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History

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Sex and Space Travel: Predictions from the 1950s

The cure for lonely space missions? One astronomer proposed hiring astronaut concubines

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Sophie Blanchard – The High Flying Frenchwoman Who Revealed the Thrill and Danger of Ballooning

Blanchard was said to be afraid of riding in a carriage, but she became one of the great promoters of human flight

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Recapping ‘The Jetsons’: Episode 04 – The Coming of Astro

Man’s best friend has been fending off the the threat of a robot replacement for decades, not just on television

People in a space colony of the future

A New Great Depression and Ladies on the Moon: 1970s Middle School Kids Look to the Year 2000

The ideal future according to a ten-year-old: shorter school days, lower taxes, and lots and lots of robots

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The Traumatic Birth of the Modern (and Vicious) Political Campaign

When Upton Sinclair ran for governor of California in 1934, new media were marshaled to beat him

This photograph of a medium-range ballistic missile site in Cuba was captured by a U-2 spy plane on October 14, 1962.

Document Deep Dive

Document Deep Dive: What Did Analysts Find in the Recon Photographs From the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Dino Brugioni explains how he and other CIA photo analysts located Soviet missiles just 90 miles away from the United States

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Recapping ‘The Jetsons’: Episode 03 – The Space Car

The Jetsons didn’t invent the flying car, but it sure did a lot to cement the idea of the airborne automobile into the American imagination

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

What (or Who) Caused the Great Chicago Fire?

The true story behind the myth of Mrs. O’Leary and her cow

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Predictions From The Father of Science Fiction

Hugo Gernsback’s predictions give us a look at the most radical of technological utopianism from the 1920s

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Revisiting Epcot Center on its 30th Birthday

Has the Disney theme park outlived its purpose as a monument to science and technology?

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Recapping “The Jetsons”: Episode 02 – A Date With Jet Screamer

The Jetson family’s descent into sex, drugs and rock & roll

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The Unsolved Mystery of the Tunnels at Baiae

Did ancient priests fool visitors to a sulfurous subterranean stream that they had crossed the River Styx and entered Hades?

The United Nations in New York City.

The Surprisingly Colorful Spaces Where the World’s Biggest Decisions Get Made (PHOTOS)

Photographer Luca Zanier looks at the view from where the decision-makers sit

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From the Editor

From the Editor

"It's possible my natural level is in the Senate," John F. Kennedy said—but then he won the 1960 election. As president, he and his wife hosted Ben and Tony Bradlee (left and third from left) at the White House.

Kennedy After Dark: A Dinner Party About Politics and Power

In this exclusive transcript from the JFK library, hear what he had to say just days after announcing his candidacy for the presidency

Low-altitude images, previously unpublished, reveal gaps in U.S. intelligence. Analysts failed to detect tactical nuclear warheads at a bunker near Managua.

The Photographs That Prevented World War III

While researching a book on the Cuban missile crisis, the writer unearthed new spy images that could have changed history

“I’d come back from an op and couldn’t wait for what happens next,” says Douglas Groat (shown in a reenactment with tools of the trade).

The CIA Burglar Who Went Rogue

Douglas Groat thought he understood the risks of his job—until he took on his own employer

Dr. Lewis Fielding’s File Cabinet.

The World’s Most Famous Filing Cabinet

After Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, the notorious Plumbers broke into his psychiatrist’s office, looking for a way to discredit him

At the gravesite of Mercy Lena Brown, right, sightseers leave offerings such as plastic vampire teeth and jewelry.

The Great New England Vampire Panic

Two hundred years after the Salem witch trials, farmers became convinced that their relatives were returning from the grave to feed on the living

The Dark Side of Thomas Jefferson

A new portrait of the founding father challenges the long-held perception of Thomas Jefferson as a benevolent slaveholder

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