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History & Archaeology
Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar
An avowed paganist in a time of religious strife, Hypatia was also one of the first women to study math, astronomy and philosophy
By Sarah Zielinski
Arts & Culture
Smithsonian magazine 7th Annual Photo Contest
Check out the 50 shots our editors named finalists and help pick a winner!
By Smithsonian magazine
Travel
Searching for Hanoi's Ultimate Pho
With more Americans sampling Vietnam's savory soup, a noted food critic and an esteemed maestro track down the city's best
By Mimi Sheraton
History & Archaeology
The Search for the Guggenheim Treasure
Loot valued at $20 million lies off the coast of Staten Island, and Ken Hayes is on the hunt for the sunken silver bullion
By Christopher Solomon
History & Archaeology
The Great British Tea Heist
Botanist Robert Fortune traveled to China and stole trade secrets of the tea industry, discovering a fraud in the process
By Sarah Rose
Travel
The Mustang Mystique
Descended from animals brought by Spanish conquistadors centuries ago, wild horses roam the West and may be running out of room
By Abigail Tucker
Science & Nature
Barrow, Alaska: Ground Zero for Climate Change
Scientists converge on the northernmost city in the United States to study global warming's dramatic consequences
By Bob Reiss
History & Archaeology
Demolishing Kashgar's History
A vital stop on China's ancient Silk Road, the Uighur city of Kashgar may lose its old quarter to plans for "progress"
By Joshua Hammer
Arts & Culture
Sculpting Evolution
A series of statues by sculptor John Gurche brings us face to face with our early ancestors
By Abigail Tucker
People & Places
Capturing Appalachia's "Mountain People"
Shelby Lee Adams' 1990 photograph of life in the eastern Kentucky mountains captured a poignant tradition
By Abigail Tucker
People & Places
Joyce Carol Oates Goes Home Again
The celebrated writer returns to the town of her birth to revisit the places that haunt her memory and her extraordinary fiction
By Joyce Carol Oates
History & Archaeology
How Dolley Madison Saved the Day
As invading British troops approached in August 1814, the first lady coolly took command of the White House
By Thomas Fleming
Science & Nature
The Human Family's Earliest Ancestors
Studies of hominid fossils, like 4.4-million-year-old "Ardi," are changing ideas about human origins
By Ann Gibbons
Arts & Culture
Q and A: Rick Potts
The Smithsonian anthropologist turned heads in scientific circles when he proposed that climate change was the driving force in human evolution
By Beth Py-Lieberman
Science & Nature
A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces
John Gurche, a “paleo-artist,” has recreated strikingly realistic heads of our earliest human ancestors for a new exhibit
By Abigail Tucker
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Smithsonian Videos
Mammoth vs. Mastodon
Both mammoths and mastodons once roamed North America
The Photography of Timothy O’Sullivan
After capturing the horrors of the Civil War, 19th century photographer Timothy O’Sullivan uncovered the beauty of the great expanses of the American west
The Cowboys of R.A. Brown Ranch
Donnell Brown and his fellow cowboys combine modern science with their decades of experience with cattle ranching to create the perfect specimen of beef
Silky Sifakas: The Angels of the Forest
For the first time ever, filmmakers have caught these elusive white lemurs of Madagascar on tape
The History of Color Photography
While Levi Hill supposedly invented color photography in the 1850s, it was the Lumiere brothers who devised the first commercially viable photographic process
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In The Magazine
April 2010
CultureSpotter
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New at Viva MexicoExplore Mexico's history, people and art through a range of engaging essays in the all-new "Mexican Culture" section. |
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Opera Lover's ItalyOpera and Cuisine in Puglia, Basilicata, Campania and Rome (Jul 15 - 24, 2010) |
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Travel WireWe know travel is one of your passions, and we're here to help you pursue it. We've collected some of the best offerings from our most valued travel partners. |
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6th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest Winners
Out of more than 17,000 entries contributed from around the world, Smithsonian and its readers select the year's best
Celebrating American Indian Heritage
Sitting Bull's legacy, Native American languages, a national list of events and more
15 Must-See Endangered Cultural Sites
Some of the world's most precious and historic sites can be visited today—but might be gone tomorrow
Women's History Month
Explore how powerful women have shaped American history, from our first ladies to our Navy cadets to acclaimed artists and writers
The Great Destinations of the World
From Rome to Cape Town to Vancouver, this guide to our favorite places explores ancient cultures, geologic marvels and urban meccas
The Magellanic Penguins of Punta Tombo
On a tiny peninsula in southern Argentina, nearly 400,000 penguins gather to breed and usher in a new generation of their species
What Is Your Dream Travel Destination?
Six extraordinary writers picked their dream travel assignments. Where would you go if you could travel anywhere in the world?
Your Kind of Town
What makes your city, suburb or small town special? Share a favorite memory or anecdote about your hometown
Object at Hand: Smithsonian.com's Favorite Things
As the magazine's Object at Hand column turns 20, we look back on some of the treasures inside the Smithsonian Institution
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