Modern fish traps require pilings that are driven into the riverbed and netting that reaches across part of a river.

Fish Traps Have Been Banned on the Columbia River for Nearly a Century. Could Bringing Them Back Help Save Salmon?

A new experiment is testing the commercial success of fish traps in Washington and Oregon. Even as some conservationists embrace the technique, its return has reopened old wounds among local fishers

Zach Theiler

Tony Soprano sees a psychiatrist throughout the show.

Smart News

‘The Sopranos’ Changed How Television Told Stories. These Scripts, Sketches and Set Designs Reveal What Made the Mob Drama So Thrilling

March 27, 2026

Smart News

Does This Skeleton Found Beneath a Dutch Church Belong to D’Artagnan, the Man Who Inspired ‘The Three Musketeers’?

March 27, 2026

A Clump of Human Brain Cells on a Computer Chip Learned to Play the Nostalgic Video Game ‘Doom’

March 27, 2026

Why Was This 2,000-Year-Old Sling Bullet Inscribed With the Word ‘Learn’?

March 27, 2026

Scientists Identify the World’s First Known Dog, Which Pushes Back the Animals’ Genetic Record by About 5,000 Years

March 27, 2026

Two Green ‘Fireballs’ Streaked Across the West Coast Sky, Some of the Latest in a String of Dazzling Meteors Above the U.S.

March 27, 2026

More Smart News

Latest Features

A child’s grin stretches from ear to ear in Bani.

Travel

See 15 Images of Wondrous West Africa From the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

March 27, 2026

Science

Fish Traps Have Been Banned on the Columbia River for Nearly a Century. Could Bringing Them Back Help Save Salmon?

March 27, 2026

Gertrude Lawrence as Anna Leonowens and Yul Brynner as Mongkut in the 1951 Broadway production of The King and I. The musical turns 75 on March 29.

At the Smithsonian

‘The King and I’ Spotlights an English Governess Who Modernized Siamese Society. The Real Anna Leonowens Exaggerated Her Influence and Lied About Her Origins

March 27, 2026

The Tougaloo Nine, from left: Joseph Jackson Jr., Geraldine Edwards, James Bradford, Evelyn Pierce, Albert Lassiter, Ethel Sawyer, Meredith Anding Jr., Janice Jackson and Alfred Cook

History

Nine Black College Students Were Arrested in 1961 for Reading at a Segregated Public Library. Their Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Have Long Been Overlooked

March 26, 2026

History

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams’ ‘Remember the Ladies’ Letter

March 26, 2026

A young living root bridge, barely a decade old, is seen from the deck of a much older root bridge on the same riverbed. Five months after I shot this photograph, monsoon rains triggered a landslide that sent boulders crashing into the younger bridge. It absorbed the impact and shielded the older bridge downstream.

Travel

In One of the Wettest Places on the Planet, Indigenous People Build Bridges and Ladders Out of Living Tree Roots

March 25, 2026

Uncovering the past. Understanding the present. Informing the future.

Give a Gift Renew

March 2026

OPENER - The Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve, in eastern Chad, encompasses 19,300 square miles of a vast sandstone plateau.

Science Shifting Sands

Petroglyphs on sandstone at a national park in Chad bear witness to wildlife that once roamed the area before the continent’s water largely receded 6,000 years ago. Could it return?

OPENER - Xin Ying, principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company, wears a costume from the 1948 ballet Diversion of Angels. Graham designed the dress, inspired by a splash of color in a Wassily Kandinsky painting.

Arts & Culture Modern Moves

Her choreography told stories in new ways and her collaborations with costume and stage designers changed the aesthetic of the art. Now, her dance company marks its first century

History Voice of Deception

As “Vicky With Three Kisses,” she strategically sweet-talked and sang to German troops over the airwaves of Europe. But Agnes Bernauer didn’t mean anything she was saying

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History

Nine Black College Students Were Arrested in 1961 for Reading at a Segregated Public Library. Their Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Have Long Been Overlooked

Travel

In One of the Wettest Places on the Planet, Indigenous People Build Bridges and Ladders Out of Living Tree Roots

Smart News

Archaeologists Discover an Intact Cannonball From the Battle of the Alamo—One Day Before the Pivotal Conflict’s 190th Anniversary

Science

Fish Traps Have Been Banned on the Columbia River for Nearly a Century. Could Bringing Them Back Help Save Salmon?

Smart News

Two Green ‘Fireballs’ Streaked Across the West Coast Sky, Some of the Latest in a String of Dazzling Meteors Above the U.S.

Special Report

Rooted in the American West: Food, History and Culture

This series will trace how the American West's identity has been shaped by its people, landscapes and legacies

View Full Report

See 15 Wild and Wondrous Photographs of Yellowstone National Park

Coyote jumps high after a fresh October snowfall in Yellowstone National Park.

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Photo of the Day

By day or night, the architecture of the Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles is unique. On this night, it appears as a giant eye looking down on the circular patterns made by tire marks on the street, and dwarfs the passersby.

Museum on Grand Avenue

By Nancy Kaye

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Podcast

Smithsonian Podcast: There’s More to That

Smithsonian magazine covers history, science and culture in the way only it can — through a lens on the world that is insightful and grounded in richly reported stories. In There’s More to That, meet the magazine’s journalists and hear how they discover the forces behind the biggest issues of our time.

Listen In

Latest Episodes

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams’ ‘Remember the Ladies’ Letter

March 26, 2026 | 31 minutes

Venomous Snakes Represent a Serious Public Health Problem. Scientists Are Biting Back With a Groundbreaking Antidote

March 12, 2026 | 28 minutes

How to Fit 250 Years of American History and Culture Into One Map

February 26, 2026 | 30 minutes

The Tragedy of the Alps’ Disappearing Glaciers for Those That Live, Visit and Ski There

February 12, 2026 | 28 minutes

History

Nine Black College Students Were Arrested in 1961 for Reading at a Segregated Public Library. Their Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Have Long Been Overlooked

Known as the Tougaloo Nine, the demonstrators staged a sit-in that helped the NAACP push for the desegregation of public spaces in Mississippi’s capital

March 26, 2026

Popular Lore Claims That William Howard Taft Got Stuck in a Bathtub. New Research Sheds Light on the Legend’s Forgotten Origins

March 23, 2026

The Real Count of Monte Cristo Was Alexandre Dumas’s Father, a Trailblazing Black General

March 17, 2026

More History

Science

Snowdrops can push through snow and icy ground to bloom in winter, bringing their blossoms to the largely dormant landscape.

How a Small Winter Flower Has Attracted Droves of Admirers—and Offers a Symbol of Resilience

The snowdrop, or Galanthus, blooms when the world is still frozen. Gardeners enamored with the plant gather each year in Pennsylvania to celebrate its subtleties and endurance

March 25, 2026

Alien Life Could Look Nothing Like What We Expect. Here’s How Microbes Beyond Earth Might Live Without Liquid Water

March 20, 2026

These Sea Slugs Can ‘Eat’ Sunlight—but They’re No Astrophage. Here’s How the ‘Project Hail Mary’ Antagonist Has a Real-Life Analogue in Earth’s Oceans

March 18, 2026

More Science

Innovation

Microplastics pose a growing global concern as they infiltrate not just the environment but also humans and animals.

This High School Student Invented a Filter That Eliminates 96 Percent of Microplastics From Drinking Water

Virginia teenager Mia Heller’s filtration system harnesses the power of ferrofluid, a magnetic oil that binds to microplastics in flowing water

March 20, 2026

As the Planet Warms, a Humble Sea Bean Is Proving to Be a Promising Superfood

March 10, 2026

These Charcoal-Eating Fungi Flourish After Fires. Uncovering Their Genetic Secrets Could Help Rebuild Burned Ecosystems

March 13, 2026

More Innovation

Travel

A History of Momo, the Dumpling That Defines Nepali Cuisine

Though its exact origins are unknown, the staple is widely traced back to trade with Tibet

March 24, 2026

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

March 18, 2026

View Australia’s Wonderful Wildlife, Including Kangaroos, Koalas and Crocs, With These 15 Photographs

March 20, 2026

More Travel

Arts & Culture

A Van Gogh Pikachu Pokémon card, on January 14, 2026, in Los Angeles, California

Nintendo Released Its First ‘Pokémon’ Games 30 Years Ago. Here’s How the Beloved Catchable ‘Pocket Monsters’ Became the World’s Biggest Media Franchise

The phenomenon—with its video games, trading cards, shows, movies and merchandise—has generated billions in revenue

February 27, 2026

The Layered History of Koshary, Egypt’s Most Beloved Street Food

February 26, 2026

A Woman Found a Folder in a Drawer. When She Opened It, She Discovered 35 Forgotten Rembrandt Etchings

February 26, 2026

More Arts & Culture

At the Smithsonian

‘The King and I’ Spotlights an English Governess Who Modernized Siamese Society. The Real Anna Leonowens Exaggerated Her Influence and Lied About Her Origins

The beloved musical is loosely based on a Eurasian schoolteacher’s accounts of her time at King Mongkut’s court. These memoirs masked her mixed-race status and unfairly portrayed the monarch as a tyrant

March 27, 2026