Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Stories from Sarah Kuta

The weapons are adorned with gold and silver designs and an engraved image of Napoleon.

Napoleon’s Elaborately Decorated Pistols Sell for $1.8 Million at Auction

The French government has declared the artifacts national treasures, which means they can only leave the country temporarily

The grape family had a complex, tumultuous history of extinction and dispersal in Central and South America.

Did the Extinction of the Dinosaurs Pave the Way for Grapes?

Newly discovered fossils in South America hint at the evolution and proliferation of grapes around the world

A diver found the vessel off the coast of northern Cyprus in 1965.

How Researchers Solved the Mystery of This 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck

A new analysis of nuts, timber and other items found onboard the Kyrenia shipwreck is shedding new light on the vessel’s timeline

Mount Halla is located on Jeju Island, a population tourist destination south of the Korean peninsula.

Leftover Ramen Broth Is Causing Problems on South Korea’s Mount Halla

Visitors are dumping the salty liquid on the ground, and authorities are concerned about its impact on plants and animals

Tusks and other fossilized remains are all that's left of the woolly mammoths that lived on Wrangel Island thousands of years ago.

What Killed the Last Woolly Mammoths? Scientists Say It Wasn’t Inbreeding

New research suggests some catastrophic event—such as a natural disaster or a virus—killed the world’s last known population of mammoths on Wrangel Island

The frog saunas are easy to make and cost around $50 to put together.

‘Frog Saunas’ May Be the Key to Saving Amphibians From a Deadly Fungal Infection

Providing frogs with sun-warmed bricks inside mini-greenhouses can help them recover from chytrid and make them more resilient against the disease in the future, a new study finds

Baskind was buried under a Star of David with full military honors at the Normandy American Cemetery in France this week.

A Jewish Soldier Found in a German Mass Grave Has Been Reburied in an American Cemetery

Nathan Baskind received a Jewish burial exactly 80 years after his death in World War II

The "wombat walker" will "coax [the wombats] out of bed to get them moving" and "[motivate] them to complete their morning walks."

Tasmania Is Hiring for a ‘Wombat Walker’ and Other Odd Jobs

The Australian island state is trying to drum up tourism during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter

Honeybees have a very good sense of smell.

Honeybees Can Sniff Out Lung Cancer, Scientists Suggest

New research opens the door for doctors to one day use bees as a living diagnostic tool

Painted ladies are known for making long migrations over land.

These Stunning Butterflies Flew 2,600 Miles Across the Atlantic Ocean Without Stopping

Researchers combined several lines of evidence to solve the mystery of why a group of painted ladies, which do not live in South America, were found fluttering on a beach in French Guiana

Born in 1881 in Spain, Pablo Picasso spent most of his life in Paris, where he helped develop Cubism with French painter Georges Braque.

You Can Now See Thousands of Pablo Picasso’s Works in a New Online Archive

The Picasso Museum in Paris has released a digital portal featuring the Spanish painter and sculptor’s art

Wild chimpanzees in Uganda appeared to seek out and eat specific plants with medicinal properties when they were sick.

Chimpanzees May Self-Medicate With Plants, Using the Forest as a Pharmacy

New research suggests sick chimps seek out and eat plants with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties—a finding that could advance drug discovery for humans

Located in southern Italy, Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Parkour Group Damages Building in the Historic Italian City of Matera

Team Phat posted a video showing one of its members breaking a stone protruding from a wall

Mai Fahmy captured videos of leeches jumping during two separate trips to Madagascar.

Watch Blood-Sucking Leeches Leap From Leaves and Soar Through the Air

New videos may help settle scientists’ long-standing debate over whether leeches can jump

Archaeologists continue to excavate Herculaneum, a seaside resort town devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.

An Ancient Beach Buried by Mount Vesuvius’ Eruption Is Now Open to the Public

In the seaside resort town of Herculaneum, the beach is the final resting place of more than 330 residents who tried to flee

McDonnell's "Sinai Sour" (not pictured) is similar to a gose, a German beer style with a tart, slightly salty taste.

This Man Brewed Beer Using 3,000-Year-Old Yeast and a Recipe From an Ancient Egyptian Papyrus

Utah homebrewer Dylan McDonnell created his ‘Sinai Sour’ in his backyard

The badges identify the wearer's occupation, such as servant or porter. 

These Badges Shed New Light on the Enslaved Workers Who Built Charleston

The Smithsonian has acquired a collection of 146 slave badges from between 1800 and 1865

During a major lunar standstill, the northernmost and southernmost moonrise and moonset are at their farthest apart.

A ‘Major Lunar Standstill’ Is Happening This Year—and Friday’s Full Moon Offers ‘Dramatic’ View

From now through much of next year, the moon will periodically rise and set at its most extreme points, thanks to a rare celestial phenomenon that only occurs every 18.6 years

Archaeologists used manned and unmanned submersibles to recover artifacts from the wrecks.

Archaeologists Recover 900 Artifacts From Ming Dynasty Shipwrecks in South China Sea

The trove of objects—including pottery, porcelain, shells and coins—was found roughly a mile below the surface

The two Hudson Bay polar bear groups are often considered indicators of how the 17 other polar bear subpopulations will fare in the future.

Time Is Running Out for the Hudson Bay Polar Bears

The southern and western subpopulations are on track to disappear as sea ice becomes too thin amid rising global temperatures

Page 44 of 89