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Science
Theater of Relief
Medical procedures used to be a scream-filled endurance test until doctors at this Boston institution learned to tame the pain of patients
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Giraffes Might Be Even Smarter Than We Thought. Some Can Solve Simple Math Problems, a New Study Suggests
Two of four tested giraffes seemed to be able to mentally combine numbers to get one of their favorite treats: carrots. But all the animals failed at tasks involving subtraction or multiple calculations
Smart News
Smartphones Might Be Playing a Role in the United States’ Declining Birth Rate, New Research Suggests
Man Sentenced for Stealing ‘Rare and Unique’ Chinese Texts, Valued at More Than $200,000, by Using Aliases, Fake IDs and Dummy Manuscripts
Giraffes Might Be Even Smarter Than We Thought. Some Can Solve Simple Math Problems, a New Study Suggests
Once the World’s Biggest Passenger Ship, This Metal Marvel That Crossed the Atlantic and Took Immigrants to Australia Has a New Museum Home
Scientists Ranked Hundreds of Spider Species by Running Speed. Australia’s Huge, Hairy Brown Huntsman Came Out on Top
Latest Features
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Travel
Rediscovering America’s Original Grand Tour
Follow along as we retrace the route one journalist laid out in “The Fashionable Tour,” from New York City to Niagara Falls, when memories of the fight for independence were still fresh
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History
How to Build a Character
Silence Dogood. Richard Saunders. Benevolus. Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim. All were pen names that allowed Franklin to say things he couldn’t have otherwise said
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Most Popular
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Special Report
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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark
A Smithsonian magazine special issue in celebration of the nation's 250th
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Photo of the Day
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Podcast
Smithsonian Podcast: There’s More to That
Smithsonian magazine covers history, science and culture in the way only it can — through a lens on the world that is insightful and grounded in richly reported stories. In There’s More to That, meet the magazine’s journalists and hear how they discover the forces behind the biggest issues of our time.
Latest Episodes
The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana
April 23, 2026 | 34 minutes
History
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Thousands of Intimate Photographs Reveal the Everyday Lives of the Romanovs, Russia’s Last Imperial Family
The Bolsheviks executed the last czar, Nicholas II, and the rest of his family, including his famous daughter Anastasia, 108 years ago. Surviving snapshots open a portal into the royals’ private world
Science
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A Rare Comet Made History as the Third Known Interstellar Object to Fly Through Our Solar System. Studies Are Now Revealing the Mysterious Conditions in Which It Formed
In the latest research, telescope observations of 3I/ATLAS examine its chemical structure and suggest that it took shape in a peripheral region of a relatively calm planetary system
Innovation
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100 Years Ago, Students Across the U.S. Took the First SAT. Today, Relatively Few Colleges Require the Test. Where Is It Headed?
The standardized exam has evolved over the past century, all in the name of testing for college readiness. Now, it has become a symbol of the American higher education system
Travel
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From a Sea Turtle Release to an Outhouse Race, These Ten Fourth of July Traditions Celebrate America Like No Other
Revelers typically mark Independence Day with a barbecue and fireworks show, but these festivities across the country offer quirky alternatives
Arts & Culture
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Rembrandt Began a Biblical Painting. Another Artist Finished It ‘Rather Crudely.’ Now, Restorations Have Revealed the Long-Lost Original
An art dealer stumbled across “Let the Little Children Come Unto Me” at a German auction house in 2014. Experts have now carefully removed layers of overpaint from the forgotten masterpiece
At the Smithsonian
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This Building Hosted Lincoln’s Inaugural Ball and Displayed the Declaration of Independence. Today, It’s Home to Two World-Class Art Museums
The Old Patent Office Building now houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. A new exhibition spotlights the structure’s rich history of encouraging innovation