Once in a while a digital treasure comes along, that really is free. This new digital archive, online at http://learninglab.si.edu makes it easy to browse the large digital collection of images found across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, 9 research centers and the National Zoo. According to press materials there are over one million items.

You can either browse or search by keyword. Items can be saved to a playlist for later use, and it is possible to take notes on the things you find. Creating an account requires a valid email account (the system uses a verification code). As you might expect from the Smithsonian, this database is great for science. The results can get cluttered, and it can take time to jump between images. But you can find resources that you won't find in Google or YouTube.

Teacher tools make it possible to make hotspots on the images, create quizzes or class assignments.