Smithsonian Magazine: February 2012
Features
Gold Fever
Rapacious mining to satisfy worldwide lust for the precious metal is destroying pristine rainforest in the Amazon
By Donovan Webster
Mystique of the Mother Road
Foreign tourists and local preservationists are bringing stretches of storied Route 66 back to life
By David Lamb
The Orchid Olympics
The exotic flowers seduce pollinators of every kind, from moths and birds to the extreme breeders at the 20th World Orchid Conference
By Somali Roy
Mad for Dickens
In which our author revisits the haunts of the inimitable novelist on the 200th anniversary of his birth, revels in his astonishing life and work, and visits a theme park
By Joshua Hammer
Dickens' Secret Affair
Claire Tomalin's literary sleuthing revealed the untold story
By Joshua Hammer
Ancient Modernism
Two thousand years before Picasso, artists in Egypt painted some of the most arresting portraits in the history of art
By Smithsonian Magazine
Departments
From the Editor
Objects Of Desire
Chronicling passions that change the world, for good and ill
By Terence Monmaney
Indelible Images
The Other Man
A long-forgotten drawing suggests Leonardo da Vinci had a friend's help when he drew his iconic diagram
By Toby Lester
Wild Things
Wild Things: Yeti Crabs, Guppies and Ravens
Tree killers and the first beds ever round up this month in wildlife news
By T.A. Frail, Laura Helmuth, Joseph Stromberg, Erin Wayman And Sarah Zielinski
Profile
Ready Or Not
Seismologist Lucy Jones tackles a complex natural phenomenon—denial
By Amy Wallace
Around the Mall
Stitches in Time
A scientist develops a powerful tool to determine the age of mysterious silks
By Joseph Stromberg
The Object at Hand
Mr. Cox's Keepsake
An American diplomat's memento takes center stage after 125 years
By Owen Edwards
Feature
Explaining Evil
A landmark work of history, now reissued, illuminates a recurrent threat
By Ron Rosenbaum
