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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
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America’s Original Travel Influencer Drew Up a Revolutionary Itinerary 200 Years Ago. There’s Still Plenty to See Along the Way
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
Smart News
This T. Rex Fossil Could Fetch the Largest Sum of Any Dinosaur Ever Auctioned. Scientists Worry They’ll Lose the Chance to Study It
Artemis 1’s Orion Spacecraft Withstood the Heat of Re-entry in a Critical Test for Humans’ Return to the Moon. Now, NASA Will Loan the Historic Capsule to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
The Largest Operating Steam Locomotive in the World Weighs 1.2 Million Pounds. Now, the Historic Train May Be Coming to Your Town
Cancer Cases Are Expected to Nearly Double by 2050, Warns the WHO. Low-Income Countries Will Be Disproportionately Affected
Nearly 150 Gray Whales Have Been Found Dead Along North America’s Pacific Shore This Year, Prompting Scientists to Sound the Alarm
Latest Features
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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
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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
How Did It Feel to Be an American Colonist in 1776? Probably Itchy, Achy and Slightly Nauseated
Elizebeth Smith Friedman Was the U.S. Government’s First Woman Codebreaker. She Cracked Nazi Codes, Saved 8,000 Lives and Pioneered Modern Codebreaking
Meet Julia Ward Howe, the Remarkable Poet Who Wrote the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ and Fought for Women’s Suffrage
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Most Popular
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Special Report
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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark
A Smithsonian magazine special issue in celebration of the nation's 250th
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Photo of the Day
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Patterns of the Earth
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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
The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana
April 23, 2026 | 34 minutes
History
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Take an Exclusive Look at Three Newly Discovered Medieval Shipwrecks in Menorca’s ‘Cove of Mysteries’
Meteorological tsunamis likely sank the 13th-century trading vessels, whose cargo included objects from both Christian kingdoms and Moorish communities on the Iberian Peninsula
Science
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A Rare Comet Made History as the Third Known Interstellar Object to Fly Through Our Solar System. Studies Are Now Revealing the Mysterious Conditions in Which It Formed
In the latest research, telescope observations of 3I/ATLAS examine its chemical structure and suggest that it took shape in a peripheral region of a relatively calm planetary system
Innovation
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100 Years Ago, Students Across the U.S. Took the First SAT. Today, Relatively Few Colleges Require the Test. Where Is It Headed?
The standardized exam has evolved over the past century, all in the name of testing for college readiness. Now, it has become a symbol of the American higher education system
Travel
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From a Sea Turtle Release to an Outhouse Race, These Ten Fourth of July Traditions Celebrate America Like No Other
Revelers typically mark Independence Day with a barbecue and fireworks show, but these festivities across the country offer quirky alternatives
Arts & Culture
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Rembrandt Began a Biblical Painting. Another Artist Finished It ‘Rather Crudely.’ Now, Restorations Have Revealed the Long-Lost Original
An art dealer stumbled across “Let the Little Children Come Unto Me” at a German auction house in 2014. Experts have now carefully removed layers of overpaint from the forgotten masterpiece
At the Smithsonian
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This Building Hosted Lincoln’s Inaugural Ball and Displayed the Declaration of Independence. Today, It’s Home to Two World-Class Art Museums
The Old Patent Office Building now houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. A new exhibition spotlights the structure’s rich history of encouraging innovation