Get the latest from Smithsonian magazine in your inbox every weekday.

By checking this box, I agree to receive other information from the Smithsonian, including relevant content and programming, news about Smithsonian events, trips and offers, and museum updates. Click to visit our Privacy Statement.
Easy unsubscribe links are provided in every email.

Latest Features

Lionel Licorish, a 23-year-old sailor from Barbados, spent 14 hours keeping a lifeboat afloat in stormy conditions and swimming through shark-infested waters to rescue survivors of the Vestris disaster.

HISTORY

The Black Sailor Whose Heroic Actions During a Shipwreck Made Him an Instant Celebrity of the Roaring Twenties

Norman Lear at home in Los Angeles in 1984

ARTS & CULTURE

Norman Lear Brought Big Issues to the Small Screen

Neanderthals have held our fascination ever since we first identified their remains.

SCIENCE

Here's What We Know About Neanderthals So Far

The traveling exhibition "Simone Leigh" is now on view at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden through March 3, 2024, before traveling to Los Angeles next summer (above: the artist in 2021).

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The World Is Running to Catch Up With Simone Leigh

This year's top titles include The Last Ride of the Pony Express, Elixir, Airplane Mode, and more.

TRAVEL

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2023

At the beginning of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t an abolitionist, admitting that his beliefs were “not even what could be called antislavery.” By August 1863, he had changed his mind, writing, “Slavery is already dead and cannot be resurrected.”

HISTORY

Unraveling Ulysses S. Grant's Complex Relationship With Slavery

Half a century on, Kohoutek may be due a little more respect. Though it disappointed the media and the public, it proved to be a bonanza for serious scientists.

HISTORY

The 'Comet of the Century' Failed to Impress, but It Wasn't Such a Disaster After All

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

HISTORY

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

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine December 2023 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

History

Unraveling Ulysses S. Grant's Complex Relationship With Slavery

The Union general directly benefited from the brutal institution before and during the Civil War

2.

Science

Here's What We Know About Neanderthals So Far

Today, thanks to new artifacts and technologies, findings about our closest relatives are coming thick and fast

3.

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?

4.

Smart News

Rare Physical Evidence of Roman Crucifixion Found in Britain

Researchers discovered the skeleton of a man with a nail hammered through his heel bone

5.

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

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Books

What It Took to Broker a Treaty Between the Young United States and Native Nations

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

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

  image   image

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

Beautiful love bird was captured at our golf course. Love Bird

History

Lionel Licorish, a 23-year-old sailor from Barbados, spent 14 hours keeping a lifeboat afloat in stormy conditions and swimming through shark-infested waters to rescue survivors of the Vestris disaster.

The Black Sailor Whose Heroic Actions During a Shipwreck Made Him an Instant Celebrity of the Roaring Twenties

Lionel Licorish earned accolades for rescuing as many as 20 passengers from the wreckage of the S.S. "Vestris"

At the beginning of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t an abolitionist, admitting that his beliefs were “not even what could be called antislavery.” By August 1863, he had changed his mind, writing, “Slavery is already dead and cannot be resurrected.”

Unraveling Ulysses S. Grant's Complex Relationship With Slavery

Half a century on, Kohoutek may be due a little more respect. Though it disappointed the media and the public, it proved to be a bonanza for serious scientists.

The 'Comet of the Century' Failed to Impress, but It Wasn't Such a Disaster After All

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 glass of homemade eggnog dusted with cinnamon is a mouthwatering prospect to some—and an abomination to others.

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

The traveling exhibition "Simone Leigh" is now on view at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden through March 3, 2024, before traveling to Los Angeles next summer (above: the artist in 2021).

The World Is Running to Catch Up With Simone Leigh

The celebrated artist’s crusading works, now on view at the Hirshhorn Museum, upend the stereotypes too often foisted on Black women

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

Smithsonian Scholars Recommend Their Favorite Books of 2023

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