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Jørgen Botolfsen, pictured in 2020 outside Ballstad Fisk AS, where he helps process cod. “Bigger kids are stronger and faster,” he says.

In Norway, Kids Slice Out Cod Tongues for Serious Money

In the remote Lofoten Islands, youngsters are happy to embrace tradition by collecting the local delicacy and selling their wares

One reader wonders what graffiti was like before spray paint.

Ask Smithsonian

What Did Graffiti Look Like Before Spray Paint and More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts.

Orange and lemon groves as well as the residence of the citrus pioneer William Wolfskill, c. 1882. 

The Bug That Saved California

The Golden State’s citrus industry faced a lethal threat. The solution would herald a new kind of pest control

“You become a little bit of a fixture in the community,” says Stewart, seen here in San Diego.

The Veterinarian Brings His Healing Presence to Pets of the Unhoused

Kwane Stewart discovers the little-known world of generosity and love

A first edition of Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), written while the poet was enslaved to John Wheatley of Boston. The book has a brown leather cover, the original Morocco spine label and a frontispiece featuring a portrait of Phillis by Scipio Morehead.  

Women Who Shaped History

How Phillis Wheatley Beat All Expectations

The Revolution-era Boston establishment couldn’t believe that the young African American woman wrote the exquisite book of poetry

Robert Leverett walks through the old-growth forests in Mohawk Trail State Forest.

Old, Primeval Forests May Be a Powerful Tool to Fight Climate Change

Ecologists thought these trees had long been torn down in New England. Then Bob Leverett proved them wrong

(Top) Leila Strickland, Michelle Egger, Toby Kiers, Colin Averill, J. Richard Gott (Middle) Leslie Jones-Dove, Devshi Mehrotra, Prisha Shroff, Iké Udé (Bottom) Tim Farrelly, Omar Salem, David Deneher, Victor A. Lopez-Carmen, Doris Sung

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Sixteen Innovators to Watch in 2022

These trailblazers are dreaming up a future with cell-cultured breastmilk, energy-saving windows and more

Damage assessment mission to the Mosul Cultural Museum, 2019.

How the Smithsonian Protects Cultural Heritage Around the World

In the wake of crisis and disaster, rescue workers led by the Smithsonian step in to safeguard irreplaceable treasures

A bar proprietress drinks during her 101st birthday party at her tiny bar in Tokyo.

Old-Age Record Could Reach 130 by Century’s End

Analysis of supercentenarians suggests human lifespan may have no limit

Arnold Bertonneau of New Orleans, Robert Smalls of South Carolina and Anderson Ruffin Abbott of Toronto.

Meet the Black Men Who Changed Lincoln’s Mind About Equal Rights

During the Civil War, these individuals convinced the president, altering the course of U.S. history

The remarkable Hudsonian godwit.

This Wonder Bird Flies Thousands of Miles, Non-Stop, as Part of an Epic Migration

The more scientists learn about the Hudsonian godwit, the more they’re amazed—and worried

Children stand on the surrounding wall at Tabira Gate, the entrance to Assur, first capital of the Assyrian empire in present day Shirqat, Iraq.

At the Iraqi Site of Assur, Ancient History Stands at Risk of Destruction

In its time, the Assyrian capital faced waves of invasions and abandonment. Now a small team of archaeologists are protecting it from more modern threats

A restoration of the extinct whale Phiomicetus, named by paleontologists earlier this year, preying upon a sawfish.

Whales Once Walked Along the Coasts of North America

Increasing fossil finds are helping researchers understand how such early whales made their way to the continent

A 1930s couple rings in the new year with party blowers and streamers. New Year's Eve celebrations only began incorporating countdowns decades later, with the first crowd countdown in Times Square taking place in 1979.

Why Do We Count Down to the New Year?

A historian traces the tradition’s links to space travel, the Doomsday Clock and Alfred Hitchcock

The science behind bubbles in champagne is an active field of research. Here, a red spotlight highlights bubbles growing at the bottom of a goblet, where they stick thanks to surface tension.

The Science Behind Champagne Bubbles

As you uncork that bottle and raise your glass, take time to toast the physics and chemistry along with the New Year

A CT scan of the spiral intestine of a Pacific spiny dogfish shark (Squalus suckleyi). The organ begins on the left and ends on the right.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions

From nanobots to cancer treatments, nature inspires a wide variety of innovations

A roughly 2000-year-old mummified man of the Ansilta culture, from the Andes of San Juan, Argentina, had lice eggs and cement in his hair which preserved his own DNA

DNA Preserved in Lice Glue Reveals South American Mummies’ Secrets

Remarkable samples from an ancient culture offer scientists a promising new way to study the past

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Evotourism ®

Seven New Things We Learned About Human Evolution in 2021

Paleoanthropologists Briana Pobiner and Ryan McRae reveal some of the year’s best findings in human origins studies

Harvard University professor E.O. Wilson in his office in Cambridge, MA. He is considered to be the world's leading authority on the study of ants.

Remembering E.O. Wilson’s Wish for a More Sustainable Existence

From a lifelong passion for ants, E.O. Wilson guided humanity to think of conservation

The tyrannosaur Nanuqsaurus, which lived in the Arctic, with its young. New evidence suggests dinosaurs nested in the cold, dark region.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2021

The key finds and moments in a year packed with amazing stories about the terrible lizards

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