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Science
Gimme Shelter
Best Friends Animal Society has a sprawling campus in the canyons of Utah, but its influence has grown to reach almost every shelter in the country
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The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2025, From Medical Breakthroughs to an Interstellar Visitor
All year long, these moments captivated the public, demonstrated dangerous trends, and pushed research and innovation forward
Smart News
Mysterious Shipwreck Discovered in ‘Pristine’ Condition in Lake Ontario—With Its Masts Still Standing
How Many Glaciers Will Survive Until the End of the Century? These Four Scenarios Show It’s Not Looking Good
Thousands of Couples Gather Under the Mistletoe in Washington, D.C. to Kiss Their Way Into a New World Record
Flesh-Eating Screwworms Are Creeping Closer to a Comeback in the United States
Saturn’s Moon Titan May Not Have an Underground Ocean After All
Latest Features
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History
The Lost City of the Silk Road
Researchers are uncovering what they think is the metropolis of Marsmanda, an iron-making city that could rewrite the history of the famed trade route
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History
A Grand New Design
A train wreck that caused the death of more than a dozen commuters near the turn of the 20th century was the impetus behind a monumental project that changed the urban landscape
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Most Popular
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Special Report
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America’s 250th Anniversary
To mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting the people, places and events that shaped the United States’ fight for independence from Great Britain
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Photo of the Day
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The Clock
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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 ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ Sank Half a Century Ago. We’re Still Fascinated.
November 6, 2025 | 28 minutes
History
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Pompeii’s Graffiti Captures Every Joke, Boast and Argument of an Ancient Roman City Frozen in Time
The roughly 11,000 inscriptions preserved by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 C.E. offer a glimpse into everyday life in the Roman Empire
Science
The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2025, From Medical Breakthroughs to an Interstellar Visitor
All year long, these moments captivated the public, demonstrated dangerous trends, and pushed research and innovation forward
Innovation
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Two College Students Are Building a Robot to Replant Burned Forests
Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça invented Trovador, a four-legged, A.I.-powered robot that can plant trees in hard-to-reach, wildfire-damaged terrain
Travel
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Meet the Daredevils Chasing Down Speed Records at the Bonneville Salt Flats
Race officials, tinkerers and competitors converge in Utah every fall to test both metal and mettle
Arts & Culture
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A Famed Street Photographer Chronicled What Christmas Looks Like Across America Over the Course of Decades
Lee Friedlander’s new book, “Christmas,” collects his work from all over the country on the topic of our sentimental and materialistic connection to the holiday
At the Smithsonian
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Sixty Years Ago, When Instruments Were Played in Space for the First Time, It Was ‘Jingle Bells’ All the Way
Astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra delighted mission control with their rendition of the Christmas classic