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These six keel-billed toucans were discovered bound and sedated in June by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. The Wildlife Confiscations Network helped find experts at qualified facilities to care for the birds.

Once Smuggled Animals Are Rescued, Law Enforcement Officers Call Her

As coordinator of the Wildlife Confiscations Network, Mandy Fischer helps match trafficked animals—from alligators to jaguars to baby monkeys—with sanctuaries and care facilities

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A Chance for Healing, 170 Years After a Lakota Massacre

Dozens of personal belongings from the Rosebud Sioux tribe find their way home after spending decades in the Smithsonian collections

The earwig’s delicate, paper-thin wings open to more than ten times their folded size, thanks to its origami-like creases.

Studying Clever Creases in Nature May Inspire Foldable Structures for Drones and Robots

Engineers are turning to animal origami, from insects that tuck away wings to a protist with an accordion-like neck, for design help

Babies on plane seats during Operation Babylift in April 1975

This Adoptee Discovered a Trove of Documents in a Nun’s Basement. The Rare Vietnam War Records May Rewrite the Story of Operation Babylift

The April 1975 effort matched more than 2,800 infants and children evacuated from Vietnam with adoptive families. Today, the adoptees are searching for clues to their past—and reflecting on the complicated legacy of their evacuation

The epigenetic clock is emerging as a wildlife conservation tool.

This ‘Clock’ Could Warn of Hidden Stresses to Animals, Offering a Long-Sought Signal That a Population Is Nearing Collapse

The epigenetic clock measures biological age and could help scientists assess the health of polar bears, dolphins, baboons and other threatened creatures “while recovery is still possible”

Emerson was among the leaders of the transcendental movement in Boston.

This 1837 Harvard Speech by Ralph Waldo Emerson Inspired a Generation of American Writers to Declare Their Independence From ‘the Courtly Muses of Europe’

His address advocated for scholars of the young United States to be less “timid,” “imitative” and “tame”

Only a fraction of the nearly 12,000 proposed amendments to the Constitution have been ratified into law.

Twelve Failed Constitutional Amendments That Could Have Reshaped American History

These proposals sought to change the United States’ name, abolish the presidency and the vice presidency, and set a limit on personal fortunes, among other measures

The Syrian shawarma, originally served in the alleys of Damascus and Aleppo, has become a culinary mainstay in Berlin.

How Shawarma Became a Soul Food of Syria’s Diaspora in Berlin

The popularity of the humble street food is a testament to cultural survival for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who arrived in Germany as refugees and asylum seekers in 2015

People with a rare form of epilepsy have reported feelings of bliss just before having a seizure. A French Swiss neurologist has pinned down where this “aura” originates in the brain in hopes that one day, that feeling might be reproduced non-invasively in others.

Some People Experience Blissful Ecstasy Right Before a Seizure. Could Understanding This Feeling Help Treat Depression?

A neurologist shares her thoughts and research about “ecstatic epilepsy” in a wide-ranging conversation on how we perceive the world—and create the world we perceive

Quintuplets Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie and Marie Dionne spent most of their childhoods in an Ontario compound known as Quintland.

The Dionne Quintuplets Captivated the World During the Great Depression. But Their Fame Came at a Cost

Nearly three million visitors flocked to Canada to see the five identical sisters—the first quintuplets to survive infancy. The siblings later said the publicity destroyed their childhoods

Jane Goodall visiting a chimpanzee rescue center in 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda

Jane Goodall, Legendary Primatologist and Anthropologist, Dies at 91

She was considered the world’s leading expert on chimpanzees and was renowned for her global conservation efforts

An 1844 illustration of mink

The Life, Loss and Lore of the Sea Mink

It might be among the first mammals to go extinct in North America after colonization. But can scientists prove it was even a distinct species?

From left to right: Director Paul Thomas Anderson and actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro on the set of One Battle After Another, a Warner Bros. Pictures release

Why Are Some of the World’s Best Directors Reviving This Special Film Format Created in the 1950s?

Paul Thomas Anderson utilized VistaVision to make his latest movie, “One Battle After Another,” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a bumbling, washed-up revolutionary trying to save his daughter

Scientists scavenge the docks of Manhattan’s Hudson River Park in pursuit of boluses—masses of undigestible materials expelled by gulls.

Gulls’ Spit-Up Gunk Can Help Ecologists Understand Human Pollution

Researchers and student volunteers pick up what seabirds throw up, then examine it for clues about our impact on the environment

As popular as it is, coffee is only the third-most popular drink worldwide, after water and tea.

Celebrate National Coffee Day and Get Your Caffeine Fix With These 15 Photos

It’s a grand day to enjoy coffee-centric snapshots from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Amazon data centers sit next to houses in Loudoun County.

A.I. Is on the Rise, and So Is the Environmental Impact of the Data Centers That Drive It

The demand for data centers is growing faster than our ability to mitigate their skyrocketing economic and environmental costs

A portrait of Johanna Koerten, whose "thread painting" for the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I sold for more money than Rembrandt's The Night Watch, one of the most famous artworks of all time

This 17th-Century Female Artist Was Once a Bigger Star Than Rembrandt. Why Did History Forget About Johanna Koerten and Her Peers?

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts spotlights 40 women who found fame in the Low Countries between 1600 and 1750, including Koerten, Judith Leyster and Clara Peeters

Nestled in Kyoto, Kiyomizu-dera is a historic Buddhist temple with a rich history spanning around 1,250 years.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 15 Gorgeous Photographs Illustrate the Ancient Beauty of Japan

From tranquil temples to the bright lights of Tokyo, look at images that capture the “Land of the Rising Sun”

1964 Chevy Impala lowrider, “Gypsy Rose”

How Lowrider Culture Turned Custom Cars Into Colorful, Stunning Works of Art

A Smithsonian traveling exhibition maps the family ties and ingenuity behind lowriders—from post-World War II Chicano pride on boulevards to global car shows

A sea lamprey shows off its nightmarish mouth.

This Invasive Vampire Fish Is Helping Researchers Understand the Human Nervous System in Jaw-Dropping Ways

The sea lamprey looks like it’s from another planet, but this ancient creature has a surprising amount in common with humans

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