Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

This is my best side 

Smart News

See the Hilarious Animal Shenanigans Captured in Photos and Videos Shortlisted for the 2026 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

From a sneezing moose to a real-life angry bird, this year's competition received a whopping more than 10,000 entries from 112 countries

Margherita Bassi

A close-up view of a 1798 Gilbert Stuart portrait of Louis-Marie, Viscount de Noailles

History

The Marquis de Lafayette’s Brother-in-Law Participated in Three Revolutionary Wars, Supporting American Independence but Brutally Suppressing an Uprising by Enslaved Africans in Haiti

Stay Up to Date

Get the latest from Smithsonian magazine in your inbox.

Get the latest stories delivered to your inbox every weekday.

A bi-weekly newsletter bringing you thought-provoking perspectives on art, culture and exciting destinations.

A bi-weekly newsletter sharing new discoveries, fascinating stories and enhanced understandings of our past.

A monthly newsletter bringing you the most interesting new research on wildlife, the environment, space, psychology, paleo history and beyond.

Stay connected to new research, exhibits and fascinating stories stemming from the collections of your favorite Smithsonian museums.

Email Powered by Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Privacy Notice / Terms & Conditions)

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

Give a Gift Renew
Smithsonian magazine September/October 2026 issue cover
Anahuacalli Museum-Opener
Travel The Marvelous Museums of Mexico City
The ancient capital has plenty of artwork and fossils, if that’s what you like. Or tour the writing rooms of a Nobel winner, the fortified home of an exiled Russian revolutionary and towers of skulls
OPENER - A giant Atlantic cockle lies open on the beach in Fort Myers, Florida, while a beachcomber searches for shells in the background.
Science Who Dwells in a Shell?
Before they become sandy souvenirs, the baubles in the bubbles of the shoreline serve as a veritable fortress for creatures like clams, mussels and conchs
A sample of cerebrospinal fluid
Innovation Solving the Long Covid Puzzle
Long Covid saps the strength and vitality of patients, who have little recourse to fight it. A team of specialists—including an afflicted researcher working mostly from her bed—is looking for answers

Photo of the Day

Created using analog double exposure, this image layers multiple passersby beneath a stone archway, compressing separate moments into one frame. The merging of figures and architecture reflects the continuity of human presence within historic spaces, where individual lives pass quickly but collective memory endures.

Echoes of Passage

Get the Photo of the Day directly to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter.

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