Smithsonian Magazine: May 2005
Features
Fire in the Hole
Raging in mines from Pennsylvania to China, coal fires threaten towns, poison air and water, and add to global warming
By Kevin Krajick
Young Eyes on Calcutta
British documentary filmmaker Zana Briski and collaborator Ross Kauffman's Academy Award winning documentary chronicals the resilience and vision of children in a Calcutta red-light district
By Andrew Curry
The Seeds of Civilization
Why did humans first turn from nomadic wandering to villages and togetherness? The answer may lie in a 9,500-year-old settlement in central Turkey
By Michael Balter
Life on Mars?
It's hard enough to identify fossilized microbes on Earth. How would we ever recognize them on Mars?
By Carl Zimmer
Toulouse-Lautrec
The fin de sià¨cle artist who captured Paris' cabarets and dance halls is drawing huge crowds to a new exhibition at Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art
By Paul Trachtman
Tribal Fever
Twenty-five years ago this month, smallpox was officially eradicated. For the Indians of the high plains, it came a century and a half too late
By Landon Y. Jones
Homage to the Anchovy Coast
You may not want them on your pizza, but along the Mediterranean they're a prized delicacy and a cultural treasure
By Christopher Hall
Showdown on the Court
Buoyed by his reelection but dismayed by rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court, a president overreaches
By William E. Leuchtenburg
Departments
Indelible Images
Model Family
Sally Mann's unflinching photographs of her children have provoked controversy, but one of her now-grown daughters wonders what all the fuss was about
By Molly Roberts
Phenomena & Curiosities
Rising from the Ashes
The eruption of Mount St. Helens 25 years ago this month was no surprise. But the speedy return of wildlife to the area is astonishing
By David B. Williams
The Object at Hand
Casualty of War
A sculptor's provacative memorial acknowledges the high cost of conflict
By Owen Edwards
Presence of Mind
Fatal Triangle
How a dark tale of love, madness and murder in 18th-century London became a story for the ages
By John Brewer
Editor's Note
Digging Deep
For some stories, the roots go way back, even to childhood
By Carey Winfrey, editor
From the Secretary
Science Matters
The Institution decides to focus on four basic questions
By Lawrence M. Small, Secretary
Lewis and Clark
Rocky Mountain High
After a canoe capsizes, the first sight of the mountainous "snowey barrier" lifts the corps' spirits
By Smithsonian magazine






