long Beach city officials said the celebration was nixed after the nonprofit that organizes it, Long Beach Pride, failed to submit the required information for an event permit.
It was supposed to start on Friday and last through Sunday.
“Despite continued collaboration and multiple deadline notices, the City did not receive the required documentation needed to complete safety reviews, inspect critical event infrastructure, such as the stage, electrical systems and tent, and emergency exiting plans to ensure compliance with public safety standards,” the city of Long Beach said in a statement. “With event programming scheduled to begin on May 15 at 5 p.m. with Teen Pride and essential information still outstanding, there is no longer sufficient time to safely permit the festival this year.”
Officials noted that they were working to see if a “shortened event” could be held this weekend, and indeed, an agreement was reached to stage a one-day gathering on Sunday.
Billed as “Canceled? Never Heard of Her!” and emceed by comedian and drag queen Jewels, it will still bring the city’s LGBTQ community together after Sunday morning’s Long Beach Pride Parade, which was not canceled.
“Long Beach Pride weekend is a culmination of celebrations put on by our community, including our many vibrant restaurants, bars and businesses, and that will never change,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a press release issued late Saturday night. “Along with the Pride Parade, we are proud to join the party with this new event that reaffirms what this City has always stood for: that every person belongs here.”
“The festival may have been canceled, but Long Beach drag artists don’t cancel joy,” added Jewels Long Beach.
The one-day “Canceled? Never Heard of Her!” festival will take place at Bixby Park from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. A free event, it will include music by several performers and a drag show.
More information can be found here.
Los Angeles, Ca
L.A. Jewish institution among targets of foiled terrorist attack, U.S. officials say
A Jewish institution in Los Angeles was among the locations targeted in a recently foiled terrorism plot, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton announced this week.
The thwarted terrorist attacks were the result of the recent arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national and senior member of Kata’ib Hizballah, U.S. officials said.
“Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander for the terrorist organization, Kata’ib Hizballah, faces serious charges for his role in numerous attacks against U.S. interests across the globe, including his efforts to kill on U.S. soil,” Clayton said. “As alleged, for years, Al-Saadi committed himself to furthering the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC, two terrorist organizations dedicated to harming the United States and its allies.”
Al-Saadi recently attempted to carry out attacks in the U.S., officials said, including attacks at Jewish cultural places of interest in New York, Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Ariz.
“Al-Saadi attempted to disrupt American society through intimidation and violence,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office reads. “… Those who engage in or support terrorism against Americans and on U.S. soil should take note: the whole of the federal government is committed to dismantling terrorist organizations and bringing their members to justice.”
In a three-month period, Al-Saadi allegedly directed 18 terrorist attacks throughout Europe, including bombings, arson, and assaults targeting American citizens and points of interest. Prior to his arrest, national security officials say he was planning similar attacks on U.S. soil. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said that Al-Saadi “presented a serious threat to our national security.”
The European attacks included the bombing of the Bank of New York Mellon, an American bank, in Amsterdam on March 15. On April 29, two Jewish men, one of whom was a dual U.S.-British citizen, were stabbed and seriously injured in London.
In 2020, Al-Saadi took to social media, calling for others to attack and kill Americans in retribution for the deaths of Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi military commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, U.S. officials said. In more recent months, Al-Saadi allegedly used social media to encourage the killing of Americans and Jews to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“In or about February 2026, for example, AL-SAADI posted on one of his social media accounts a message in Arabic, which read in part, ‘Do not abandon the blood of your Imam of the time, oh Shiites of Iraq. Kill everyone who supports America and Israel. Do not leave any of them remaining. Civil and military targets, as well as voices of discord, kill them everywhere.’” U.S. officials said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch confirmed that one of the U.S. targets was a Manhattan synagogue. On April 3, Al-Saadi allegedly spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer whom Al-Saadi believed could carry out attacks in the U.S. That same day, Al-Saadi allegedly texted the undercover officers photographs and maps showing the exact location of a prominent Jewish synagogue in New York City.
Officials have not said what specific locations in L.A. and Arizona were targeted by the terrorist group.
Al-Saadi now faces numerous charges for these crimes in U.S. court. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
The case is under investigation by the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD, the FBI Washington Field Office, Counterterrorism Division, and more than 50 other federal, state, and local agencies. Investigators also received help from the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section, the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
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