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Science
The Fox Family of Mount Rainier
Even the scientists who study the animals rarely see them except on camera. But Gretchen Kay Stuart spent a season documenting them up close
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What’s Behind Steven Spielberg’s Lifelong Obsession With Flying Saucers and Extraterrestrial Visitors?
Half a century after "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," the director returns to the subject of UFOs with "Disclosure Day." His science fiction films are informed by his fascination with alien encounters in American suburbia
Smart News
See Stunning Photos of New National Park Land That Soon Will Be Accessible From America’s Longest National Trail
Mule Deer Are Already Using California’s First Wildlife Crossing—and It’s Not Even Finished Yet
See Visions of the Past and Future in This New York City Exhibition on the Renaissance Roots of Tarot Cards
Scientists Invented a Disease to Test Whether A.I. Knew It Was Fake. Then, Chatbots Started Saying It Was Real
Four Reasons You Should Know More About Gordon S. Wood, the Scholar of the American Revolution Who Died This Week at Age 92
Latest Features
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History
Plunder at the Pink Temple
Clara and André Malraux conspired to loot the pink temple of Banteay Srei, but their failure started a battle of reclamation
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Travel
Drafting the Revolution
Taverns, public houses and inns served as meeting places before the war and unofficial headquarters during it. Some still stand—including these nine, where you can raise a glass in memory of the founders
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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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Zanzibar from Above
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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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Theodore Roosevelt Survived an Assassination Attempt Because a Speech Tucked Inside His Pocket Slowed the Bullet. He Insisted on Delivering His Remarks Anyway
“I am very much uninterested in whether I am shot or not,” he told an audience in Milwaukee. Newly discovered documents shed light on how the 26th president wanted the incident to shape his legacy
Science
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The Operating Room Where Anesthesia Was First Demonstrated Is Now a Landmark. But for the Men Who Claimed Credit, There Was Much Misery
Medical procedures used to be a scream-filled endurance test until doctors at this Boston institution learned to tame the pain of patients
Innovation
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Because of a Mathematician From Rural Virginia’s Work on Global Positioning, You Have No Excuse for Getting Lost
Gladys West had an “insatiable thirst for knowledge.” She used computers, radars and satellites to make calculations that led to the GPS technology that allows us to pinpoint any spot on the globe
Travel
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America’s Original Travel Influencer Drew Up a Revolutionary Itinerary 200 Years Ago. There’s Still Plenty to See Along the Way
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
Arts & Culture
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Who Are the Owners of These Nazi-Looted Masterpieces—and Could Displaying Them at One of France’s Most Popular Museums Help Track Them Down?
A new permanent display at the Musée d’Orsay showcases artworks that may have been stolen or sold under suspicious circumstances during World War II. Officials are still hoping to find the families of their rightful owners
At the Smithsonian
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This Remarkable Statue of Liberty Model Made by the Sculptor of the Original Has a New Summer Home at the Smithsonian Castle
Artist Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s small maquette represents the big ideals of the iconic national monument in New York Harbor