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Latest Features

Harry Hall, Campbell's chief agricultural expert, inspects tomatoes in his office at Campbell's research farm in Cinnaminson, New Jersey sometime in the 1920s.

INNOVATION

How Campbell Soup Turned New Jersey Into a Tomato-Growing State

A tiger shark swims in the Bahamas. Over the past several decades, the predators ventured farther north in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

SCIENCE

Some Tiger Sharks Are Migrating Farther North Due to Climate Change

A small stretch of an ancient cemetery in Naples is set to open to the public for the first time, shedding new light on the Italian city’s history and ancient Greek artistry.

HISTORY

A Long-Overlooked Necropolis in Naples Reveals the Enduring Influence of Ancient Greece

The Donner Summit tunnels and 13 others in the Sierra Nevada built by Chinese railroad workers remain a testament to ingenuity and industry. 

TRAVEL

The Quest to Protect California's Transcontinental Railroad Tunnels

The remote Kibish Formation, in southern Ethiopia, features layered deposits more than 300 feet thick that have preserved many ancient human tools and remains. 

SCIENCE

East Africa's Oldest Modern Human Fossil Is Way Older Than Previously Thought

Pencil these shows in, but keep your eraser handy. With every hope that Covid-restrictions will soon give way to happier times ahead, the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. and New York City are planning a bright year of grand new showings. 

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Twenty-Two Smithsonian Shows to See in 2022

Bruce Clark, author of the new book Athens: City of Wisdom, outlines the events that culminated in the Elgin Marbles’ extraction from Greece.

HISTORY

How the Much-Debated Elgin Marbles Ended Up in England

Little is known about most magnapinnid, or bigfin squid, species. The individual pictured here was spotted by the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer in the Gulf of Mexico. Recently, a magnapinnid was filmed in the Philippine Trench—the deepest ever sighting of a squid.

SCIENCE

Scientists Find the World's Deepest-Dwelling Squid

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine January/February 2022 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Science

Scientists Find the World's Deepest-Dwelling Squid

Researchers went looking for a war wreck roughly 19,000 feet under the sea—and spotted the animal instead

2.

Smart News

Outdoor Cats Are Using $500 Starlink Satellite Dishes as Self-Heating Beds

The devices—developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX—have a warming feature to prevent snow built up from disrupting the signal

3.

Smart News

Can You Reuse a KN95 or N95 Mask? Experts Say Yes, but Follow These Steps

Regularly check for stretched-out straps, staining, and soiling, which can compromise a masks’ ability to filter viruses like Covid-19

4.

Science

This Terrifying Brazilian Island Has the Highest Concentration of Venomous Snakes Anywhere in the World

Brazil's Ilha de Queimada Grande is the only home of one of the world's deadliest, and most endangered, snakes

5.

Arts & Culture

The Curious History of the Potato Chip

A fussy magnate, a miffed chef and the curious roots of the comfort food we hate to love

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Go West! Then Back to the Future

National Zoo

Watch Giant Panda Xiao Qi Ji’s Best Moments of 2021

Archives of American Art

New Collections: Consuelo Jiménez Underwood

Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage

MLK's Unswerving Commitment to Nonviolent Activism

National Museum of Natural History

Get to Know the Geologist Collecting Antarctic Meteorites

Conservation Commons

The Tales of Trees and a Conservation Legacy in This Week's Earth Optimism

See All

Special Report
None

Covid-19

Bringing historical context and scientific evidence as the pandemic unfolds

View Full Report

Could Skin Patches Be the Future of Covid Vaccines?

How a Public Health Campaign in the Warsaw Ghetto Stemmed the Spread of Typhus

Could This Chewing Gum Reduce the Spread of Covid-19?

Smithsonian Channel

Preview thumbnail for video 'A Vervet Monkey Befriends Some Hostile Dogs

A Vervet Monkey Befriends Some Hostile Dogs

Play
Preview thumbnail for video 'How the Meaning of Thanksgiving Has Changed

How the Meaning of Thanksgiving Has Changed

Preview thumbnail for video 'Manta Rays Are Smart Enough to Give These Fish Instructions

Manta Rays Are Smart Enough to Give These Fish Instructions

Photo of the day

Beware the impossibly fascinating blue viper. This really is a ‘look but don’t touch’ situation, because as visually beautiful as that blue viper is, it’s not the kind of creature you want to mess with. The Blue Viper Strikes

History

The catacombs contain the bodies of 1,284 people, including 163 children.

Researchers Are Using X-Rays to Solve the Mystery Behind Sicily's Child Mummies

The bodies were preserved and put on display at the Catacombs of Palermo between 1787 and 1880, and have yet to be identified

A small stretch of an ancient cemetery in Naples is set to open to the public for the first time, shedding new light on the Italian city’s history and ancient Greek artistry.

A Long-Overlooked Necropolis in Naples Reveals the Enduring Influence of Ancient Greece

Bruce Clark, author of the new book Athens: City of Wisdom, outlines the events that culminated in the Elgin Marbles’ extraction from Greece.

How the Much-Debated Elgin Marbles Ended Up in England

Science

A tiger shark swims in the Bahamas. Over the past several decades, the predators ventured farther north in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

Some Tiger Sharks Are Migrating Farther North Due to Climate Change

The predator’s movements in the Atlantic Ocean could scramble ecosystems and endanger the sharks by sending them outside marine protected areas

The remote Kibish Formation, in southern Ethiopia, features layered deposits more than 300 feet thick that have preserved many ancient human tools and remains. 

East Africa's Oldest Modern Human Fossil Is Way Older Than Previously Thought

University of Manchester paleontologist Joe Davis sprawls out next to the 32-foot-long skeleton.

Naturalists Accidentally Discover Britain's Largest Ever, Near-Complete Marine Reptile Fossil

Innovation

The gene-edited pig heart recipient, who was ineligible for a human heart transplant, is doing well three days after the surgery. 

In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Gene-Edited Pig

The swine-to-person cardiac transplant offers hope for thousands in need of organs

Ben Franklin by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, ca 1785

Ben Franklin Lives in Your Smartphone

(Top) Leila Strickland, Michelle Egger, Toby Kiers, Colin Averill, J. Richard Gott (Middle) Leslie Jones-Dove, Devshi Mehrotra, Prisha Shroff, Iké Udé (Bottom) Tim Farrelly, Omar Salem, David Deneher, Victor A. Lopez-Carmen, Doris Sung

Sixteen Innovators to Watch in 2022

Arts & Culture

Bruce Clark, author of the new book Athens: City of Wisdom, outlines the events that culminated in the Elgin Marbles’ extraction from Greece.

How the Much-Debated Elgin Marbles Ended Up in England

For two centuries, diplomat Thomas Bruce has been held up as a shameless plunderer. The real history is more complicated, argues the author of a new book

The new technique can distinguish artists based on small samples of their brushwork.

New Tech Can Distinguish Brush Strokes of Different Artists

Pencil these shows in, but keep your eraser handy. With every hope that Covid-restrictions will soon give way to happier times ahead, the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. and New York City are planning a bright year of grand new showings. 

Twenty-Two Smithsonian Shows to See in 2022

Travel

The Donner Summit tunnels and 13 others in the Sierra Nevada built by Chinese railroad workers remain a testament to ingenuity and industry. 

The Quest to Protect California's Transcontinental Railroad Tunnels

Built by Chinese immigrants in the 1860s, the caverns cutting through Donner Summit helped unite the country

Marchand and Meffre discovered thousands of early 20th century theaters across the U.S. and Canada, and then spent the next 15 years photographing them.

Eight Historic Movie Theaters With Interesting Second Acts

Pencil these shows in, but keep your eraser handy. With every hope that Covid-restrictions will soon give way to happier times ahead, the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. and New York City are planning a bright year of grand new showings. 

Twenty-Two Smithsonian Shows to See in 2022

At the Smithsonian

Pencil these shows in, but keep your eraser handy. With every hope that Covid-restrictions will soon give way to happier times ahead, the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. and New York City are planning a bright year of grand new showings. 

Twenty-Two Smithsonian Shows to See in 2022

Falcon hunting, Watergate, a Kusama mirror room and the new Latino Gallery await

Ben Franklin by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, ca 1785

Ben Franklin Lives in Your Smartphone

A first edition of Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), written while the poet was enslaved to John Wheatley of Boston. The book has a brown leather cover, the original Morocco spine label and a frontispiece featuring a portrait of Phillis by Scipio Morehead.  

How Phillis Wheatley Beat All Expectations