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Latest Features

Sandra Day O'Connor, Michael Arthur Worden Evans, circa 1982

HISTORY

How Sandra Day O’Connor Brought Compromise to the Supreme Court

The northern lights cast an eerie glow upon an abandoned, wrecked airplane.

TRAVEL

These 15 Photos Capture the Beauty of the Northern Lights

In our efforts to increase and diffuse knowledge, we highly recommend these titles this year.

ARTS & CULTURE

The Best Books of 2023

This year's list includes The Horses, Still Life, Believable: Traveling with My Ancestors, and more.

ARTS & CULTURE

The Ten Best Photography Books of 2023

Chinstrap penguins incubate eggs.

SCIENCE

Chinstrap Penguins Sleep Over 10,000 Times a Day—for Just Four Seconds at a Time

The premier lady of sex work in Victorian St. Louis built an empire estimated to be worth at least $100,000—the equivalent of about $3.7 million today.

HISTORY

The Formerly Enslaved Black Bordello Queen Who Built a Notorious Business Empire

In 2023, wildfires ravaged communities in Canada, Hawaii and elsewhere across the globe.

SCIENCE

Why Wildfires Are Burning Hotter and Longer

Pressurized water shoots from the drill’s head to cool the marble and prevent excessive dust (detail).

INNOVATION

Can Robots Replace Michelangelo?

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine December 2023 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

History

Why America Is Just Now Learning to Love Thaddeus Stevens, the 'Best-Hated Man' in U.S. History

The Pennsylvanian was one of America’s greatest heroes. Why hasn’t he gotten his due?

2.

Travel

These 15 Photos Capture the Beauty of the Northern Lights

Spiking solar activity could mean more chances to see the awesome aurora borealis

3.

Smart News

First Boeing 787 Dreamliner Lands on Icy Runway in Antarctica

The large plane, which can accommodate roughly 300 passengers, delivered 45 scientists and 12 tons of equipment to a research station in Queen Maud Land

4.

Smart News

How to Watch the Geminid Meteor Shower This Month

The celestial spectacle will peak on December 13 and 14, lighting up the night sky with as many as 120 shooting stars per hour

5.

Smart News

This 3,000-Year-Old Stone Slab Found in Spain Is Upending Ideas About Ancient Gender Roles

The newly discovered stela depicts a figure with a headdress, a necklace, swords and male genitalia

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Associates

A New Year of Delightful Destinations

National Museum of Natural History

Meet the Archaeologist Leading the Museum’s Repatriation Efforts

Office of the Secretary of the Smithsonian

What Comes Next for the Smithsonian's New Human Remains Task Force

Your IMPACT | Your Smithsonian

A Contemporary Look at Asian Art

Your IMPACT | Your Smithsonian

Sight Lines

Smithsonian Associates

Get Ready for the Holidays With These Festive Programs

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 'The Best Small Towns to Celebrate Fall

The Best Small Towns to Celebrate Fall

Play
Preview thumbnail for video 'An Energetic Dog Is Best Friends With an Orphan Raccoon

An Energetic Dog Is Best Friends With an Orphan Raccoon

Preview thumbnail for video 'A Vervet Monkey Befriends Some Hostile Dogs

A Vervet Monkey Befriends Some Hostile Dogs

Photo of the day

Constant rain, who cares? True sports fans are not impressed by it. Seen at the European Athletics Championships in Munich's Olympic Stadium. True Sports Fans

History

The premier lady of sex work in Victorian St. Louis built an empire estimated to be worth at least $100,000—the equivalent of about $3.7 million today.

The Formerly Enslaved Black Bordello Queen Who Built a Notorious Business Empire

In 19th-century St. Louis, Madam Priscilla Henry earned a life-changing fortune—and scores of enemies vying for her crown

Icaria was guided by a single principle: “to each following his needs, from each following his strengths,” as Cabet put it.

The 19th-Century Novel That Inspired a Communist Utopia on the American Frontier

A visitor examines artifacts from the exhibition "Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea" at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam in 2014.

Hundreds of Crimean Treasures Return to Ukraine After Long Legal Battle

Science

Ketamine and esketamine are the only psychedelics currently being used clinically with eating disorder patients.

Are Psychedelics the Future of Eating Disorder Treatment?

The drugs have been shown to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms and make individuals more flexible in their thinking

This well-preserved track from Australia clearly shows the four toes of an ancient bird.

Australia's Oldest Known Bird Tracks Are 120 Million Years Old

An Indian cobra found in the farmlands of Kanchipuram, India. The country has the highest rate of snakebite deaths in the world.

An Inside Look at the Effort to Curb Deadly Snakebites in India

Innovation

In recent years, the European perch (Perca fluviatilis) population has been steadily declining due to the combined impact of climate change, pollution and overfishing.

Italian Divers Revive Centuries-Old Tradition to Help Save European Perch

Nurseries built from bundles of tree branches may help conserve the freshwater fish in the age of climate change

None

The Never-Ending Race to Build the World’s Tallest Structure

A view of a Zamboni machine at work during a game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California.

How the Zamboni Revolutionized Fun on the Ice

Arts & Culture

Persimmons will hang at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum for a brief three weeks.

'Zen Mona Lisa' Travels to the United States for the Very First Time

Titled "Six Persimmons," the famous 13th-century work hasn't left Japan for hundreds of years

Left, a 1932 self-portrait by Lee Miller. Right, a 1943 portrait of Miller by American photojournalist David Scherman.

How Lee Miller, a Magazine Model and Muse, Became a Daring World War II Photographer

A mouthwatering (or, to some, offputting) spread of some of the many commercial eggnogs in the U.S.

The Uniquely American History of Eggnog, Everyone's Favorite—or Least Favorite—Holiday Quaff

Travel

The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents has been drawing commercial perfumers with a nose for aromas, gardeners, cooks and others since 2017.

This California Museum Is Home to Hundreds of Nature's Scents

Perfumer Mandy Aftel's spellbinding collection of rare essences and artifacts is on display at the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents in Berkeley

The annual Woolly Worm Festival is a fiercely popular local event that’s been going on for nearly half a century.

Groundhogs Are Old News. In This Tiny Town, Caterpillars Predict the Weather

Evolyn aims to launch a new rail service between London's St. Pancras International station and Paris' Gare du Nord station.

New High-Speed Rail Service Between London and Paris Is Coming in 2025

At the Smithsonian

This year's titles include Daughter of the Dragon, Whalefall and Witness.

Smithsonian Scholars Recommend Their Favorite Books of 2023

Curators and staffers satisfied their endless curiosity with novels, short stories, biographies, art collections and journalistic reporting

A new musical piece is based on this composite image of the center of the Milky Way. The bright spot on the right is hot gas in infrared light, marking the approximate location of the galaxy's supermassive black hole.

Listen to the Center of the Milky Way Translated Into Sound

Why can't machines process CO2 the way trees do?

Why Can't Machines Process CO2 Like Trees? And More Questions From Our Readers