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Latest Features

The James Webb Space Telescope will help scientists look for signs on life on other planets.

SCIENCE

What Would Signal Life on Another Planet?

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian on December 6, 2000, the day of their arrival in Washington, D.C.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Revisit 51 Years of Giant Pandas at the National Zoo, From Beloved Babies to Fun in the Snow

A mountain gorilla seemingly enjoys a moment of solitude in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, surrounded by orange, yellow and green leaves.

SCIENCE

Celebrate World Gorilla Day With 15 Primate Pictures

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. 

INNOVATION

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

Patrons at the Eldorado, a popular LGBTQ cabaret in Berlin during the Weimar years

HISTORY

New Research Reveals How the Nazis Targeted Transgender People

Why can't we stop anthropomorphizing our animal friends and foes?

SCIENCE

Are Wild Animals Really Just Like Us?

BirdCast’s newest advances provide detailed flight forecasts of millions of birds.

SCIENCE

Four Amazing Impacts of This A.I.-Powered Bird Migration Tracker

The National Museum of the United States Air Force is on the grounds of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

TRAVEL

How an Ohio Cow Pasture Gave Rise to a Monument to Aviation History

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine September/October 2023 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Smart News

San Diego Closes Popular Beach for Seven Years to Protect Sea Lions

Visitors have been getting too close to the marine mammals—taking selfies and even harassing them—as they rear their pups

2.

Innovation

Where Did the QWERTY Keyboard Come From?

From laptops to iPhones, the first successful typewriter’s keyboard layout lives on

3.

Smart News

Archaeologists Uncover Notched Logs That May Be the Oldest Known Wooden Structure

The interlocking pieces, found near a waterfall in Zambia, date to 476,000 years ago—before Homo sapiens evolved

4.

History

The Curious Case of Charles Osborne, Who Hiccupped for 68 Years Straight

A 1922 accident sparked the Iowa man’s intractable hiccups, which suddenly subsided in 1990

5.

Smart News

See Underwater Wreckage From the Battle of Midway in Stunning Detail

Never-before-seen photos and videos shed new light on the pivotal World War II conflict

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Gamboa Bat Nights: Bilingual Noches de Murciélagos along the Panama Canal

Smithsonian Books

Protecting Our Ocean Planet With the National Marine Sanctuary System

National Museum of Natural History

I Spy… A Giant Squid Eye

National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

A High-Tech Approach to Giraffe Conservation

Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery

Drawn to Art Returns With Ten New Digital Comics About Inspiring Women

National Museum of Natural History

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Untangling the Branches of Hawaii’s Evolutionary Tree

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

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Smithsonian Channel

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

A Baby Seal's First Solo Venture Into the Water

Play
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

Preview thumbnail for video 'Unfathomable Cruelty at the Heart of Hitler’s Russian Invasion

Unfathomable Cruelty at the Heart of Hitler’s Russian Invasion

Photo of the day

Grassland morning horse herding in China. Grassland morning horse herding

History

Patrons at the Eldorado, a popular LGBTQ cabaret in Berlin during the Weimar years

New Research Reveals How the Nazis Targeted Transgender People

Last year, a German court officially recognized the persecution of trans people by Adolf Hitler's regime

On September 18, 1873, an investment bank owned by Jay Cooke, who financed the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway, went bankrupt, sparking a multiyear financial crisis.

How One Robber Baron's Gamble on Railroads Brought Down His Bank and Plunged the U.S. Into the First Great Depression

A German general ordered his troops to “destroy Viannos and promptly execute all males beyond the age of 16, as well as everyone who was arrested in the countryside, irrespective of age or gender.”

When the Nazis Massacred Greek Civilians to Send a Warning to Those Who Resisted

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

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

Entrepreneurs are using jewelry, fragrances and clothing to demonstrate what’s possible with repurposed carbon—and environmentalists have questions

Lab-grown chicken produced by GOOD Meat

Lab-Grown Meat Can Be Kosher or Halal, According to Religious Authorities

Sholes and Glidden gussied up an early model with floral ornaments, in imitation of sewing machines.

Where Did the QWERTY Keyboard Come From?

Arts & Culture

Arthur Brand poses with The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1884.

Stolen van Gogh Painting Worth Millions Returned in an Ikea Bag

Arthur Brand, the "Indiana Jones of the art world," negotiated the recovery of an 1884 canvas taken from a Dutch museum in March 2020

As part of its ongoing support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion, the Metropolitan Opera has commissioned a work based on true stories of Ukrainian mothers rescuing their abducted children.

An Upcoming Opera Will Tell the Story of Ukraine's Kidnapped Children

Pia the Peacekeeper sits under the trees on Bainbridge Island in Washington.

See the Whimsical Trolls Taking Over the Pacific Northwest

Travel

The National Museum of the United States Air Force is on the grounds of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

How an Ohio Cow Pasture Gave Rise to a Monument to Aviation History

The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, celebrates 100 years

Outdoor pool at The Pines in So. Fallsburg, NY, 1979.

The Borscht Belt Was a Haven for Generations of Jewish Americans

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

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian on December 6, 2000, the day of their arrival in Washington, D.C.

Revisit 51 Years of Giant Pandas at the National Zoo, From Beloved Babies to Fun in the Snow

The Panda House's eight occupants have played a key role in conservation efforts over the decades

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

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