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A horse at the Minnesota State Fair receives attention and affection from visitors.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 20 Majestic Photos Show Just Why Humans Adore Horses

To commemorate the National Day of the Horse, see herds of equine images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

A Laysan albatross checks on its egg.

Stream the Beautiful Highs and Violent Lows of Albatross Life With This New 24-Hour Camera on Midway Atoll

You can see the large white seabirds dancing, preening, feeding and raising young—though the live feed might show a dark side of island living, too, with potential predation from invasive mice

Juvenile sunflower sea stars at the Sunflower Star Laboratory in Moss Landing, California. At this phase, each is less than an inch wide, but they can grow to be more than three feet across as adults.

A Deadly Pathogen Decimated Sunflower Sea Stars. Look Inside the Lab Working to Bring Them Back by Freezing and Thawing Their Larvae

For the first time, scientists have cryopreserved and revived the larvae of a sea star species. The breakthrough, made with the giant pink star, gives hope the technique could be repeated to save the imperiled predator

Astronauts Tom Stafford (left) and Wally Schirra (right) demonstrating with two model space crafts during an interview in the 1960s

Sixty Years Ago, When Instruments Were Played in Space for the First Time, It Was ‘Jingle Bells’ All the Way

Astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra delighted mission control with their rendition of the Christmas classic

The Poseidon Adventure debuted in theaters 53 years ago. This stupendously implausible work of fiction grew from the fertile soil of fact, drawing inspiration from the RMS Queen Mary's tendency to tilt dangerously.

Based on a True Story

How a Near-Shipwreck on a Luxury Ocean Liner Inspired ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ and a Decade of Disaster Movies

Paul Gallico was on board the RMS “Queen Mary” when it almost capsized in 1937. The haunting experience shaped his best-selling 1969 novel and its 1972 film adaptation

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best books about travel of 2025 include Adventures in the Louvre, On the Hippie Trail and Things Become Other Things.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2025

These top titles of the year conveniently bring the world and its many perspectives to us

A dead tree stands with its bare, white trunk and branches in contrast to the greenery around it.

What’s Killing These Oak Trees in the Midwest? Conservationists Believe Drifting Herbicides Are to Blame

When Illinois landowners noticed tree deaths and diseases on their properties ramp up in 2017, they suspected industrial agriculture. A survey found herbicides in 90 percent of tree tissues

In our efforts to increase and diffuse knowledge, we highly recommend these titles this year.

The Best Books of 2025

The Best Books of 2025

Whether you’re doing some holiday shopping or looking for your own next read, consider our thoughtfully curated lists.

Smithsonian magazine's picks for best photography books of 2025 include Birds of a Feather, Blue Sun and Trembling Earth.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Photography Books of 2025

Our favorite titles this year invite readers to take in the beauty of nature and our cultural rituals

Jane Austen's second novel, Pride and Prejudice, was published on January 28, 1813.

Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Was Initially Rejected by a Publisher. It Later Became One of the World’s Most Beloved Novels

The British author wrote six novels, but it’s her second published book that has resonated the most in the 250 years since her birth in 1775

Robots still struggle with the unpredictable ways that fabric crumples and creases. But newer approaches offer the hope of better robotic household help.

When Will Robots Take Over Laundry Folding?

For this chore, the human touch still beats machines. But maybe not for long

The shadows of early morning visitors are cast on the base of the Abraham Lincoln statue at his memorial on the National Mall. 

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 15 Photographs Capture What It’s Like to Walk Through Wonderful, Historic Washington, D.C.

Enjoy this selection of images of the nation’s capital from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Earth’s magnetic field surrounds the planet, with illustrated field lines emerging from the north, in orange, and looping around to the south, in blue.

A Weak Spot in Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Growing, but Scientists Say Not to Worry. Here’s a Look at What Shields Us From Space Weather

Our planet’s magnetosphere has seen dramatic shifts across its history—even total reversals—but this recent wrinkle doesn’t pose a threat to life

Walter Reed Parpart Jr. (right), the radioman on one of the missing planes, poses in front of a Fort Lauderdale sign in 1945.

How the Disappearance of Flight 19, a Navy Squadron Lost in 1945, Fueled the Legend of the Bermuda Triangle

Eighty years ago, five planes vanished during a training run off the Florida coast. A patrol plane sent to search for the men went missing, too, giving rise to a host of conspiracy theories

A 1984 front-loading Betamax video recorder

This Revolutionary but Largely Forgotten Video Recorder Debuted 50 Years Ago. Devoted Fans Say the Machine Had the Best Quality of Its Time

Tech lovers continue to tout the superior resolution of Sony’s Betamax—even though it became obsolete after VHS overtook it

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The Astronomical Problem of Space Junk

Chunks of satellites and pieces of debris falling from space are causing trouble down here on Earth

A long-exposure view of the Milky Way, seen from Brandenburg, Germany, is cut through by the light trails of passing satellites.

Giant Mirrors in Space Could Bring Sunlight After Dark, One Startup Says—and Astronomers Are Concerned

Critics argue the satellites, billed as a way to harness solar energy at night, could hamper sky observations and may pose a threat to human and animal health

Ottawa, Truman Lowe, pine, peeled willow saplings, 1992. Installation view of "Cultural Confluence: Work by Truman Lowe," February 9–September 16, 2017, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota

With His Sculptures Full of Natural Splendor, Artist Truman Lowe Could Make Wood Look Like Water

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is hosting the first major retrospective of the Ho-Chunk sculptor’s work

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best books about science in 2025 include Replaceable You, Dinner With King Tut and North to the Future.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Science Books of 2025

From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year

A bust of Plato in the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin

Coastal Cities of Europe

Go Behind the Scenes at an Iconic Irish Library as Staff Move 700,000 Historical Treasures Into Storage

Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library will close for restoration and construction in 2027. What does that mean for the medieval manuscripts and books housed there?

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