Articles

Sun bears are named for a gold crescent on their chest, resembling a rising or setting sun. Each bear’s patch is unique, like a fingerprint.

To Save Sun Bears, Scientists First Have to Find Them

The world's smallest bear plays a crucial role in repairing its tropical habitat in Southeast Asia

Couriers’ duties included fetching patients from cabins, weighing babies, delivering medicine, cleaning saddles and bridles, and escorting any guests who rode the routes between FNS outposts.

Untold Stories of American History

Why Debutantes Volunteered to Be Horse-Riding Couriers in Rural Kentucky

Between the 1920s and 1940s, wealthy young women signed up to run errands and carry messages for the Frontier Nursing Service, whose nurse-midwives provided care to patients in hard-to-reach areas

John Thorn, perhaps the most knowledgeable historian of our national pastime, at home in Catskill, New York.

How Baseball’s Official Historian Dug Up the Game’s Unknown Origins

A lifelong passion for the national pastime led John Thorn to redefine the sport's relationship with statistics and reveal the truth behind its earliest days

Installation view of "Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960," on display at the Hirshhorn Museum through April 20, 2025

Explore a Century of Masterpieces, From Rodin to Picasso, Brought Together by One Passionate Collector

A self-described "little man in a hurry," Joseph Hirshhorn built a premier modern art collection

A scarlet macaw

14 Fun Facts About Parrots: They Can Sing, Use Tools and Live a Long, Long Time

And one species can even weigh as much as a house cat

The steel frame of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests atop of a container ship following the bridge's collapse on March 26, 2024.

History of Now

Seven of the Worst Bridge Disasters in World History

The collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge is shocking—but not unprecedented

Why aren't there freshwater seals or dolphins in the Great Lakes?

Why Aren't Dolphins in the Great Lakes? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

2,500 years after it was built, the Parthenon is still among the first places tourists go when they arrive in Athens.

The Thrills of Rediscovering Ancient Greece While Touring Modern Athens

The Mediterranean capital city savors its connections to antiquity—while reappraising its past

Clark Gable and Joan Crawford by George Hurrell, 1936, Gelatin silver print

How 'The Magic Man of Hollywood' Captured the Golden Age's Biggest Stars

George Hurrell’s photographs of actors from the 1930s and 1940s dazzle in a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

The Aria Resort & Casino, a striking pair of curved buildings on the Las Vegas Strip, bills itself as eco-friendly and water-efficient.

Las Vegas Is Going All In on Its Water Conservation Plan

As the Southwest dries, can a city notorious for excess find a way to survive with less?

The flowers of the toromiro

How Rapa Nui Lost a Tree, Only to Have It Sprout Up Elsewhere

Before the toromiro disappeared from the island, at least two men grabbed seeds from the last remaining plant and brought them home

In the weave room, a worker uses a classic Crompton & Knowles loom to make suitable fabric for some 18th-century furniture.

When Hollywood Needs a Historically Accurate Outfit That Looks Just Right, It Turns to Rabbit Goody

How do filmmakers get period clothing to look the part? Inside the textile workshop where the past comes to life

Heterodoxy's illustrious members included (clockwise from top right) Marie Jenney Howe, Susan Glaspell, Crystal Eastman, Rose Pastor Stokes, Doris Stevens, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Rheta Childe Dorr.

Women Who Shaped History

The All-Woman Secret Society That Paved the Way for Modern Feminism

Based in Greenwich Village, Heterodoxy had just one requirement for membership: An applicant must "not be orthodox in her opinion"

A reveler enjoys a playful and colorful water war in the streets of Jodhpur during the Holi festival.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Celebrate Holi With These 15 Vibrant Photos

Observed around the world, the Hindu Festival of Colors welcomes spring

Regina King as Shirley Chisholm in Shirley, a new film written and directed by John Ridley

Women Who Shaped History

The True History Behind Netflix's 'Shirley' Movie

A new film dramatizes Shirley Chisholm's history-making bid to become the first Black woman president in 1972

About halfway between the Greek cities of Corinth and Lechaio, the area around Corinth’s ancient port is tectonically active. That makes the area even more scientifically precious. While many archaeological sites from millennia ago have sunk beneath rising seas, centuries of tectonic uplift have preserved this spot. Parts of the ancient port now sit above sea level, including the inner harbor, where boats likely once berthed in a protected channel.

Ancient Greece’s Biggest Port Is Older Than We Thought

Archaeological discoveries add 500 years to the history of Corinth's main harbor

Mabel Boll, nicknamed the "Queen of Diamonds" (left), failed to cross the Atlantic before Amelia Earhart (right).

Women Who Shaped History

When Amelia Earhart and the 'Queen of Diamonds' Raced to Become the First Woman to Fly Across the Atlantic

Mabel Boll, a wealthy New York socialite, dreamed of making aviation history. But Earhart beat her to the finish line, completing the trans-Atlantic journey as a passenger in June 1928

Lili Taylor as Mary Lincoln and Hamish Linklater as Abraham Lincoln in the AppleTV+ miniseries "Manhunt"

There's More to That

The Man Behind 'Manhunt,' the New Apple TV+ Show About the Lincoln Assassination

Meet James Swanson, the lifelong Abraham Lincoln obsessive who wrote the nonfiction thriller that inspired the acclaimed miniseries

An illustration of Molly Maguires on their way to the gallows in Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Untold Stories of American History

Eight Secret Societies You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Many of these selective clubs peaked in popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries

An elephant seal pup on South Georgia Island

Why Did Seals and Sea Lions Never Commit to a Life Fully at Sea?

While whales moved from living on land to an existence immersed in water, pinnipeds embraced an amphibious lifestyle

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