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Latest Features

The illegal trade of wildlife may include animals or plants, or parts of them, such as roots, stems, skin, bones or antlers.

SCIENCE

A Look Inside Wildlife Crime Scene Investigators

Joan Baez at the Alabama State Capitol in 1965, from Joan Baez I Am a Noise, a Magnolia Pictures release.

ARTS & CULTURE

Folk Icon Joan Baez Sings a Song of Herself

Fountain With Butterflies in Periwinkle and Milk, 2022

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Amber Cowan's Dioramas of Vintage Glass Will Transport You to Whimsical Worlds

Male elephant seals can weigh up to 4,400 pounds.

SCIENCE

How This Small Nonprofit Helped Save California’s Elephant Seals

This statue of Christopher Columbus resides at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station in Washington, D.C. 

HISTORY

Breaking Down the United States' Historical Obsession With Christopher Columbus

Historian Peter Mancall says New English Canaan is “not very long” and “not very well written,” but holds immense value in what it says about the nation’s founding.

HISTORY

How America's First Banned Book Survived and Became an Anti-Authoritarian Icon

A few small structures and trees dot the Lessinia Plateau, where sunlight casts shadows that accentuate the hilly terrain.

TRAVEL

These 15 Photos Capture the Beauty of Italy

Nam June Paik’s 1995 Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii—a pulsing map of the 50 states lined with 575 feet of multicolored neon tubing, with each state defined by flickering video from 336 televisions and 50 DVD players—is one of the museum’s most popular pieces.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

With Renovated Galleries, the Smithsonian Expands Its Approach to Contemporary American Art

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine September/October 2023 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Smart News

A Massive, Two-Fault Earthquake May Have Struck the Pacific Northwest 1,100 Years Ago

The region needs to be prepared for the possibility of more intense quakes than previously thought, a new study of tree rings finds

2.

History

The Surprisingly Radical Roots of the Renaissance Fair

The first of these festivals debuted in the early 1960s, serving as a prime example of the United States' burgeoning counterculture

3.

Smart News

Archaeologists Uncover 9,500-Year-Old Woven Baskets and Europe's Oldest Sandals

Items found in a Spanish cave are older than previously thought, a new study suggests, calling into question "simplistic assumptions" about early humans

4.

Science

Archaeologists Dig Up 1,400-Year-Old Native American Canal in Alabama

The nearly mile-long structure allowed inhabitants to paddle to rich fishing grounds and access trade routes

5.

History

How America's First Banned Book Survived and Became an Anti-Authoritarian Icon

The Puritans outlawed Thomas Morton's "New English Canaan" because it was critical of the society they were building in colonial New England

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Education

Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum's Message to Students: 'You, Too, Can Be a Changemaker'

National Museum of the American Indian

Healing Soul Wounds: Grappling with the Indian Boarding School Era

Smithsonian Associates

A Practical Guide to Rewilding and More Learning Experiences in October

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

A Turtle Time Capsule: DNA Found in Ancient Shell

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

First global assessment of the sustainability of coral reef fisheries

National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery Announces Jurors and Call for Entries for Next Triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

See All

Special Report
The Smithsonian's Race and Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past initiative centers on six pillars.

Race in America

To mark the Smithsonian's multi-year initiative, Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past, which will confront the history and legacy of race and racism through live and virtual events, pop-up exhibitions, digital resources, and other offerings, Smithsonian magazine has compiled this collection of relevant coverage.

View Full Report

Featured Stories

Secretary Lonnie Bunch on Why the Smithsonian Is Talking About Race

158 Resources for Understanding Systemic Racism in America

The Relationship Between Race and Wellness Has Never Been More Pressing

  image   image

Smithsonian Channel

Preview thumbnail for video 'The Best Small Towns in America to Celebrate Fall

The Best Small Towns in America to Celebrate Fall

Play
Preview thumbnail for video 'A Baby Seal's First Solo Venture Into the Water

A Baby Seal's First Solo Venture Into the Water

Preview thumbnail for video 'A Rare Pair of Chicks for the Exotic and Endangered Takahe

A Rare Pair of Chicks for the Exotic and Endangered Takahe

Photo of the day

Kenya's Amboseli National Park and its surrounding areas are home to a very special kind of elephant: The Super Tuskers. Bulls whose tusks weigh in excess of 100 pounds each, often reaching all the way to the ground. There are said to be only just over 20 left on earth, with the most famous one of them all being Craig, a 52 year old bull believed to have the largest tusks of any African elephant alive today, walking past me in this photograph. A Giant Walks Past

History

John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy ride the presidential limousine through the streets of Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Texas Governor John B. Connally Jr. is seated in front of them.

Ex-Secret Service Agent's Account of JFK's Assassination Could Cast Doubt on 'Lone Gunman' Theory

Paul Landis' new book refutes the idea that a single bullet injured both the president and Texas Governor John B. Connally Jr.

Historian Peter Mancall says New English Canaan is “not very long” and “not very well written,” but holds immense value in what it says about the nation’s founding.

How America's First Banned Book Survived and Became an Anti-Authoritarian Icon

Performers at the 1963 Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Ron Patterson, a co-founder of the event, appears in orange at the far right.

The Surprisingly Radical Roots of the Renaissance Fair

Science

An Azores bullfinch feeds on the buds of a native tree on São Miguel Island in the Azores.

One of Europe’s Most Endangered Birds Is Bouncing Back

Twenty years of habitat restoration has helped the once critically endangered Azores bullfinch

Savannah elephants walk through tall grass in Tsavo, a region in south-eastern Kenya. Trouble often begins when elephants stray from a protected area into human-dominated landscapes.

Inside the Effort to Prevent Conflict Between Humans and Elephants in Africa

The female whale was found stranded in January on a beach near Palm Coast, Florida.

How an Orca Skeleton Made Its Way From Florida to the Smithsonian

Innovation

A premature newborn baby at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Australia in 2015. In 2020, 13.4 million babies were born prematurely, more than 10 percent of all births.

Artificial Wombs for Premature Babies Might Soon Begin Human Trials

An FDA panel discussed the new technology—tested only on animals so far—along with its risks and potential to improve survival of preterm infants

Consumer products made from carbon capture can't undo the damage we’ve done to our planet—but each of them exists thanks to innovations that could. 

Little Luxuries Made With Captured Pollution Hint at Big Frontiers in Climate Science

A Tasmanian tiger at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The last known living Tasmanian tiger died at the zoo in 1936.

Scientists Collect First RNA From an Extinct Tasmanian Tiger

Arts & Culture

Conservator Adelaide Izat works on Susanna and the Elders, a painting newly reattributed to Artemisia Gentileschi.

Lost Artemisia Gentileschi Painting Discovered in English Palace's Storeroom

"Susanna and the Elders" was misattributed for some 200 years, first to a male artist and then to the "French School"

Alma Thomas, Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 50 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.9

Alma Thomas' Signature Style Is Full of Color and Tiled Brushstrokes

Inside the restored women's cold room

Stunning 16th-Century Turkish Bath Reopens in Istanbul

Travel

A few small structures and trees dot the Lessinia Plateau, where sunlight casts shadows that accentuate the hilly terrain.

These 15 Photos Capture the Beauty of Italy

Scenes from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest prove there’s always more to love about the bel paese

Inside the restored women's cold room

Stunning 16th-Century Turkish Bath Reopens in Istanbul

Tian Tian playing in the snow. Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and their son Xiao Qi Ji will return to China by December 7.

Why the National Zoo Is Saying Goodbye to Its Giant Pandas

At the Smithsonian

Nam June Paik’s 1995 Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii—a pulsing map of the 50 states lined with 575 feet of multicolored neon tubing, with each state defined by flickering video from 336 televisions and 50 DVD players—is one of the museum’s most popular pieces.

With Renovated Galleries, the Smithsonian Expands Its Approach to Contemporary American Art

The historic hall in the American Art Museum where President Abraham Lincoln held his second inaugural ball welcomes more diverse voices and visions

The Hope Diamond was cut from Louis XIV’s “French Blue."

How a Smithsonian Curator Discovered the Hope Diamond’s Many Secrets

Alma Thomas, Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 50 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.9

Alma Thomas' Signature Style Is Full of Color and Tiled Brushstrokes