Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Device Could Revolutionize How Malaria Is Detected Around the World

The Magneto-Optical Detector (MOD) combines magnets and laser light to determine, in less than a minute, if a drop of blood contains malaria parasites

Rudolf Hess and Adolf Hitler during the Reichstag session at which Hitler gave his last warning to the British Empire.

History of Now

The First Moments of Hitler’s Final Solution

When Hitler solidified his plan to exterminate Jews – and why it matters 75 years later

The Nobel Prize, named after the repentant creator of dynamite, has been awarded nearly every year since 1901.

What Does It Take to Win a Nobel Prize? Four Winners, in Their Own Words

Some answers: Messiness, ignorance and puzzles

There have been 38 facial transplants worldwide to date. Not all have survived.

Saving Face: How One Pioneering Surgeon Is Pushing the Limits of Facial Transplants

His reconstructed faces have tongues that taste and eyelids that blink. But will they withstand the test of time?

Electronic waste, shown here, is just part of the "technosphere," which comprises the totality of the stuff humans produce.

Age of Humans

Humans Have Bogged Down the Earth with 30 Trillion Metric Tons of Stuff, Study Finds

The authors say this is more proof that we are living in an Age of Humans—but not all scientists agree

Some of the performers are circus-trained, adding authenticity to the aerial acrobatics displayed.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

“Call Me Ishmael” Is the Only Melville Tradition in This Innovative Presentation of “Moby Dick”

Visceral, kinesthetic, cinematic, aural and psychological, Arena Stage’s new show about the 19th-century novel is a 21st-century experience

American Ingenuity Awards

Read the Letter Written by John Glenn to Honor Jeff Bezos for Blue Origin

Two weeks before he died, the legendary astronaut wrote a letter in recognition of the 2016 American Ingenuity Awards

John Glenn (1921-2016) by Henry C. Casselli, Jr., 1998

A Smithsonian Curator Remembers Astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn

The American hero died at the age of 95

How Trump Tower Takes the Skyscraper Debate to New Heights

The future of urban development takes on a new twist when the president lives among the clouds

Tamara Schwent and Kevin Curtis, PhD from Sirenas bringing in samples from the deep sea. This was a joint expedition with Chapman Expeditions and the Carmabi Research Station.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Will the Next Big Cancer Drug Come From the Ocean?

A California startup “bioprospects” for sponges, algae and other organisms whose chemistry may be useful to the world of medicine

Philanthropist David M. Rubenstein (left) in conversation with National Museum of Natural History Kirk Johnson.

The Natural History Museum’s National Fossil Hall Is Getting a Full Facelift

Museum director Kirk Johnson gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the new dinosaur hall, home to the T-Rex

Capture and Burning of Washington by the British, in 1814, wood engraving, 1876

The Sole American Killed in the 1814 Burning of D.C. Was Related to George Washington

John Lewis was the grandnephew of the first President of the United States

New York City’s Holiday Vintage Subway Trains Are Back

Go back in time, underground

Radiocarbon dating has been used to determine of the ages of ancient mummies, in some cases going back more than 9000 years.

Age of Humans

Thanks to Fossil Fuels, Carbon Dating Is in Jeopardy. One Scientist May Have an Easy Fix

If only there were such an easy fix for climate change

The new work is nearly 21 feet tall and weights almost 900 pounds.

Evoking a Ship’s Rippling Sail, This New Sculpture Aims to Make Global Connections

The African Art Museum at its first award ceremony recognizes two international artists who have overcome personal hardships to excel

Surface water seasonality between October 2014 and October 2015 in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Dark blue indicates permanent surface water; light blue indicates seasonal surface water.

New Research

High-Resolution Satellite Images Capture Stunning View of Earth’s Changing Waters

An unprecedented mapping project shows the elusive patterns of Earth’s surface water over 30 years

"Dude, I thought he said he'd be here at 4."

New Research

How Cheetahs “Spot” Each Other

Cheetah meetups: In a novel study, researchers show that roaming cheetahs likely use their noses to seek each other out after weeks apart

The electoral map in 2016, that is, assuming there are no faithless electors

The Electoral College Has Been Divisive Since Day One

It has always had the potential for chaos—one that hasn’t been tapped…yet

President Coolidge conducts the first official transatlantic phone call with the king of Spain in 1927

History of Now

From the Telegram to Twitter, How Presidents Make Contact With Foreign Leaders

Does faster communication cause more problems than it solves?

The Best Books About Innovation of 2016

If you have a lover of big ideas on your holiday shopping list, consider these thought-provoking titles published this year

Page 407 of 1285