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Science
Theater of Relief
Medical procedures used to be a scream-filled endurance test until doctors at this Boston institution learned to tame the pain of patients
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Smallpox DNA Hidden for Centuries in Mummies Found in Chile Suggests European Colonists Brought the Virus to the Americas
Researchers say they found the first direct, molecular proof of the deadly trajectory the virus took
Smart News
To Recover Artworks Looted by the Nazis, Researchers Are Getting Creative, With New Strategies Including an A.I. Chatbot and a Campaign of ‘Wanted’ Posters
New Images Provide the Best Evidence Yet That Supergiant Star Betelgeuse Does, Indeed, Have a Long-Theorized Stellar Companion
This 400-Year-Old Impenetrable Japanese Castle That Survived a Samurai Siege Just Crumbled in an Earthquake
A Man Used This Civil War Artifact as a Paperweight on His Desk. The Bomb Squad Told Him It Was Actually a Live Explosive
After Receiving a Custom Experimental Medicine, a Teen With a Rare Genetic Disorder Walked on His Own for the First Time
Latest Features
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Travel
Rediscovering America’s Original Grand Tour
Follow along as we retrace the route one journalist laid out in “The Fashionable Tour,” from New York City to Niagara Falls, when memories of the fight for independence were still fresh
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History
How to Build a Character
Silence Dogood. Richard Saunders. Benevolus. Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim. All were pen names that allowed Franklin to say things he couldn’t have otherwise said
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Most Popular
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Special Report
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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark
A Smithsonian magazine special issue in celebration of the nation's 250th
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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 Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana
April 23, 2026 | 34 minutes
History
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Australia’s Most Notorious Shipwreck Tells a Story of Murder, Slavery, Mutiny—and, Now, ‘Surprisingly Sophisticated’ Trade in the 17th Century
When the Dutch East India Company’s flagship “Batavia” sank in 1629, it went down with large, carved sandstone blocks in its hold. The stones are now shedding light on trade at the dawn of global capitalism
Science
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Yellowstone Is Among the World’s Best Places to See Wild Wolves. Here’s the Story of the Animal Called Both ‘Public Enemy’ and Cultural Icon
A century ago, resident wolves were eliminated from the park. In 1995, biologists brought them back, marking a historic reintroduction of a top carnivore
Innovation
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The First At-Home Test for Infected Ticks Could Improve Lyme Disease Diagnosis
LymeAlert will hit the market in August. The latest tool against the tick-borne illness could become a medicine cabinet staple
Travel
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A New Generation of Chefs Reimagines Indonesian Cuisine in the Netherlands to Tell the Stories of Its Origins
The shift reflects a larger cultural moment, with chefs asking whether the cuisine should remain tied to colonial nostalgia or evolve into a reflection of modern Indonesian identity
Arts & Culture
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Rembrandt Began a Biblical Painting. Another Artist Finished It ‘Rather Crudely.’ Now, Restorations Have Revealed the Long-Lost Original
An art dealer stumbled across “Let the Little Children Come Unto Me” at a German auction house in 2014. Experts have now carefully removed layers of overpaint from the forgotten masterpiece
At the Smithsonian
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This 19th-Century Diary Written by an Enslaved Maryland Man Is a Crucial Record of His Life and Family History—and the Only One of Its Kind Found in the United States
Adam Francis Plummer’s chronicle is believed to be the country’s sole known example of a multigenerational journal begun by an enslaved person. It’s now on view at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum