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

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

As archaeologists study the work of ancient artists, they notice that the images aren’t simply static; some are painted into the contours of the rock, and others are set in motion in torchlight

Ben Crair

Jill Garrett's Head in the Clouds won second place in the studio portrait category.

Smart News

See the Impressive Winning Images of Adorable, Somber and Commanding Canines From the 2026 Dog Photography Awards

October 5, 2026 9:24 a.m.

Smart News

Trio of Scientists Wins Medicine Nobel for a Method to Turn Nerve Cells On and Off With Light, Helping to Unravel the Brain’s Mysteries

October 5, 2026 3:33 p.m.

A New Exhibition Reveals How Hot Pink Togas and Floral Perfumes Conveyed Power in the Roman Empire

October 5, 2026 3:00 p.m.

Remarkable Fossil of a Feathered, Winged Dinosaur Further Hints That Flight Evolved Multiple Times Among the ‘Terrible Lizards’

October 5, 2026 11:53 a.m.

See the Impressive Winning Images of Adorable, Somber and Commanding Canines From the 2026 Dog Photography Awards

October 5, 2026 9:24 a.m.

The Roman City of Claudivium Disappeared From Historical Records Almost 2,000 Years Ago. It May Have Been Hiding in Austria

October 5, 2026 9:00 a.m.

More Smart News

Latest Features

The specimen of the last known passenger pigeon, Martha, preserved in the Smithsonian’s collection. Martha died in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo.

At the Smithsonian

These Five Birds Have Disappeared Forever. Their History Offers a Valuable Lesson for the Future

October 5, 2026 1:38 p.m.

Pottery fragments from Etowah in Georgia, where people of the Mississippian culture built large earthen mounds

Science

Ancient Pottery Reveals the Earliest Known Traces of Chocolate East of the Mississippi, Painting a Picture of Connection in the Americas

October 2, 2026

A giant panda peers through the trees and gazes at the photographer at a nature reserve in China’s Qinling mountain range.

Science

These 15 Adorable Photos of Pandas Will Make You Want to Visit the Zoo Immediately

October 2, 2026

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

October 1, 2026

With so many food products now touting added protein, consumers have been left wondering how much is really necessary.

Science

Is More Protein Always Better? Despite the Craze Around the Nutrient, Research-Backed Evidence About Its Benefits Is Complicated

September 30, 2026

All of the sites on the Shikoku Pilgrimage are associated with Kobo Daishi, a Japanese monk who lived during the ninth century and founded Shingon, a major school of Buddhism that focuses on the attainment of enlightenment during a practitioner’s lifetime.

Travel

Japan’s Smallest and Least-Populated Major Island Is a World of Pilgrimages, Delicious Food and Plenty of Forest Bathing

September 29, 2026

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

Give a Gift Renew

September/October 2026

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

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

Most Popular

Smart News

A Shark Was Spotted Swimming Through the Flooded Streets of New Jersey During the Nor’easter

Smart News

A New Exhibition Spotlights 4,500 Years of Broken, Shot-Up and Degraded Artworks to Explore the ‘Power of the Fragment’

Smart News

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

Smart News

Meet This Year’s Chonky Champion of Fat Bear Week: Backpack, a Laid-Back 20-Year-Old Male Who’s a ‘Stoic Presence on the River’

Smart News

England’s Beloved Sycamore Gap Tree Is Showing Signs of Life, Three Years After Vandals Chopped It Down

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

A female sword-billed hummingbird takes a rest outside of Hacienda del Bosque, a small birding eco lodge outside of Manizales, Colombia.

Sword or Spear

By Rhys Logan

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

Sign Up

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.

Listen In

Latest Episodes

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

Mysterious ‘Anomalies’ Have Been Detected Beyond King Tut’s Tomb. Could They Be Secret Passageways Leading to the Long-Lost Remains of Queen Nefertiti?

Geophysical surveys provide new evidence for a theory that the Egyptian pharaoh was interred in the outer rooms of an existing burial complex. Researchers are trying to get approval to investigate for themselves

September 25, 2026

Who Wrote Elizabeth I’s Most Scathing Letters? New Research Suggests the Tudor Queen’s Male Secretaries Revised Her Correspondence to Emphasize Her Temper

September 28, 2026

Hitler Had an Intense, Mysterious Relationship With His Half-Niece. New Research Suggests His Alibi for Her Murder Might Not Hold Up

September 25, 2026

More History

Science

Ancient Pottery Reveals the Earliest Known Traces of Chocolate East of the Mississippi, Painting a Picture of Connection in the Americas

A new archaeological discovery suggests that people in present-day Georgia have feasted with cacao for 1,000 years

October 2, 2026

Is More Protein Always Better? Despite the Craze Around the Nutrient, Research-Backed Evidence About Its Benefits Is Complicated

September 30, 2026

Archaeologists Are Reconstructing the ‘Invisible’ Technologies of the Stone Age, From Rope to Thread and Twine

September 21, 2026

More Science

Innovation

The story of the bedpan is about love and hate, germs and illness, dignity and shame, and, inherently, urine and feces.

The Humble History of the Bedpan

Over the past few centuries, inventors have tweaked the design of the receptacles here and there, but overall, not much has changed about the dependable medical supply

September 24, 2026