Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

An Australian bull dog ant tends larvae.

The Hidden World of Ants

A new photo exhibit featuring the work of biologist Mark Moffett reminds us that we still live in an age of discovery

Building a robot that humans can love is pretty ambitious. But Javier Movellan (in his San Diego lab with RUBI) says he would like to develop a robot that loves humans.

Robot Babies

Can scientists build a machine that learns as it goes and plays well with others?

The ocean's boundless energy (von Jouanne near Oregon's Otter Rock Beach) could furnish up to 6.5 percent of U.S. electricity.

Catching a Wave, Powering an Electrical Grid?

Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea

Conventional wisdom held that only a huge stretch of DNA could function as a gene. The discovery of an overlooked genetic entity upends that view. Croce "was stunned."

High Hopes for a New Kind of Gene

Scientists believe that microRNA may lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer

None

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Whale of a comeback, dancing cockatoos, sticky bees, and waltzing pond scum

The turquoise water and mangrove islands seen from the dock sold the author on her Sugarloaf Key home.

Sugarloaf Key, Florida: Keeping Good Company

Observing ibises and kayaking among sharks, author Barbara Ehrenreich savors life “up the Keys”

Thornton Wilder discovered Douglas, Arizona, when his T-Bird broke down.

Thornton Wilder’s Desert Oasis

For the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Douglas, Arizona was a place to “refresh the wells” and drive into the sunset

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (concept model) will "sing for all of us."

From the Castle: ‘Forever’ Institutions

Libraries, universities and museums are especially important in uncertain times

Former Air Force pilot Brian Shul calls the super-fast SR-71 Blackbird "the most remarkable airplane of the 20th century."

The Ultimate Spy Plane

The SR-71 Blackbird, now featured in the Transformers movie sequel, was faster than a rifle bullet and flew 16 miles above the earth

Jean Shin has a new show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum called, "Jean Shin: Common Threads."

Q and A: Sculpture Artist Jean Shin

The artists creates sculptures from castaway objects such as old lottery tickets and broken umbrellas

Artist Shahzia Sikander guest-curates at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City.

What’s Up

None

Letters

Readers respond to the May Issue

Washington, D.C., July 4, 2509: An exact replica of the United States' Capitol is built using C-Span videos.

There Oughta Be a Law

Centuries hence, historians may wonder: Where exactly did Congress store all those pork barrels?

Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev In Vienna

From the Editor: My Favorite Commie

Nikita Khrushchev Comes to America

Now serving grief: Irwin (right) gives Holcomb (left) a lesson on why no plebe should ever forget the menu.

Up in Arms Over a Co-Ed Plebe Summer

The first women to attend the Naval Academy became seniors in 1979. Photographer Lucian Perkins was there as the old order changed

None

This Month in History

Momentous or Merely Memorable

The Soviet leader makes his entrance at 20th Century Fox on September 19, 1959. He would call Can-Can exploitive and pornographic.

Nikita Khrushchev Goes to Hollywood

Lunch with the Soviet leader was Tinseltown’s hottest ticket, with famous celebrities including Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin

The remains of a forest of lycopsids and other oddities is 230 feet underground (John Nelson, left, and Scott Elrick inspect a mine shaft ceiling rich in fossils.)

The World’s Largest Fossil Wilderness

An Illinois coal mine holds a snapshot of life on earth 300 million years ago, when a massive earthquake “froze” a swamp in time

After camping out for days, tourists look up into the sky as Apollo 11 rocketed into space.

Moonwalk Launch Party

The launch 40 years ago of Apollo 11, which put a man on the moon, brought Americans together during a time of nationwide unrest

None

Miami, Florida

A love affair

Page 1075 of 1322