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Latest Features

The mailbox for letters to Santa Claus at the home of the Parsons family in Pennsylvania, on December 10, 2020

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Kids Send Thousands of Letters to Santa Each Year. Here's What Really Happens to Them

A horse at the Minnesota State Fair receives attention and affection from visitors.

TRAVEL

These 15 Majestic Photos Show Just Why Humans Adore Horses

Photographs of “disappeared” Argentines inside a courtoom in September 2024, during one of 17 ongoing trials of former junta officials.

HISTORY

Four Decades After the Fall of Argentina’s Dictatorship, a Fight Over the Country’s Darkest Chapter Is Reopening Grievous Wounds

An 1812 illustration of a private from the Fifth West India Regiment. In the 1790s, the remaining members of the Carolina Corps became part of the newly established First West India Regiment.

HISTORY

These Black Soldiers Fought for the British During the American Revolution in Exchange for Freedom From Slavery

On the weekend when Catholics celebrate St. Martin’s Day, the beginning of the “reveling season” of winter, Mirano’s central square is completely transformed into a giant, 16th-century board game.

TRAVEL

The Italian Town That Becomes a Giant, Goose-Themed Board Game Each Fall

The life spans of these animals amaze scientists.

SCIENCE

From Giant Tortoises to Immortal Jellyfish, These Impressive Animals Are Eight of the Longest-Living Species on Earth

This year's favorites include Light in the Underworld, Juneteenth Rodeo and Sea Beach.

SMART NEWS

The Ten Best Photography Books of 2024

Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence yet that healthy vertebrates can have brain microbiomes.

SCIENCE

Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too?

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine December 2024 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Smart News

A Paleontologist Cracked Open a Rock and Discovered a Prehistoric Amphibian With a Clever Survival Strategy

Named "Ninumbeehan dookoodukah" by Eastern Shoshone students and elders, the creature burrowed in riverbeds to stay moist during extreme droughts

2.

Smart News

Geneticists Solve the Mystery of Why Some Cats Are Orange—and Why They Tend to Be Males

Two new, preliminary papers identify a gene related to a cat’s coloration. The work also explains why tortoiseshell and calico cats tend to be females

3.

Science

From Giant Tortoises to Immortal Jellyfish, These Impressive Animals Are Eight of the Longest-Living Species on Earth

Aging gracefully comes naturally to these creatures, which can live for hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of years

4.

Smart News

Researchers Thought They Found Amelia Earhart's Missing Plane. It Turned Out to Be a Plane-Shaped Pile of Rocks

Months after capturing a promising sonar image, they learned that the blurry object was nothing more than a rock formation that resembled the aviator's Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft

5.

Smart News

A Little Boy Found a Strange Stone on the Beach. Archaeologists Told Him It Was a Neanderthal's Hand Ax

The artifact is now on display at a museum in southern England. Experts say the find is "so rare that most qualified archaeologists would never find one themselves"

Smithsonian Voices
National Museum of Natural History

Newly Described Fossil From Wyoming Sheds Light on When Frogs and Toads Lost Their Teeth

Smithsonian American Women's History Museum

What Drives Their Support? Our Donors Share the Stories

Smithsonian Books

Ten Smithsonian Books for Every Reader on Your Holiday List

Smithsonian Affiliations

How a 1941 Steam Locomotive Became an Inspiration for a Blockbuster Movie

Smithsonian American Women's History Museum

Environmental Justice Academy Educates and Inspires Youth for Innovative Change

Life on a Sustainable Planet

Science on Wheels: The Little Bus That Could

See All

Special Report
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Our Sustainable Future

A hub dedicated to the latest on how global change affects life on Earth today and on what solutions scientists, including those at the Smithsonian, are researching to build a more sustainable planet

View Full Report

Featured Stories

In Miami, the Nation’s First Chief Heat Officer Charts a Course for Surviving on a Warming Planet

Inside the Effort to Save Earth's Biocrusts

Can the Noise in Sports Arenas Be Turned Into Electricity?

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Smithsonian Videos

Preview thumbnail for video '10 Fun Facts About Jellyfish

10 Fun Facts About Jellyfish

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

The Ultimate Skywatching Guide for Every Season

Preview thumbnail for video '10 Enchanting Butterfly Facts Revealed!

10 Enchanting Butterfly Facts Revealed!

Photo of the day

We were seated at the window of this Czech restaurant in Prague, like we were in a fishbowl. It was the best seat in the house watching tourists walk thru Old Town. This handsome man planned and surprised me with this trip to Europe. And it was magical. This picture postcard photo says it all. From the Outside Looking In

History

In the early ninth century, a Frankish courtier used a story of demonic possession to criticize the realm’s leaders for their “manifold sins.”

How a Tale of Demonic Possession Predicted the Decline of an Early Medieval Empire

A new book examines the rise and fall of the Carolingian dynasty, discussing how people across social classes understood the momentous history of their day

Pages from the diary of Yitskhok Rudashevski

The Discovery of a Jewish Teenager’s Holocaust Diary Reveals How Songs, Jokes and Stories Served as Cultural Resistance

Smithsonian's picks for the best history books of 2024 include The Barn, Eden Undone and The Wide Wide Sea.

The Ten Best History Books of 2024

Science

A view of the soft-bottomed Los Angeles River below the 400-foot-long Taylor Yard Bridge in Elysian Valley. The newest Taylor Yard parcel, currently fenced off as it undergoes toxic remediation, can be seen on the far right.

How the Arrival of an Endangered Bird Indicates What’s Possible for the L.A. River

Could the waterway that the city was built around make a comeback?

By examining the fossils of ancient creatures, scientists are able to see the origins of features that make mammals different from other animals.

How to Make a Mammal in Nine Evolutionary Steps

A photo of Neptune, taken by the Voyager 2 probe, with the colors rebalanced to represent its truest appearance

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made About Neptune

Innovation

Thirty-six homes—the world’s last topped with a traditional eelgrass roof—all sit here on Laeso.

Could Eelgrass Be the Next Big Bio-Based Building Material?

On the island of Laeso in Denmark, one man is reviving the lost art of eelgrass thatching and, in doing so, bringing attention to a plant that has great potential

John Larson's original polygraph, a gift to the Smithsonian from the Berkeley Police Department, where Larson was the first rookie cop with a PhD.

Why the Creator of One of the First ‘Lie Detectors’ Lived to Regret His Invention

“Cité Mémoire” is a digital multimedia installation illustrating the moments that have shaped Montreal’s last 400 years.

Cities Are Projecting Their History Onto Streets and Buildings After Dark

Travel

“Cité Mémoire” is a digital multimedia installation illustrating the moments that have shaped Montreal’s last 400 years.

Cities Are Projecting Their History Onto Streets and Buildings After Dark

Pedestrians in Montreal, Grand Rapids and other locations can time-travel thanks to installations that map historical scenes directly onto the cityscapes

The Ofaerufoss waterfall is part of the Nyrdri-Ofaera River, meaning the “impassable northern river.” The river flows into Eldgja, or the “Canyon of Fire.”  

Go Chasing Waterfalls With These 15 Awe-Inspiring Images

Sculpted monsters, open tombs and dramatic depictions of supernatural combatants make visiting the Sacro Bosco more akin to braving a Renaissance version of a haunted house.

Discover the Mysteries of Italy's Park of Monsters, a 16th-Century Garden Filled With Strange, Colossal Stone Creatures

Arts & Culture

The theme of this year's creepy doll contest at the History Center of Olmsted County is "Circus After Dark."

The Creepy Doll Contest Is Back—and It's Time to Cast Your Vote for the Most Terrifying Toy

Step right up and see the spooky circus dolls—from creepy clowns to frightening fortune-tellers—in a Minnesota museum's vintage toy collection

Mask, Jackson Pollock, 1941

Before He Created His Vibrant Drip Paintings, Jackson Pollock Took Inspiration From Pablo Picasso

The Ofaerufoss waterfall is part of the Nyrdri-Ofaera River, meaning the “impassable northern river.” The river flows into Eldgja, or the “Canyon of Fire.”  

Go Chasing Waterfalls With These 15 Awe-Inspiring Images

At the Smithsonian

Pages from the diary of Yitskhok Rudashevski

The Discovery of a Jewish Teenager’s Holocaust Diary Reveals How Songs, Jokes and Stories Served as Cultural Resistance

Yitskhok Rudashevski documented his life while hiding from Nazis, as well as folklore told in his community that “must be collected and preserved as a treasure for the future”

This year's list includes Clouds in Space, The Manicurist's Daughter and The Ministry of Time.

The Best Books of 2024, as Chosen by Smithsonian Scholars

A sculptor's rendering of "Lucy," Australopithecus afarensis, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on August 28, 2007, in Houston, Texas.

What 'Lucy,' One of the World's Most Important Fossils, Has Taught Scientists in the 50 Years Since Her Discovery