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Articles

A spirit medium pauses to light a cigarette.

Photos Celebrate the Lives of Gender Non-Conforming Spirit Mediums in Southeast Asia

The pioneering photographer’s latest book documents the welcoming community of transgender individuals who serve as spirit mediums in Burma and Thailand

Armenia

How Augmented Reality Is Helping Raise Awareness About One of Armenia’s Most Endangered Species

Nine Innovators to Watch in 2018

Meet a group of trailblazers in medicine, education, art, transportation, artificial intelligence and more

Coast guard officers in Costa Rica say they’re understaffed and overwhelmed. “We’re just order,” says Colonel Miguel Madrigal. “Not the law.”

An Unexpected Victim of Costa Rica’s Drug Trade: Fish

The archipelago was once synonymous with tourism, sustainability and biodiversity. Now collapsing fisheries have led to turmoil

ReGrained grains and bars

Would You Eat Food Made With “Trash”?

An increasing number of food companies are using food normally destined for the dumpster, and a new study shows eco-minded consumers don’t mind a bit

Members of Puerto Rico's Concilio Taíno Guatu-Ma-cu a Boriken presented a dance ceremony to invite the public to recover the collective spirituality of their Native ancestors.

Puerto Rico

Bringing Taíno Peoples Back Into History

A traveling Smithsonian exhibition explores the legacy of Indigenous peoples in the Greater Antilles and their contemporary heritage movement

Turda Salt Mine

These Five Abandoned Mines Have Been Transformed into Subterranean Wonderlands

Zip line through darkness or relax in a serene saline pool deep underground

Each chapter progresses from the very small to the very big.

Learn to Speak the Language of the Universe With This Mindblowing New Book

Magnitude helps you imagine the outer limits of time, speed and distance—without breaking your brain

Evel Knievel's trademark red, white and blue leathers, with accompanying cape and boots, joined the Smithsonian's American history collection in the early 1990s.

This Woeful Wipeout Made Evel Knievel an Instant Legend

In 1967, a bone-shattering spill at Caesars Palace spawned a career in self-endangerment

Travelers walk in the departure hall of Hong Kong International Airport.

The Rise of Indoor Navigation

You may never get lost in a mall again with these new technologies, designed to help you navigate inside places traditional GPS-based mapping apps can’t

The stunning image that opens the Siphonophorae chapter in The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel. Each gelatinous siphonophore is actually a group of colonial organisms all living and working together. To grow, they clone themselves—each new minion specialized for a specific function.

Art Meets Science

This 19th-Century Illustrator Found Beauty in the Slimiest of Sea Creatures

A new book chronicles Ernst Haeckel’s life and his gorgeous renderings of wild things—scales, spikes, tentacles and all

Kogod Courtyard, Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery

Happy Holidays! The Smithsonian is Closed on Christmas Day

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ on the National Mall

Hugh Jackman in "The Greatest Showman."

Based on a True Story

P.T. Barnum Isn’t the Hero the ‘Greatest Showman’ Wants You to Think

His path to fame and notoriety began by exploiting an enslaved woman, in life and in death, as entertainment for the masses

Elyse Butler got up close and personal to capture this fiery scene of lava flowing dramatically into the Pacific Ocean from Kilauea volcano.

Smithsonian Magazine’s Most Powerful Photos of the Year

Our photography editors select their favorites from a year full of stunning photojournalism

Mónico Márquez plays a Hohner button accordion with Venezuelan band Mestros del Joropo Oriental at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The Remarkable Rebirth of the Button Accordion

Musician Gilberto Reyes redesigned the instrument to meet the needs of Latino musicians

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