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Latest Features

In a version of the iconic "Pillars of Creation" image, the James Webb Space Telescope turned its powerful near-infrared-light cameras on the Eagle Nebula in 2022.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

This Stunning New Atlas Explores Humanity’s Ancient Relationship With Space and the Universe

Just like today's fitness influencers, the celebrities of pedestrianism used their platforms to monetize, popularize and diversify walking. Edward Payson Weston attempted to walk 500 miles in six days.

HISTORY

One of America's First Spectator Sports Was Professional Walking

A photo of Neptune, taken by the Voyager 2 probe, with the colors rebalanced to represent its truest appearance

SCIENCE

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made About Neptune

Quincy Jones at an awards ceremony in 2014

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Quincy Jones Was a ‘Musician’s Musician’ Who Was Uniquely Beloved in the Cutthroat Music Industry

The Offering by Nicole Crowder and Hadiya Williams in "Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial" at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

See What Happened When One Museum Asked Artists to Define ‘Home’

Relatives of James Chaney, a Black man killed for his voting rights activism, at his funeral in 1964

HISTORY

These Black Americans Were Killed for Exercising Their Political Right to Vote

“Cité Mémoire” is a digital multimedia installation illustrating the moments that have shaped Montreal’s last 400 years.

TRAVEL

Cities Are Projecting Their History Onto Streets and Buildings After Dark

A couple visits a cemetery during Day of the Dead, against the backdrop of storm clouds.

ARTS & CULTURE

Celebrate Day of the Dead With These 15 Scenes of Festivities and Remembrance

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine November 2024 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Smart News

Coal Recovered From the Titanic and Thousands of Other Historic Shipwreck Artifacts Are Going to Auction

The Shipwreck Treasure Museum in Cornwall, England, is selling its collection, which includes items connected to nearly 150 shipwrecks

2.

Science

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made About Neptune

Despite the lack of a dedicated mission to the planet, scientists have learned plenty through ground observations and space telescopes

3.

Smart News

Scientists Think a Skeleton Found in a Well Is the Same Man Described in an 800-Year-Old Norse Text

The remains were discovered during excavations in 1938. Now, researchers have learned new information about his identity by analyzing DNA from his tooth

4.

Smart News

See the Breathtaking 14th-Century Sienese Artworks That Helped Set the Italian Renaissance in Motion

This brief chapter of art history is often overlooked. Now, an exhibition in New York City makes a strong argument for the integral role played by four artists in the city of Siena

5.

Smart News

'Found' Dataset Reveals Lost Maya City Full of Pyramids and Plazas, Hiding in Plain Sight Beneath a Mexican Forest

By analyzing an old lidar survey, researchers found evidence of more than 6,500 ancient structures in a previously unexplored area of Campeche

Smithsonian Voices
National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

How Keepers at Smithsonian's National Zoo Help Giant Pandas Feel at Home

National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery Premieres Season Six of PORTRAITS Podcast

Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery

See You Later, Wobbulator

Smithsonian Education

A New Smithsonian Guide Honors the Service and Sacrifice of America’s Veterans

National Museum of Natural History

The Murder Mystery Linking a Bird Specimen at the National Museum of Natural History to the Mysterious Death of an Arctic Explorer

Smithsonian Books

Four Cute Bats to Help You Celebrate Halloween and Bat Week

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Special Report
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Our Sustainable Future

A hub dedicated to the latest on how global change affects life on Earth today and on what solutions scientists, including those at the Smithsonian, are researching to build a more sustainable planet

View Full Report

Featured Stories

In Miami, the Nation’s First Chief Heat Officer Charts a Course for Surviving on a Warming Planet

Inside the Effort to Save Earth's Biocrusts

Can the Noise in Sports Arenas Be Turned Into Electricity?

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10 Fun Facts About Jellyfish

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The Ultimate Skywatching Guide for Every Season

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10 Enchanting Butterfly Facts Revealed!

Photo of the day

Crowned crane. Crowned Crane

History

Teaching in Oxford, England, began no later than 1096. Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded in 1325.

The University of Oxford Is Older Than the Aztec Empire and Other Facts That Will Change Your Perspective on History

The historical timeline you keep in your head might not be as accurate as you think

Relatives of James Chaney, a Black man killed for his voting rights activism, at his funeral in 1964

These Black Americans Were Killed for Exercising Their Political Right to Vote

NBC News' 1988 electoral map marked states won by Republican George H.W. Bush in blue and states won by Democrat Michael Dukakis in red.

When Republicans Became 'Red' and Democrats Became 'Blue'

Science

The crowning glory of the Gardenia brighamii is its pearly flower.

Can Fungi Save This Endangered Hawaiian Tree?

By inoculating greenhouse na’u seedlings with mycorrhizal fungi, researchers hope to boost survival odds when the plants are returned to the wild

Tourists watch leatherback sea turtle hatchlings crawl toward the sea under the glow of less intrusive red lights. Artificial white lighting can attract the hatchlings away from the ocean, where predators may be lurking.

From Prolonging Wallaby Pregnancies to Disorienting Hatchling Turtles, 11 Ways Artificial Lights Affect Animals

A new study suggests that among adolescents mental health disorders could be “socially transmitted,” though its researchers could not establish any direct cause.

Is Depression Contagious?

Innovation

Thirty-six homes—the world’s last topped with a traditional eelgrass roof—all sit here on Laeso.

Could Eelgrass Be the Next Big Bio-Based Building Material?

On the island of Laeso in Denmark, one man is reviving the lost art of eelgrass thatching and, in doing so, bringing attention to a plant that has great potential

John Larson's original polygraph, a gift to the Smithsonian from the Berkeley Police Department, where Larson was the first rookie cop with a PhD.

Why the Creator of One of the First ‘Lie Detectors’ Lived to Regret His Invention

“Cité Mémoire” is a digital multimedia installation illustrating the moments that have shaped Montreal’s last 400 years.

Cities Are Projecting Their History Onto Streets and Buildings After Dark

Arts & Culture

The theme of this year's creepy doll contest at the History Center of Olmsted County is "Circus After Dark."

The Creepy Doll Contest Is Back—and It's Time to Cast Your Vote for the Most Terrifying Toy

Step right up and see the spooky circus dolls—from creepy clowns to frightening fortune-tellers—in a Minnesota museum's vintage toy collection

Mask, Jackson Pollock, 1941

Before He Created His Vibrant Drip Paintings, Jackson Pollock Took Inspiration From Pablo Picasso

The Ofaerufoss waterfall is part of the Nyrdri-Ofaera River, meaning the “impassable northern river.” The river flows into Eldgja, or the “Canyon of Fire.”  

Go Chasing Waterfalls With These 15 Awe-Inspiring Images

Travel

“Cité Mémoire” is a digital multimedia installation illustrating the moments that have shaped Montreal’s last 400 years.

Cities Are Projecting Their History Onto Streets and Buildings After Dark

Pedestrians in Montreal, Grand Rapids and other locations can time-travel thanks to installations that map historical scenes directly onto the cityscapes

The Ofaerufoss waterfall is part of the Nyrdri-Ofaera River, meaning the “impassable northern river.” The river flows into Eldgja, or the “Canyon of Fire.”  

Go Chasing Waterfalls With These 15 Awe-Inspiring Images

Sculpted monsters, open tombs and dramatic depictions of supernatural combatants make visiting the Sacro Bosco more akin to braving a Renaissance version of a haunted house.

Discover the Mysteries of Italy's Park of Monsters, a 16th-Century Garden Filled With Strange, Colossal Stone Creatures

At the Smithsonian

Allosaurus

This Captivating Guide Uncovers the History and Mystery of Dinosaurs in 50 Fossils

A paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London chronicles the age of the famous and fascinating massive reptiles

A polar bear looks out of a window frame on a deserted Russian island.

See 11 of the Best Wildlife Photographs From Years Past

A view of the exhibition "Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return" at the National Portrait Gallery

From Candy to Lightbulbs, Felix Gonzalez-Torres Showed Life and Loss Through Everyday Objects