Smithsonian Magazine: January 2013
Features
Born to Be Mild
Are we born knowing right from wrong? New research offers surprising answers to the age-old question of where morality comes from
By Abigail Tucker
Rio Revolution
Brazil's bold attempt to transform everyday life inside Rio's notoriously violent slums
By Joshua Hammer
The Frog that Roared
The world’s most charismatic amphibian is upending the conventional wisdom about evolution with a surprising new way to think about genes and the origins of change
By Helen Fields
Forever Free
150 years ago, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation decreed an end to slavery in Confederate-held territory
By Louis P. Masur
Viva Moulin Rouge!
Although it lasted just a few magical months, America’s first interracial casino helped end segregation on the Strip and proved that the only color that mattered was green
By Kevin Cook
Tunnel Vision
An underground scientist is pioneering a new way to learn what the climate was like thousands of years ago
By J. Madeleine Nash
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold 2.0
How one digital pioneer turned against the very culture he helped create
By Ron Rosenbaum
Land of the Rising Son
A visit to what some claim is Jesus’ final resting place…in Japan
By Franz Lidz
Departments
From the Castle
From the Castle
Coral reefs and radio telescopes make a trip to the tropics more than worthwhile
By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Phenomena
Time
This month the theme is time, from how our brains perceive it to a new term for our current geological epoch
By Joshua Keating
Jurassic Love Song
Scientists discover a 165-million-year-old mating call, trapped in stone
By Brian Switek
The Era of Our Ways
Efforts to label the human epoch have ignited a scientific debate
By Joseph Stromberg
Books
Books
Jared Diamond compares the West with the rest. Plus: thriving in chaos, hot travel and a history of mapmaking
By Chloe Schama
Around the Mall
Coast Guard
A field study predicts how wetlands will respond to a changing climate
By Joseph Stromberg
Around the Mall
Will We Be Able to Prevent an Asteroid Strike and More Questions From Our Readers
Your questions answered by our experts
By Smithsonian Magazine
From the Castle
Fast Forward
In Chile’s Atacama Desert, astronomers are preparing for a new array that will stretch across 10 miles
By Leah Binkovitz
