Get the best of Smithsonian magazine in your inbox every day

By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to receive news, offers, and information from Smithsonian magazine and our partners. Click to visit our Privacy Policy. Easy unsubscribe links are provided in every email.

Latest Features

Photographed on September 14, 2022, 480 Otis is the reigning 2021 Fat Bear Week champion.

TRAVEL

How the Bears at Alaska's Katmai National Park Became Celebrities

Ada Limón is the United States' 24th poet laureate.

ARTS & CULTURE

Ada Limón Is a Poet Laureate for the 21st Century

The project started eight years ago, when artists Heidi Quante and Alicia Escott had no words to describe the anxiety they were experiencing over California’s drought.

INNOVATION

How Two California Artists Can Help Personalize Your Eco-Grief

Six years after Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the first airplane in 1903, the Army purchased the Wright Military Flyer for $30,000.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

After the Wright Brothers Took Flight, They Built the World's First Military Airplane

The elkhorn coral is one of the most endangered corals in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. In Florida alone, the population is reduced by over 95 percent. A coral breeding project using elkhorn coral gametes collected in Florida and Curaçao hopes to give this species a new lease on life. 

SCIENCE

This Moonshot for Coral Breeding Was Successful

Artist's rendering of John Canoe (Jan Kwaw), the Ahanta king who likely inspired the Bahamas' Junkanoo festival

HISTORY

The Gold Coast King Who Fought the Might of Europe's Slave Traders

A bus being treated with ultraviolet light in Shanghai, China. Although types of UV light are already in use to decontaminate vehicles and indoor spaces, the wavelengths used are dangerous to people. Researchers hope that wavelengths of far-UVC light can be used harmlessly when people are present.

INNOVATION

Could UV Light Reduce the Spread of Covid-19 in Indoor Spaces?

This year's Craft2Wear Show features over 60 premier jewelry, leather and wearables artisans from across the country.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The Art of Wearing Works of Art

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine October 2022 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Smart News

Stunning Facial Reconstructions Resurrect a Trio of Medieval Scots

The renderings show what a bishop, a cleric and a young woman with a remarkably symmetrical face may have looked like in life

2.

History

The True History Behind Netflix's 'Blonde'

"Blonde," a heavily fictionalized film by Andrew Dominik, explores the star's life and legend in a narrative that's equal parts glamorous and disturbing

3.

History

A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials

One town's strange journey from paranoia to pardon

4.

History

The Real History Behind 'The Woman King'

A new film stars Viola Davis as the leader of the Agojie, the all-woman army of the African kingdom of Dahomey

5.

Smart News

This 10-Year-Old Boy Makes Art That Sells for Over $100,000

Fifth-grader Andres Valencia’s inspirations range from Picasso to Pokémon

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

New Comic Honors Civil Rights Singer Bernice Johnson Reagon on Her 80th Birthday

Office of Academic Appointments and Internships

Which “Eraser” Reigns Supreme?

National Museum of American History

Fall in Love With These October Events

Smithsonian Education

Undiscovering the Hidden Histories of California's Filipino Community

Earth Optimism

Wild Souls: Earth Optimism Book of the Month

National Museum of Natural History

Meet the Smithsonian Scientist Unlocking Crucial Conservation Clues in the Genetic Code of Koalas

See All

Special Report
None

Alaska

Alaska is nicknamed "The Great Land," and for good reason: it is wild, rugged and expansive. In a series of articles, Smithsonian magazine explores the history, culture and natural wonders of the 49th state.

View Full Report

Featured Stories

For More Than 60 Years, Indigenous Alaskans Have Hosted Their Own Olympics

This Wonder Bird Flies Thousands of Miles, Non-Stop, as Part of an Epic Migration

The World's Largest Collection of Standing Totem Poles Keeps Getting Bigger

Made Possible Through the Support of Travel Alaska Logo-CMYK_Large_transp.png

Smithsonian Channel

Preview thumbnail for video 'A Biologist on an Underwater Scooter Delights Young Dolphins

A Biologist on an Underwater Scooter Delights Young Dolphins

Play
Preview thumbnail for video 'Journey to the Dark Side of the Moon

Journey to the Dark Side of the Moon

Preview thumbnail for video 'You’re Not Ready for How Playful Komodo Dragons Can Be

You’re Not Ready for How Playful Komodo Dragons Can Be

Photo of the day

Crows are highly intelligent birds that have demonstrated an ability to recognize human faces. Never More

History

Artist's rendering of John Canoe (Jan Kwaw), the Ahanta king who likely inspired the Bahamas' Junkanoo festival

The Gold Coast King Who Fought the Might of Europe's Slave Traders

New research reveals links between the 18th-century Ahanta leader John Canoe and the Caribbean festival Junkanoo

The new coin depicting Charles III

See the New British Coins Featuring Charles III

A close-up of Stonehenge in Salisbury, England

What Do Stonehenge and Japanese Stone Circles Have in Common?

Science

An artist’s reconstruction of Qianodus duplicis, the earliest known fish that had a mouth with teeth

Haul of Fossil Fish Pushes Back the Origin of Teeth and Jaws

The unexpected finds illustrate life during a critical and little-understood time period

A European eel swims in the Baltic Sea. 

The Utterly Engrossing Search for the Origin of Eels

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, D.C, on June 29, 2022. The EPA announced the launch of an office for advancing environmental justice and civil rights on Saturday. 

EPA Creates National Office for Environmental Justice and Civil Rights

Innovation

Market research firm Fact.MR estimated that global nonalcoholic wine sales reached $1.6 billion in 2021 and will double in the next decade.

The Science Behind Nonalcoholic Wine

Drinking habits are changing, and vintners are exceeding tasters' expectations with new options stripped of their alcohol

None

The Remarkable Effort to Locate America's Lost Patents

Manual breast pump with black bulb, dating to sometime between 1920 and 1959

The Sucky History of the Breast Pump

Arts & Culture

Lizzo plays President James Madison’s flute at the Library of Congress

Lizzo Played a 200-Year-Old Glass Flute Given to James Madison

The Library of Congress invited the musician, a classically trained flutist, to play the instrument at her concert this week

Abigail Disney beside a poster for The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales earlier this month

Abigail Disney Criticizes Labor Practices at the Company Her Family Founded

On October 21, some 60,000 pilgrims descend on the town of Portobelo, Panama, to celebrate the Festival del Cristo Negro.

Panama's Black Christ Festival Stirs Up Sorrow and a Sense of Survival

Travel

Detail of the Chief Johnson totem pole

The World's Largest Collection of Standing Totem Poles Keeps Getting Bigger

Eighty sculptures in and around Ketchikan, Alaska, tell the ancestral stories of Indigenous clans

About two to three million birds of prey fly through Panama each fall, in what amounts to the world’s third-largest raptor migration.

Watch Millions of Raptors Fly Across Panama This Fall

The Eiffel Tower at night

To Save Energy, the Eiffel Tower Dims Its Lights Early

At the Smithsonian

Six years after Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the first airplane in 1903, the Army purchased the Wright Military Flyer for $30,000.

After the Wright Brothers Took Flight, They Built the World's First Military Airplane

The 1909 Military Flyer is the centerpiece of the "Early Flight" exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum

The elkhorn coral is one of the most endangered corals in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. In Florida alone, the population is reduced by over 95 percent. A coral breeding project using elkhorn coral gametes collected in Florida and Curaçao hopes to give this species a new lease on life. 

This Moonshot for Coral Breeding Was Successful

This year's Craft2Wear Show features over 60 premier jewelry, leather and wearables artisans from across the country.

The Art of Wearing Works of Art