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Science
Gimme Shelter
Best Friends Animal Society has a sprawling campus in the canyons of Utah, but its influence has grown to reach almost every shelter in the country
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‘Excitement With a Little Dash of Fear’: Polar Plunges Ring in the New Year With a Splash. But What Actually Happens to Your Body?
Three experts share the science behind taking a dip in cold water—and offer safety tips that any potential plungers should bear in mind
Smart News
Archaeologists Discover Mysterious 7,000-Year-Old Stone Wall Beneath the Waves Off the Coast of France
Lewis Carroll’s Personal Copy of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ Returns to its ‘Spiritual Home’ in Oxford
How Do These ADHD Medications Work in the Brain? The Mechanisms Are Different Than Once Thought, a Study Suggests
The Louvre Installs Metal Security Bars on Window Used During $102M Jewel Heist
After Living Alongside Humans for Millennia, These Italian Brown Bears Have Evolved to Become Less Aggressive
Latest Features
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History
The Lost City of the Silk Road
Researchers are uncovering what they think is the metropolis of Marsmanda, an iron-making city that could rewrite the history of the famed trade route
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History
A Grand New Design
A train wreck that caused the death of more than a dozen commuters near the turn of the 20th century was the impetus behind a monumental project that changed the urban landscape
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Most Popular
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Special Report
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America’s 250th Anniversary
To mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting the people, places and events that shaped the United States’ fight for independence from Great Britain
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Photo of the Day
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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.
Latest Episodes
The ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ Sank Half a Century Ago. We’re Still Fascinated.
November 6, 2025 | 28 minutes
History
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How Marty Reisman, the Real-Life Inspiration Behind ‘Marty Supreme,’ Revolutionized the Sport of Table Tennis
A new film starring Timothée Chalamet as a fictionalized version of Reisman dramatizes the career of a larger-than-life champion
Science
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Don’t Miss These Ten Celestial Events in 2026, From Aligned Planets to a Total Solar Eclipse
The upcoming year will offer a blood-red moon, spectacular meteor showers and the first glimpse of the sun’s corona since April 2024
Innovation
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The High-Stakes Quest to Make Snakebites Survivable Took Leaps Forward This Year, With Promising New Avenues to Safer Antivenoms
A wave of fresh science is challenging a century-old treatment and offering hope to the people snakebites harm most—often far from hospitals and help
Travel
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The Oldest Restaurant in the World Just Turned 300 Years Old
Madrid’s Sobrino de Botín is filled with legends, ghosts and priceless art. The food is pretty good, too
Arts & Culture
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A Famed Street Photographer Chronicled What Christmas Looks Like Across America Over the Course of Decades
Lee Friedlander’s new book, “Christmas,” collects his work from all over the country on the topic of our sentimental and materialistic connection to the holiday
At the Smithsonian
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Recovered Steamer Trunks Reveal the Overlooked Histories of Filipino American Farm Workers in the Early 20th Century
The artifacts serve as time capsules for an entire generation of “manong” workers and they’re now displayed at the National Museum of American History