History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places Smithsonian Magazine

For years, independent artist and educator Erika Nelson has crisscrossed the country, visiting roadside behemoths, gathering the stories behind them and creating miniature handmade versions.

One Artist's Colossal Quest to Share Her Love of Roadside Americana

At her quirky outpost in Lucas, Kansas, Erika Nelson displays the world’s largest collection of the world’s smallest versions of the world’s largest things

Scientists produced the most complete catalog of marine microbe DNA yet, including data from the deeper zones of the oceans.

DNA From the Ocean's 'Twilight Zone' Could Lead to New Lifesaving Drugs, Scientists Say

Smart News

First Known Piece of Mail Sent Using a Stamp Goes to Auction

January 18, 2024 5:08 p.m.

How Are Tardigrades So 'Indestructible?' Scientists Finally Have an Explanation

January 18, 2024 5:01 p.m.

Meet Elma, a Woolly Mammoth Who Roamed Far and Wide More Than 14,000 Years Ago

January 18, 2024 4:03 p.m.

Archaeologists Discover 4,000-Year-Old Wall Built Around Oasis in Saudi Arabia

January 18, 2024 3:26 p.m.

Traps Scented Like Mink Butts Could Be Key to Removing the Invasive Species From the U.K.

January 18, 2024 2:44 p.m.

Bobi, Known as the 'World's Oldest Dog' at 31, Has Title Suspended Amid Investigation

Updated: January 18, 2024 11:45 a.m. | Originally Published: February 8, 2023

Latest Features

Ringed by dramatic mountains, Cumberland Bay, on the coast of South Georgia Island, is home to whales, seabirds, penguins and elephant seals. The island draws scores of sightseeing cruises each summer.

Humpbacks Have Rebounded in This Spot Decimated by Whaling

January 18, 2024 10:47 a.m.

Verdun, Félix Edouard Vallotton, 1917

As Empires Clashed During World War I, a Global Media Industry Brought the Conflict's Horrors to the Public

January 18, 2024 10:45 a.m.

For years, independent artist and educator Erika Nelson has crisscrossed the country, visiting roadside behemoths, gathering the stories behind them and creating miniature handmade versions.

One Artist's Colossal Quest to Share Her Love of Roadside Americana

January 18, 2024 8:30 a.m.

Accents center on the pronunciation of words, while dialects encompass pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Here, the subjects of Grant Wood's American Gothic channel speaking styles popular in California and New York.

A Brief History of the United States' Accents and Dialects

January 17, 2024

A female elephant seal rests with her pup on the California coast. Pups in this population spend more days fattening up on mother’s milk than in southern populations on the Kerguelen Islands.

Inside Elephant Seal Pups' Race to the Depths

January 16, 2024

The 160-year-old pelt of the woolly dog Mutton in the Smithsonian’s collection

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

What Happened to the Extinct Woolly Dog?

January 16, 2024

Where does the ocean end and the sky begin? It’s a little hard to tell as the sun sets on Aruba’s Baby Beach.

These Inviting Photos Capture the Beauty of the Caribbean

January 12, 2024

CES 2024, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade fair, was held in Las Vegas January 9-12.

The Eight Coolest Inventions From the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show

January 12, 2024

Current Issue
January/February 2024

Smithsonian magazine January/February 2024 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

A Brief History of the United States' Accents and Dialects

Migration patterns, cultural ties, geographic regions and class differences all shape speaking patterns

2.

These Entrancing Maps Capture Where the World's Rivers Go

Cartographer Robert Szucs uses satellite data to make stunning art that shows which oceans waterways empty into

3.

At the Smithsonian

What Happened to the Extinct Woolly Dog?

Researchers studying the 160-year-old fur of a dog named Mutton in the Smithsonian collections found that the Indigenous breed existed for at least 5,000 years before European colonizers eradicated it

4.

See the Face of Roman Britain's Only Known Crucifixion Victim

A forensic artist has reimagined what the man may have looked like 2,000 years ago

5.

Lost Cities of the Amazon Discovered From the Air

Mapping technology cut through the canopy to detect sprawling urban structures in Bolivia that suggest sophisticated cultures once existed

Special Report

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Alaska

Alaska is nicknamed "The Great Land," and for good reason: it is wild, rugged and expansive. In a series of articles, Smithsonian magazine explores the history, culture and natural wonders of the 49th state.

View Full Report

Featured Stories

Alps-Style Hut-to-Hut Travel Is On Its Way to Alaska

The World’s Most Grueling Race Journeys 1,000 Miles Down the Yukon

These Students Are Part of a 75-Year Study to Map Alaska’s Glaciers

Made Possible Through the Support of

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Smithsonian Videos

Preview thumbnail for video 'The Ultimate Skywatching Guide for Every Season

The Ultimate Skywatching Guide for Every Season

Preview thumbnail for video 'The Best Small Towns to Celebrate Winter

The Best Small Towns to Celebrate Winter

Preview thumbnail for video 'Ten Fun Facts About Butterflies

Ten Fun Facts About Butterflies

Photo of the day

Hornbill bird was searching for insects between bushes till he caught one and threw it to get it inside his mouth.

Hornbill Eating an Insect

History

Verdun, Félix Edouard Vallotton, 1917

As Empires Clashed During World War I, a Global Media Industry Brought the Conflict's Horrors to the Public

An exhibition at LACMA traces the roots of modern media to the Great War, when propaganda mobilized the masses, and questions whether the brutal truths of the battlefield can ever really be communicated

Accents center on the pronunciation of words, while dialects encompass pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Here, the subjects of Grant Wood's American Gothic channel speaking styles popular in California and New York.

A Brief History of the United States' Accents and Dialects

A Tuskegee study subject gets his blood drawn in the mid-20th century.

What Newly Digitized Records Reveal About the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Science

Plastics break down over time into micro- and nanosized particles that litter our water and air.

One Liter of Bottled Water May Contain 240,000 Tiny Plastic Fragments

A new technique reveals that the liquid may contain 10 to 1000 times more plastic pieces than previously thought

A turtle appears to smile as a dragonfly alights on its nose.

See 25 Breathtaking Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest

Solar eclipse viewers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on October 14, 2023

Nine Dazzling Celestial Events to Watch in 2024

Innovation

CES 2024, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade fair, was held in Las Vegas January 9-12.

The Eight Coolest Inventions From the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show

A solar-powered electric vehicle, an at-home “multiscope,” an office bike that charges your devices and more were unveiled at the annual Las Vegas trade show

Nubian giraffes in South Sudan during an aerial survey in April 2023. The area is home to what is probably the planet’s largest land mammal migration.

Giraffes Are Notoriously Hard to Track, But New Technology Is Helping Scientists Protect the Beloved Species

Sunlight illuminates a plaque in Charleston, South Carolina, honoring 36 likely enslaved people—ranging in age from 3 to over 50—whose remains were discovered in 2013.

A New Project Uses Isotopes to Pinpoint the Birthplaces of the Enslaved

Arts & Culture

Persimmons will hang at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum for a brief three weeks.

'Zen Mona Lisa' Travels to the United States for the Very First Time

Titled "Six Persimmons," the famous 13th-century work hasn't left Japan for hundreds of years

Left, a 1932 self-portrait by Lee Miller. Right, a 1943 portrait of Miller by American photojournalist David Scherman.

How Lee Miller, a Magazine Model and Muse, Became a Daring World War II Photographer

A glass of homemade eggnog dusted with cinnamon is a mouthwatering prospect to some—and an abomination to others.

The Uniquely American History of Eggnog, Everyone's Favorite—or Least Favorite—Holiday Quaff

Travel

Born in Cameroon, Ada Anagho Brown moved to the United States as a child and now plans trips to Central and West African countries based on her clients’ DNA.

A Journey to Discover an African Homeland

New generations of Black Americans are taking intimate tours that connect them with the lands and cultures their ancestors were forced to leave behind

Where does the ocean end and the sky begin? It’s a little hard to tell as the sun sets on Aruba’s Baby Beach.

These Inviting Photos Capture the Beauty of the Caribbean

Backpackers hike near Crescent Lake in Alaska's Chugach National Forest.

Alps-Style Hut-to-Hut Travel Is On Its Way to Alaska

At the Smithsonian

The 160-year-old pelt of the woolly dog Mutton in the Smithsonian’s collection

What Happened to the Extinct Woolly Dog?

Researchers studying the 160-year-old fur of a dog named Mutton in the Smithsonian collections found that the Indigenous breed existed for at least 5,000 years before European colonizers eradicated it

For the year 2024, here are 24 things to look forward to at the Smithsonian.

Twenty-Four Smithsonian Shows to See in 2024

This blue whale skull is one of the largest in any collection on earth.

How an Eye-Popping Museum Specimen Boosted the Beleaguered Blue Whale