Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

If you're going to be riding a horse for a while, you're probably going to want to amble.

New Research

Today’s Smooth-Running Horses May Owe Their Genetics to the Vikings

Scientists have determined the likely origin for the “gaitkeeper” gene, which controls gaitedness in horses

Chuck Taylor All Star, circa 1957

The Paris Olympics

How Chuck Taylor Taught America How to Play Basketball

A shoe-in for the first ever basketball game in the Olympics, Converse All Stars have a long history both in and out of sport

Charlie Chaplin eats his shoe in The Gold Rush (1925).

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Alaska

Charlie Chaplin’s Gold Rush

Two decades after the Klondike Gold Rush, Chaplin recast the hardships of prospectors as comedy

Temperature-sensitive pikas store grass for winter munching.

Future of Conservation

How Climate Change Will Transform the National Parks’ Iconic Animals and Plants

Dramatic changes may force park managers to choose which species will live, and which will die

The San Andreas Fault, cause of countless big quakes.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Seismic Slowdowns Could Warn of Impending Earthquakes

An “earthquake machine” in the lab is helping scientists understand what goes on just before a quake

A condor, tagged with a transmitter for tracking, perches on California's coast.

Age of Humans

Mercury-Laden Sea Lion Carcasses Threaten California’s Coastal Condors

The new findings put a wrench in conservation of one of the world’s rarest birds

Sharks are a broad and diverse group of species, but in the public imagination we tend to treat them all the same.

Humans Have Promoted the Reef Shark to Apex Predator

How these diverse predators ended up getting all the credit

What secrets do those lonely ice sheets hold?

Age of Humans

A Radioactive Cold War Military Base Will Soon Emerge From Greenland’s Melting Ice

They thought the frozen earth would keep it safely hidden. They were wrong

"The Hive" is on display at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in London, England, through the end of 2017.

Art Meets Science

This Sculpture Is Controlled by Live Honeybees

Artist Wolfgang Buttress collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to create a giant, metallic hive

The lone Lorax tree in Scripps Park, La Jolla.

Visit the Original Lorax Tree in Dr. Seuss’s San Diego

Check out these Seuss-related sites in Theodore Geisel’s adopted hometown

Leopard territory in Southeast Asia has been reduced by 94 percent.

New Research

The Indochinese Leopard Is Down to Just a Few Lives

These threatened cats now occupy just 8 percent of their historic range in Cambodia, new population estimate finds

Paleontologist Paul Olsen of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is co-leading a project in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park to drill deep into rocks dating back more than 200 million years.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Defying Critics, Paleontologist Paul Olsen Looks for Hidden Answers Behind Mass Extinctions

From a childhood spent discovering fossils to tangling over questions of ancient life and death, this scientist constantly pushes the boundaries.

Sample of Niku Udon.

Japan’s Most Mouthwatering Dishes Are Made of Plastic

Discover sampuru, the art of mind-blowingly realistic fake food

New models of ocean currents suggest that the oceanic gyres thought to collect garbage actually have "exit doors" that allow plastic to eventually wash up on the shores of North and South America.

Age of Humans

The Ocean’s Great Garbage Patches Might Have Exit Doors

Garbage isn’t destined to swirl in the ocean forever; new models show it eventually washes up on shore.

Gorona del Viento, a hybrid power station on El Hierro that generates energy using both wind and water, has five windmills.

Future of Energy

In the Canary Islands, Tiny El Hierro Strives for Energy Independence

A photojournalist goes behind the scenes at a hybrid power station that could help the island reach its goal to be powered entirely by renewables

An eastern wolf in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park.

Rare Wolf or Common Coyote? It Shouldn’t Matter, But It Does

The concept of species is flawed, but it still has a huge bearing on conservation policy

A silverfish

New Research

Richer Homes Are Also Richer in Biodiversity

Scientists find that wealthier neighborhoods sport a greater diversity of bugs

Pankration scene: the pankriatiast on the right tries to gouge his opponent's eye; the umpire is about to strike him for this foul.

The Paris Olympics

The Ancient History of Cheating in the Olympics

Punishment for cheating and bribery in the Olympics of Ancient Greece could include fines, public flogging and statewide bans from competition

Cauam Cardoso

Technology for the Poor Should Help, Not Hurt: An Interview With MIT’s Cauam Cardoso

The PhD candidate is working on ways to systematically evaluate new technologies for the developing world

How to Visit the Florida Keys Like a NASA Aquanaut

To prepare for space, astronauts spend some time under the sea

Page 430 of 1285