Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

Ostrich Feather Hat, 1910-1912

100 Years Later, the First International Treaty to Protect Birds Has Grown Wings

The U.S. and Canada celebrate the centennial of an agreement recognizing that birds see no borders

Gastromotiva student Luis Freire (right) preps plums at Refettorio Gastromotiva, with the dining room in the background.

This Rio Restaurant Is Using Surplus Food From the Olympic Village to Feed the Homeless

At Refettorio Gastromotiva, top chefs from around the world are cooking five-star cuisine for the poor

Seven Items You May Want to Add to Your Back-to-School Shopping List

From smart lunch boxes to apps for making digital flash cards, these technologies can help students of all ages this coming school year

The portrait in question, by Dutch painter Barend Graat

Is This a Portrait of One of the World’s Most Influential Philosophers?

One Dutch art dealer is convinced that he owns the only portrait that Baruch Spinoza sat for

Biddulph Grange Garden, Staffordshire‬

Step Inside 12 of England’s Most Beautiful Gardens

Girls get taught simple circuits, but how they decorate their robots is up to them.

Robotics Can Get Girls Into STEM, but Some Still Need Convincing

The lack of women leaders in STEM creates “a catch-22 death spiral.” Robotics teams try to change that

"Pick, Pan, Shovel," Ed Ruscha, 1980

The History of the American West Gets a Much-Needed Rewrite

Artists, historians and filmmakers alike have been guilty of creating a mythologized version of the U.S. expansion to the west

A nesting male with a female in his nest.

New Research

Give it Up, Sneaky Males: These Lady Fish Have You Outwitted

Female ocellated wrasses have developed a surprising trick to control who fathers their offspring

The fossil Arktocara yakataga (resting on an 1875 ethnographic map of Alaska) belonged to a dolphin that swam in subarctic marine waters around 25 million years ago.

Smithsonian Researchers Uncover Extinct, Ancient River Dolphin Fossil Hiding in Their Own Collections

Sometimes, paleontologists don’t have to go into the field to discover a tantalizing new species

The farm at Coastal Roots Farm, a more traditional community garden. Coastal Roots Farm recently added an eight-acre forest garden to its offerings.

Age of Humans

Move Over, Community Gardens: Edible Forests Are Sprouting Up Across America

These new urban forests let you pick your own produce. But will the concept take root?

From unsavory beginnings to a refreshing treat, pink lemonade has remained a summer staple.

The Unusual Origins of Pink Lemonade

It’s a pretty scary story. It does involve clowns, after all

A few of the Olympians pose for a photo upon their return to the U.S. after the 1936 Games. In the back row, on the far right is Tidye PIckett and third from the left is Louise Stokes.

The Paris Olympics

Sports History Forgot About Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes, Two Black Olympians Who Never Got Their Shot

Thanks to the one-two punch of racism and sexism, these two women were shut out of the hero’s treatment given to other athletes

Abell 370: Galaxy Cluster Gravitational Lens

Think Big

Long After Einstein, Cosmic Lensing Reaches Its Full Potential

How Hubble is taking advantage of Einstein’s theories to study the most distant galaxies

Smart Startup

Could This San Francisco Startup Transform Garbage Collecting?

Compology uses sensors and software to plot truck routes to empty only dumpsters that are full

Maria Zuber, first woman to run a NASA spacecraft mission, says she has a "genetic predilection" to explore space.

Life in the Cosmos

This Scientist Seeks Out the Secret History of Other Worlds

Maria Zuber has spent her career enabling discoveries beyond Earth. She says the best is yet to come

Captive Bactrian deer at The Wilds, a conservation center in Cumberland, Ohio. Until recently, the deer was feared locally extinct in Afghanistan.

Rare Afghan Deer Endures Two Major Wars, Is Ultimate Survivor

Researchers feared the endangered ungulate had gone locally extinct. The Bactrian deer proved them wrong

Esther Williams, Million Dollar Mermaid

The Paris Olympics

Synchronized Swimming Has a History That Dates Back to Ancient Rome

Before it reached the Olympics, the sport was a spectacle of the circus and vaudeville

Robert Motherwell writing at his desk in Amagansett, New York, June 1944

These Letters Written by Famous Artists Reveal the Lost Intimacy of Putting Pen to Paper

Many of the letters included in a new book provide snapshots of especially poignant moments in the lives of American artists

Visualization of the giant impact that formed the moon

Journey to the Center of Earth

New Moon-Formation Theory Also Raises Questions About Early Earth

A new model of the impact that created the moon might upend theories about earth, too

Age of Humans

These Microbe-Coated Seeds Could Help Us Thrive in a Dark, Dry Future

A Massachusetts-based startup is prepping for your basic apocalyptic scenario

Page 428 of 1285