Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

The indomitable Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995). The film made history as the first feature-length, 3D-rendered film produced entirely with computer animation.

Arts & Culture

Five Advances That Helped Turn a Night Out at the Movies Into the All-Enveloping Experience It Has Become

The power of film is often in its ability to feel larger than life. Movie makers have been developing ways to accentuate that aspect for more than a century

John Semley

A city-dwelling male bowerbird near the structure that it built to woo mates, called a bower.

Smart News

Male Bowerbirds in Australian Cities Are Turning Human Trash Into Treasure to Impress Potential Mates

Smart News

Latest Features

Stay Up to Date

Get the latest from Smithsonian magazine in your inbox.

Get the latest stories delivered to your inbox every weekday.

A bi-weekly newsletter bringing you thought-provoking perspectives on art, culture and exciting destinations.

A bi-weekly newsletter sharing new discoveries, fascinating stories and enhanced understandings of our past.

A monthly newsletter bringing you the most interesting new research on wildlife, the environment, space, psychology, paleo history and beyond.

Stay connected to new research, exhibits and fascinating stories stemming from the collections of your favorite Smithsonian museums.

Email Powered by Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Privacy Notice / Terms & Conditions)

Uncovering the past. Understanding the present. Informing the future.

Give a Gift Renew
Smithsonian magazine Summer 2026 issue cover
The “Ether Dome” at Massachusetts General Hospital is now a National Historic Landmark.
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
The view from Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, New York.
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
Missing Caption
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
More from the Current Issue
  image   image

Most Popular

None

Arts & Culture

They Were Just Having a Back-to-School Party in an Apartment Rec Room. Little Did They Know They Were Creating Hip-Hop

None

Smart News

Workers Dredging the Savannah River Stumbled Upon 19 Cannons That Had Been Underwater Since the Revolutionary War

None

Smart News

Researchers Accidentally Discover That Humans Prefer to Turn Counterclockwise. But They Still Have No Idea Why

None

Smart News

‘Ugliest Shark on the Planet’: See the Elusive Goblin Shark, Filmed for the First Time in Its Deep-Sea Habitat

None

History

America’s 150th Birthday Celebration Was Deemed the Nation’s ‘Greatest Flop.’ What Went Wrong With the Sesquicentennial?

Photo of the Day

A moment of raw, vibrant intensity is captured as a black-backed kingfisher secures its hard-won meal—a small forest lizard or skink—clamped firmly in its vivid red beak.

A Rainbow’s Sharp Edge

By Kapil Bhagwat

Get the Photo of the Day directly to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Sign Up

Smithsonian Videos

Preview thumbnail for video 'The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana

The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana

Preview thumbnail for video 'A Photographer's Glimpse Into the Dwindling World of the Cascade Red Fox

A Photographer’s Glimpse Into the Dwindling World of the Cascade Red Fox

Preview thumbnail for video 'The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams' 'Remember the Ladies' Letter

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams’ ‘Remember the Ladies’ Letter

More Videos

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.

Listen In

Latest Episodes

Podcast artwork

The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana

April 23, 2026 | 34 minutes

Podcast artwork

A Photographer’s Glimpse Into the Dwindling World of the Cascade Red Fox

April 9, 2026 | 32 minutes

Podcast artwork

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams’ ‘Remember the Ladies’ Letter

March 26, 2026 | 31 minutes

Podcast artwork

Venomous Snakes Represent a Serious Public Health Problem. Scientists Are Biting Back With a Groundbreaking Antidote

March 12, 2026 | 28 minutes

History

An aerial view of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition

America’s 150th Birthday Celebration Was Deemed the Nation’s ‘Greatest Flop.’ What Went Wrong With the Sesquicentennial?

Philadelphia politicians hoped to replicate the success of the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Instead, the 1926 world’s fair lost millions of dollars, essentially bankrupting the city on the eve of the Great Depression

Theodore Roosevelt Survived an Assassination Attempt Because a Speech Tucked Inside His Pocket Slowed the Bullet. He Insisted on Delivering His Remarks Anyway

These Italian Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School. They Found Ancient Roman Ruins Hidden in the Basement

More History

Science

Lightning strikes in Peckham, Oklahoma.

When a Team of Meteorologists and Combat Pilots Set Out to Understand Thunderstorms, They Made Flying Safer for Everyone

The sky was a very dangerous place in the early days of commercial aviation. By flying into storms to learn how they worked, these experts made air travel and weather forecasting much more predictable

The Operating Room Where Anesthesia Was First Demonstrated Is Now a Landmark. But for the Men Who Claimed Credit, There Was Much Misery

‘Stupid Hot’: Heat Waves Muddle the Minds of Animals and Humans as Confusion and Aggression Seem to Rise With the Temperature

More Science

Innovation

None

Because of a Mathematician From Rural Virginia’s Work on Global Positioning, You Have No Excuse for Getting Lost

Gladys West had an “insatiable thirst for knowledge.” She used computers, radars and satellites to make calculations that led to the GPS technology that allows us to pinpoint any spot on the globe

This Playful Interactive Reveals the Medical Advances That Have Made Life Better … and Sometimes Longer

The Gin and Tonic Is a Cocktail With a Storied History. Don’t Overlook Scotland’s Connection to the Classic

More Innovation

Travel

The view from Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, New York.

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

In a Plea to Preserve Them, One Photographer Has Captured 1,200 American Movie Theaters and Counting

From Casa Vicens to the Sagrada Familia, Architect Antoni Gaudí Left an Indelible Mark on Barcelona

More Travel

Arts & Culture

Museumgoers can read the labels on the backs of the paintings, which may provide clues about each work's provenance.

Who Are the Owners of These Nazi-Looted Masterpieces—and Could Displaying Them at One of France’s Most Popular Museums Help Track Them Down?

A new permanent display at the Musée d’Orsay showcases artworks that may have been stolen or sold under suspicious circumstances during World War II. Officials are still hoping to find the families of their rightful owners

The Real Winnie-the-Pooh Lives at the New York Public Library. When Queen Camilla Visited the Bear, She Reunited Him With a Dear Friend

How the Classic American Game of Twister Went From Risqué to Record-Breaking

More Arts & Culture

At the Smithsonian

Liberty, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, painted terra cotta and tin, ca. 1884

This Remarkable Statue of Liberty Model Made by the Sculptor of the Original Has a New Summer Home at the Smithsonian Castle

Artist Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s small maquette represents the big ideals of the iconic national monument in New York Harbor

Four Rare Guam Kingfisher Chicks Hatch at Virginia Facility, Making an ‘Incredibly Valuable’ Addition to the Small Population of Extinct-in-the-Wild Birds

Young Blue Crabs Have Been Mysteriously Dwindling in the Chesapeake Bay for Years. This Winter, They Saw a Boost in Numbers. What’s Driving These Trends?

More At the Smithsonian