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Latest Features

An elaborate dance sequence from the 1943 production, choreographed by Agnes de Mille

HISTORY

Behind 'Oklahoma!' Lies the Remarkable Story of a Gay Cherokee Playwright

The octagonal building with its tongue-in-groove peaked roof is "really a beautiful piece of architecture,” says the museum's conservator Dawn Wallace. “You can tell it was heavily used, but it’s beautiful construction.”

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Crowds Roared, a Century Ago, on Opening Day for the Mighty House That Ruth Built

Saylor Flett, left, fans flames ignited by Jeff Greef. Air quality, weather and even bird migration affect when it’s safe to conduct a burn.

SCIENCE

Fighting Fire With Fire in California

An artist’s reconstruction of Rhinesuchus, a rhinesuchid temnospondyl

SCIENCE

Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians

An anonymous watercolor portrait of Francis Johnson holding an early 19th-century horn

ARTS & CULTURE

Long Before Jazz, Frank Johnson Was Playing the Hottest Music in America

Archaeologists collect samples from a prehistoric caribou hunting site on Alpena-Amberley Ridge in Lake Huron.

HISTORY

Clues to the Lives of North America's First Inhabitants Are Hidden Underwater

Have any modern animals adapted to human activity through natural selection?   

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Have Any Animals Evolved to Adapt to Human Activity?

Live oaks in Beaufort, South Carolina, photographed using an old-fashioned wet-plate process

SCIENCE

The Live Oak Tree Has Withstood the Ravages of History

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine March 2023 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Smart News

Grandson of President John Tyler, Who Left Office in 1845, Dies at Age 95

Born 14 years after the nation's founding, the tenth commander-in-chief still has one living grandson

2.

Smart News

At Long Last, Mathematicians Have Found a Shape With a Pattern That Never Repeats

Experts have searched for decades for a polygon that only makes non-repeating patterns. But no one knew it was possible until now

3.

Smart News

The Distinctive ‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Likely the Result of the Royal Family’s Inbreeding

New research finds correlation between how inbred rulers of a notoriously intermarrying dynasty were and the prominence of their jutting jaw

4.

Smart News

The Museum of Failure Celebrates Some of the World's Biggest Flops

Now on view in New York City, the traveling exhibition presents failure as a critical learning opportunity

5.

History

What Archaeologists Can Learn From Submerged Prehistory

Submerged prehistory holds insights on the first humans to live in North America

Smithsonian Voices
National Portrait Gallery

Silhouette Sleuthing

Smithsonian Associates

A Grand Tour of the Solar System and More Programs in April

National Museum of American History

Celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month and More, Check Out These April Happenings

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

How To Take a Product Line on the Road in the Early 20th Century

Smithsonian Channel

When Disaster Strikes, the Human Spirit Rises to the Occasion

National Museum of Natural History

Peer Through the Glare to Glimpse the Night Sky in New Smithsonian Exhibition

See All

Special Report
The sun sets over the Susquehanna River in northern Pennsylvania.

America's Waterways: The Past, Present and Future

Scientists endlessly study lakes and rivers, historians document them, artists paint them, and travelers continue to explore them. In a series of articles, Smithsonian magazine highlights all that draws our eyes to our nation's fresh and coastal waters.

View Full Report

Featured Stories

How 'Daylighting' Buried Waterways Is Revitalizing Cities Across America

What Makes the Buffalo River the Jewel of the Ozarks

See Thousands of Sandhill Cranes Gather in Nebraska

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Smithsonian Channel

Preview thumbnail for video 'Unfathomable Cruelty at the Heart of Hitler’s Russian Invasion

Unfathomable Cruelty at the Heart of Hitler’s Russian Invasion

Play
Preview thumbnail for video 'African-Americans Came out of the Civil War and Ran into Jim Crow

African-Americans Came out of the Civil War and Ran into Jim Crow

Preview thumbnail for video 'Drones Now Play an Active Role in Sea Turtle Census

Drones Now Play an Active Role in Sea Turtle Census

Photo of the day

Aqueduct of Segovia SEGOVIA

History

An elaborate dance sequence from the 1943 production, choreographed by Agnes de Mille

Behind 'Oklahoma!' Lies the Remarkable Story of a Gay Cherokee Playwright

Lynn Riggs wrote the play that served as the basis of the hit 1943 musical

A portrait of Minerva Parker Nichols

History Forgot Minerva Parker Nichols, the Country's First Solo Woman Architect

Archaeologists collect samples from a prehistoric caribou hunting site on Alpena-Amberley Ridge in Lake Huron.

Clues to the Lives of North America's First Inhabitants Are Hidden Underwater

Science

Several private companies are designing space stations that may eventually orbit Earth.

The ISS Will Fall From the Sky After the End of the Decade. What Will Replace It?

As NASA plans to retire the orbiting laboratory, these four privately owned and operated space stations are under development

Live oaks in Beaufort, South Carolina, photographed using an old-fashioned wet-plate process

The Live Oak Tree Has Withstood the Ravages of History

Skywatchers can see five planets this week.

How to Watch Five Planets Align in the Night Sky This Week

Innovation

Dairy farms like this one run by the Barstow family in Hadley, Massachusetts, make smart use of a substance cows produce in abundance.

How Dairy Farmers Are Turning Manure Into Money

These New Englanders have found a way to help the planet and convert more than 9,000 tons of cow waste annually into electricity

One of the scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

You Could Win $1 Million by Deciphering These Ancient Roman Scrolls

To collect a saliva sample, technicians instruct a person to tilt their head for two to five minutes and spit the accumulated saliva into a sterile tube. The saliva-filled tube is kept on ice and sent to the laboratory to test for the presence of biomarkers for cancer or other diseases.

Is Saliva the Next Frontier in Cancer Detection?

Arts & Culture

Edward Brooke-Hitching's The Madman Gallery spotlights such artworks as John Singer Sargent's Portrait of Madame X, a statue of Glycon and Franz Xaver Messerschmidt's Character Heads.

The Most Enigmatic Works in Art History

A new book highlights 100 artistic curiosities, from the nude "Mona Lisa" to portraits of a dog-headed saint

On the show, experts give contestants advice about Vermeer’s lost paintings.

Dutch Artists Compete to Paint Like Vermeer in New Reality Show

A 1903 photograph of Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Brief but Shining Life of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a Poet Who Gave Dignity to the Black Experience

Travel

The rocky beach in Wrangell, Alaska, is decorated with more than 40 petroglyphs.

The Mystery of This Petroglyph-Covered Alaskan Beach

The 8,000-year-old rock carvings were likely created by the Tlingit

A sunet behind the mountains in what is now the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada

Biden Designates Two New National Monuments

More than two million people visit Chichén Itzá in Mexico each year.

Mexico's Chichén Itzá Is Getting a New Museum

At the Smithsonian

The octagonal building with its tongue-in-groove peaked roof is "really a beautiful piece of architecture,” says the museum's conservator Dawn Wallace. “You can tell it was heavily used, but it’s beautiful construction.”

Crowds Roared, a Century Ago, on Opening Day for the Mighty House That Ruth Built

An original Yankee Stadium ticket booth recalls the story of that first game, which featured a thundering three-run homer from the Great Bambino

The museum's curator Ryan Lintelman says the egg is emblematic of the cultural import of Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley, who battles the magnificently ugly "xenomorph."

Smithsonian Curator Reveals New Details on an Egg From Sigourney Weaver’s Iconic ‘Alien’ Franchise

Have any modern animals adapted to human activity through natural selection?   

Have Any Animals Evolved to Adapt to Human Activity?