Infernogallus jamesi was about the size of a turkey.

This Ancient ‘Hell Chicken’ Might Be the First Known Fruit-Loving Dinosaur, Revealing a Whole New Cretaceous Lifestyle

Infernogallus jamesi had beak and mouth adaptations that hint it could mash soft foods, like today's frugivorous birds. The dinosaur probably munched on fruits resembling modern-day cherries and peaches, and may have helped spread seeds via its poop

Margherita Bassi

Caspar David Friedrich’s The Evening Star is noteworthy for its Romantic sweep—and for the elusiveness of the stellar body (Venus) in its title.

Arts & Culture

How Astronomers and Art Historians Are Working Together to Identify the Inspiration Behind Famous Works of Art

November 2026

Smart News

These Moths Use Their Genitals to Fend Off Bats—but Not in the Way You Think. They Emit Ultrasound to Scramble the Predators’ Sonar

November 6, 2026 11:00 a.m.

The Arctic Polar Vortex Is Collapsing Earlier in the Season Than Ever Documented—but We Don’t Know How It’ll Affect Global Weather

November 6, 2026 10:00 a.m.

Michelangelo Used These Custom, Multi-Headed Brushes While Painting ‘The Last Judgment’ to Replicate His Intricate Sculpting Techniques

November 6, 2026 9:42 a.m.

A Nazi Submarine Torpedoed a Merchant Ship Just Off the Coast of Maine in 1944. Divers Have Finally Located the Wreckage, 400 Feet Below the Surface

November 5, 2026 5:40 p.m.

Was the British King Who Urged the Romans to Invade Actually a Queen? One Archaeologist Thinks So

November 5, 2026 4:38 p.m.

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Latest Features

Protesters occupied the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's regional offices in San Francisco for 26 days in 1977.

History

The Real Story Behind the 504 Sit-In for Disability Rights, the Longest Peaceful Occupation of a Federal Building in American History

November 6, 2026 7:45 a.m.

In Cretaceous Brazil, a prehistoric mammal the size of a cougar or a large dog left telltale tracks on sand dunes.

Science

Fossil Footprints in Brazil Hint at a Cougar-Size Mammal That Walked Among Dinosaurs. It’s Another Sign That Some Early Beasts Grew to Impressive Sizes After All

November 6, 2026 7:30 a.m.

Science

Hear, Hear to Long Ears: These 15 Furry Photos of Adorable Rabbits and Hares Will Have You Leaping for Leporidae

November 6, 2026 7:00 a.m.

“It’s a national treasure,” says Sara Brown Aicher, a retired U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist who spent 31 years at the refuge. “It is one of the last places like it.”

Travel

America’s Newest UNESCO World Heritage Site Is a Swamp—and That’s Exactly Why You Should Go

November 5, 2026 11:36 a.m.

The four-color theorem is simple to state: Given a contiguous map, is it possible to color each region with one of four colors such that no neighboring regions share a color?

Science

The Four-Color Theorem Has Haunted Mathematicians for Decades. It Just Got a Rare New Proof, but Some Still Long for a Simpler Solution

November 4, 2026

The ruins of Akrotiri, a Bronze Age settlement on what is now the Greek island of Santorini

History

Greece Has Its Own Pompeii, and the Ruins Tell a Captivating Story of a Sophisticated, Seafaring Bronze Age Society

November 3, 2026

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November 2026

History The Mighty Metropolis of the Maya

Diane and Arlen Chase have spent a good portion of their lives uncovering the once-great city of Caracol. Their groundbreaking research is rewriting everything we thought we knew about the Maya

OPENER Thomas Jefferson Illustration by Chloe Niclas

At the Smithsonian Untangling an American Mystery

A lock of hair, advances in genetic science and a community of descendants all contributed to solving an American mystery

Arts & Culture The Skywatchers

Researchers study paintings and literature to uncover untold history of the works, sometimes finding themselves trying to discern celestial bodies from dust

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Smart News

Archaeologists Found a 3,300-Year-Old Sword at the Bottom of a Volcanic Lake in Italy—and It’s Still Sharp

Smart News

Native Hawaiians Descend From a Group of ‘Ultravoyagers’ Who Sailed About 4,400 Miles From Easter Island, Genetic Study Suggests

Smart News

From Hunting Hounds to Modernist Muses, Dachshunds Have Done It All. See the World’s First Art Exhibition Dedicated Exclusively to the Sausage Dog

Science

An Italian Farmer Found Some Unknown Seeds in His Attic and, With Nothing to Lose, Planted Them. The Result Was Almost Biblical

Travel

How an Irish Backroad Tradition Is Rolling Into Small-Town America

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

I was walking towards Mont Saint-Michel, looking for something different to photograph. Herds of sheep are not uncommon in the area, but this morning they were moving towards the Abbey kind of forming a line, when the last one stopped and looked back at me, as if posing for the picture.

The Sheep and the Abbey

By Luis Andre Sampaio

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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.

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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

The Real Story Behind the 504 Sit-In for Disability Rights, the Longest Peaceful Occupation of a Federal Building in American History

Organizers like Judy Heumann pressured officials to implement the first federal legislation protecting disabled Americans from civil rights violations. “Being Heumann,” a new film by director Siân Heder, dramatizes the 26-day demonstration

November 6, 2026 7:45 a.m.

Archaeologists in Scotland Discovered the Skeleton of a Roman-Era Man Who Was Decapitated Nearly 2,000 Years Ago. Now, You Can See What He Might Have Looked Like During His Lifetime

November 3, 2026

Greece Has Its Own Pompeii, and the Ruins Tell a Captivating Story of a Sophisticated, Seafaring Bronze Age Society

November 3, 2026

More History

Science

Fossil Footprints in Brazil Hint at a Cougar-Size Mammal That Walked Among Dinosaurs. It’s Another Sign That Some Early Beasts Grew to Impressive Sizes After All

Don’t think of all Mesozoic mammals as meek and tiny—alongside the terrible lizards, some were giants in their own right

November 6, 2026 7:30 a.m.

The Four-Color Theorem Has Haunted Mathematicians for Decades. It Just Got a Rare New Proof, but Some Still Long for a Simpler Solution

November 4, 2026

The World’s Newest Carnivorous Plant Is a Red Sundew That ‘Death Hugs’ Its Insect Prey. Its Survival Depends on a Rare and Disappearing Florida Habitat

October 29, 2026

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Innovation

The user, if pregnant, will feel raised bumps on both sides of the flat lollipop—a reaction to hCG, a hormone that the body produces during pregnancy.

This Lollipop Could Help Blind Women Independently Detect Pregnancy

Design student Sneha Rao is developing Tact, an edible pregnancy test that allows people with vision impairment to feel its results on their tongues

October 6, 2026

The Humble History of the Bedpan

September 24, 2026

This Brain Implant Allows People With Paralysis to Speak and Gesture at the Same Time Via a Mind-Controlled Virtual Avatar

October 6, 2026

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Travel

America’s Newest UNESCO World Heritage Site Is a Swamp—and That’s Exactly Why You Should Go

Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is one of the world’s rarest surviving wetland ecosystems. Its new global recognition reveals why protecting this landscape matters far beyond the American South

November 5, 2026 11:36 a.m.

How an Irish Backroad Tradition Is Rolling Into Small-Town America

November 2, 2026

Greece Has Its Own Pompeii, and the Ruins Tell a Captivating Story of a Sophisticated, Seafaring Bronze Age Society

November 3, 2026

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Arts & Culture

Andy Warhol poses with his beloved dachshund Archie in November 1973.

From Hunting Hounds to Modernist Muses, Dachshunds Have Done It All. See the World’s First Art Exhibition Dedicated Exclusively to the Sausage Dog

A new exhibition in Germany traces how the low-slung breed captured the imaginations of artistic heavyweights like Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and David Hockney. The museum even lets well-behaved pups tour the galleries

November 3, 2026

For Over Four Years, the Hirshhorn Worked to Revitalize Its Sculpture Garden. Today, It’s Home to a ‘King and Queen,’ a ‘Wish Tree’ and a 55,000-Pound Vertical Swimming Pool Artwork

October 30, 2026

She Painted the First Known Self-Portrait of an Artist at Work—and Signed It—Nearly 500 Years Ago. Who Was Catharina van Hemessen?

October 21, 2026

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At the Smithsonian

King and Queen, Henry Moore, bronze, 1952-1953

For Over Four Years, the Hirshhorn Worked to Revitalize Its Sculpture Garden. Today, It’s Home to a ‘King and Queen,’ a ‘Wish Tree’ and a 55,000-Pound Vertical Swimming Pool Artwork

Newly refreshed by Japanese artist-architect Hiroshi Sugimoto, the sunken garden welcomes National Mall visitors with bronze masterpieces, contemporary stunners and a stage set for creative performances

October 30, 2026

What Can Space Offer Humanity? In Pursuit of the Answer, Astronauts Have Been Making a Home in Microgravity for Decades

October 30, 2026

At the Bodega, Customers Can Get Pork Rinds, Plantains and Just About Anything They Need. Here’s How These Stores Became a ‘Community Anchor’ of Latino Life

October 15, 2026

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