A large pumpkin sculpture by Yayoi Kusama, on view at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2023. The Japanese artist died this month.

Yayoi Kusama Created Fantastical ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’ That Became the Art World’s Most Famous Backdrops. Her Work Spanned Counterculture to the Cosmos

The Japanese artist, who died on August 14 at 97, sought solace from hallucinations in her art, developing a visual language of polka dots, pumpkins and mirrors that entranced the world

Chris Klimek

A 1945 photo of Francis Lowell Coolidge (third from left) in the Pacific theater of World War II

History

This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II

August 27, 2026 8:33 a.m.

Smart News

Snails Can Make Their Slime Sticky, Slippery, Foamy or Hard Depending on Their Needs. Here’s How They Tweak Their Multipurpose Mucus

August 27, 2026 4:04 p.m.

1,800 Volunteers Pull a 400-Ton Japanese Castle Keep Back Toward Its Original Location After a Decade of Restoration Work

August 27, 2026 3:43 p.m.

What Are Mel Brooks’ Favorite Movies? To Celebrate His 100th Birthday, the Comedy Legend Picks 20 Films to Screen Across Los Angeles

August 27, 2026 3:23 p.m.

A Historic Alabama Hotel Linked to the Civil Rights Movement Is Falling Apart. Can the Conservationists Fighting to Save It Turn the Tide?

August 27, 2026 2:35 p.m.

Why Was This 17th-Century Polish Woman Buried With a Padlock on Her Toe and an Iron Sickle Across Her Neck?

August 27, 2026 1:51 p.m.

More Smart News

Latest Features

At the Smithsonian

Yayoi Kusama Created Fantastical ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’ That Became the Art World’s Most Famous Backdrops. Her Work Spanned Counterculture to the Cosmos

August 27, 2026 11:59 a.m.

History

This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II

August 27, 2026 8:33 a.m.

Tennis courts where the author played at Outbound Sedona in the Arizona heat

Science

Tennis Matches Are Heating Up, Literally. Here’s How the Court Became a Living Laboratory for Managing Extreme Temperatures

August 27, 2026 8:00 a.m.

In Spain’s Cave of El Castillo, red ochre paintings depict rooflike shapes from the Upper Paleolithic.

History

The Prehistoric Paintings on the Walls of Caves Have Always Been Moving. But With the Right Kind of Light, Some Actually Seem to Move

September/October 2026

Arts & Culture

Dolly Parton Was One of the Biggest Stars in the History of Country Music. She Wanted to Be Remembered as a Songwriter

August 26, 2026

History

To Dismantle the Concept of Separate but Equal, Thurgood Marshall Methodically Devised a Winning Strategy: Divide and Conquer

September/October 2026

Uncovering the past. Understanding the present. Informing the future.

Give a Gift Renew

Summer 2026

The “Ether Dome” at Massachusetts General Hospital is now a National Historic Landmark.

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

The view from Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, New York.

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

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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History

When a Carpenter in California Found a Nugget of Gold, It Started a Rush Toward Nothing Less Than the Modern World

At the Smithsonian

See the Cutest Photos of Three Red Panda Cubs Born at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute This Year

Smart News

Scientists Gave Dogs MRIs and Learned That They’re Surprisingly Good at Distinguishing Between Human Emotions, Even Some Negative Ones

Smart News

Archaeologists Have Found Thousands of Intact Ancient Human Brains. Scientists Say They’ve Figured Out Why the Organs Don’t Always Rot

Voices

These Photos Visualize the Legacy of Peter Spencer, Founder of America’s First Independent Black Church

Special Report

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

A Smithsonian magazine special issue in celebration of the nation's 250th

View Full Report

Featured Stories

Arts & Culture

Georgia O’Keeffe Ignored Advice to Mimic Great European Masters. Her Goal Instead Was to Be a Great American Painter

O’Keeffe’s New Mexico studio Ghost Ranch. Opposite, a 1918 photo portrait by future husband Alfred Stieglitz.

History

Born in 1810, Margaret Fuller Was Labeled a Child Prodigy. She Later Used Her Intellect to Ask Important Questions About Women’s Role in America

A portrait of Fuller, inspired by her 1845 Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which argued for equality of the sexes. The book’s opening illustration featured mystical symbols of harmonizing opposites, including the Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail.

History

The American Revolution’s Overlooked Influence? Physics. How ‘Common Sense’ Spelled Out Astronomical Expectations for a New Nation

After Isaac Newton, above, revolutionized celestial mechanics, admirers such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Paine, left, saw in Newton’s natural laws a model for democratic self-government.

Photo of the Day

I lived in the California desert a few years back and I often walked the zoo and gardens located there. I was able to visit this year and knew exactly where to go for my favorite images.

A Hungry Butterfly

By Michele Hughes

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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.

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The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana

April 23, 2026 | 34 minutes

A Photographer’s Glimpse Into the Dwindling World of the Cascade Red Fox

April 9, 2026 | 32 minutes

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams’ ‘Remember the Ladies’ Letter

March 26, 2026 | 31 minutes

Venomous Snakes Represent a Serious Public Health Problem. Scientists Are Biting Back With a Groundbreaking Antidote

March 12, 2026 | 28 minutes

History

An archaeologist holds the triangular padlock found around the Polish woman's left big toe.

Why Was This 17th-Century Polish Woman Buried With a Padlock on Her Toe and an Iron Sickle Across Her Neck?

New research suggests that the people who buried the young woman took precautionary measures to stop her from coming back to life and exacting revenge on them

August 27, 2026 1:51 p.m.

This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II

August 27, 2026 8:33 a.m.

Centuries Ago, Europeans Were Plagued by Constant Flooding, With 16 Major Events That Killed Thousands Over the Course of Just Three Years

August 24, 2026

More History

Science

Tennis Matches Are Heating Up, Literally. Here’s How the Court Became a Living Laboratory for Managing Extreme Temperatures

The sport’s hard-court surfaces can reach some 30 degrees hotter than the surrounding air. With elite players suffering heat illness on the world stage, athletes are following personalized cooling plans

August 27, 2026 8:00 a.m.

Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

September/October 2026

Once the Solar System’s Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here’s Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small, Icy Body

August 24, 2026

More Science

Innovation

Of the estimated 899 species of ticks worldwide, about 90 are found in the continental U.S.; however, only four species are responsible for most of the infections found in the U.S. today.

The First At-Home Test for Infected Ticks Could Improve Lyme Disease Diagnosis

LymeAlert will hit the market in August. The latest tool against the tick-borne illness could become a medicine cabinet staple

July 31, 2026

A Brief History of Hold Music, From Early Patents to the Soundtrack of Customer-Service Purgatory

July 24, 2026

How A.I. Will Reshape Radiology—Without Replacing Radiologists

July 29, 2026

More Innovation

Travel

At Nona Manis, dining guests can enjoy a prix-fixe menu that may include any of these dishes: ikan pindang patin (braised fish), steak semur (steak with kecap manis sauce), laksa (seafood curry soup), oyster sambal matah and oyster gulai Aceh (oyster on the half shell with Balinese sambal and Aceh curry).

A New Generation of Chefs Reimagines Indonesian Cuisine in the Netherlands to Tell the Stories of Its Origins

The shift reflects a larger cultural moment, with chefs asking whether the cuisine should remain tied to colonial nostalgia or evolve into a reflection of modern Indonesian identity

July 30, 2026