The fire-loving fungus Geopyxis, seen here in 2022, after California’s Caldor Fire, has distinctive brown cups with white rims.

These Charcoal-Eating Fungi Flourish After Fires. Uncovering Their Genetic Secrets Could Help Rebuild Burned Ecosystems

Mycologists cultivated fungi they found in post-wildfire landscapes to understand the evolutionary traits behind their ability to thrive in the wake of flames

Kunjal Bastola

This Late Bronze Age spearhead mold was found in 2007 in a garden in the Czech Republic.

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A Czech Man Used This Stone in His Barn’s Foundations. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold

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North American Bird Losses Are Accelerating. New Research Suggests Fertilizers and Pesticides May Be to Blame

March 13, 2026 12:46 p.m.

Astronomers Witnessed the Birth of a Magnetar for the First Time. It Explains the Mysterious Flickering of an Ultra-Bright Supernova

March 13, 2026 12:09 p.m.

Scientists Discover Microscopic Traces of Leaves, Seeds and Toxic Berries on Pots Used by Stone Age Cooks Thousands of Years Ago

March 13, 2026 11:35 a.m.

Sea Levels Might Be Higher Than We Thought, Putting Millions of People in the Path of Coastal Flooding Sooner Than Expected

March 13, 2026 11:20 a.m.

A Czech Man Used This Stone in His Barn’s Foundations. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold

March 12, 2026 4:07 p.m.

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A view of Mei Lanfang performing in 1930

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Mei Lanfang Was Famous for His Masterful Performances as Female Leads. In the 1930s, He Introduced American Audiences to the World of Chinese Opera

March 13, 2026 1:45 p.m.

A set of children’s building blocks (Anker-Steinbaukasten) that belonged to Albert Einstein

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Albert Einstein Played With These Building Blocks as a Child. Here’s How They Helped Shape His Magnificent Mind

March 13, 2026 11:30 a.m.

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These Charcoal-Eating Fungi Flourish After Fires. Uncovering Their Genetic Secrets Could Help Rebuild Burned Ecosystems

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

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Common eastern bumblebee queens use underwater breathing and anaerobic metabolism to survive when submerged.

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Bumblebee Queens Breathe Underwater to Survive Drowning, Revealing How They Can Live Submerged for a Week

March 11, 2026

This 1804 depiction of Jane McCrea's death cemented a dramatized version of her killing in the public imagination.

History

A Native Soldier Allied With the British Killed a Young White Woman in 1777. Propaganda Transformed Her Into a Martyr of the American Revolution

March 11, 2026

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March 2026

OPENER - The Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve, in eastern Chad, encompasses 19,300 square miles of a vast sandstone plateau.

Science Shifting Sands

Petroglyphs on sandstone at a national park in Chad bear witness to wildlife that once roamed the area before the continent’s water largely receded 6,000 years ago. Could it return?

OPENER - Xin Ying, principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company, wears a costume from the 1948 ballet Diversion of Angels. Graham designed the dress, inspired by a splash of color in a Wassily Kandinsky painting.

Arts & Culture Modern Moves

Her choreography told stories in new ways and her collaborations with costume and stage designers changed the aesthetic of the art. Now, her dance company marks its first century

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As “Vicky With Three Kisses,” she strategically sweet-talked and sang to German troops over the airwaves of Europe. But Agnes Bernauer didn’t mean anything she was saying

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A Czech Man Used This Stone in His Barn’s Foundations. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold

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This Traveler From India Graffitied His Name on Five Ancient Tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings 2,000 Years Ago

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Would You Jump Into Your Local River? Swimmable Cities May Be Within Reach as Once-Polluted Waterways Are Restored

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Like an ‘Eight-Ton Chicken,’ Tyrannosaurus Rex May Have Run on Its Tiptoes to Catch Speedy Prey

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A bust of Plato in the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin

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Brightly colored homes line the caldera in Santorini, a contrast to much of the blue-and-white motif.

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This photograph captures the split-second drama of an Eurasian kingfisher in mid-hunt, just as it bursts out from the water.

A Kingfisher Busting Out of the Water

By Vinod Chandrasekharan Lalitha

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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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The Tragedy of the Alps’ Disappearing Glaciers for Those That Live, Visit and Ski There

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History

A Native Soldier Allied With the British Killed a Young White Woman in 1777. Propaganda Transformed Her Into a Martyr of the American Revolution

The patriots weaponized Jane McCrea’s death to demonize their enemies and paint Indigenous people as uniquely violent

March 11, 2026

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Science

These Charcoal-Eating Fungi Flourish After Fires. Uncovering Their Genetic Secrets Could Help Rebuild Burned Ecosystems

Mycologists cultivated fungi they found in post-wildfire landscapes to understand the evolutionary traits behind their ability to thrive in the wake of flames

March 13, 2026 7:30 a.m.