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A mudskipper clings to a rocky embankment.

Awkward Robots Show How Tails Propelled First Land Walkers to New Heights

A 3D-printed bot designed to move like amphibious fish suggests that the first land animals needed tails to climb slippery slopes

Sunday services let out at the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Alaska

The Most Diverse Neighborhood in the U.S. May Surprise You

Abundant housing and job opportunities have brought people from all over the world to Mountain View, Alaska

Russian Orthodox crosses in the time-and-weather-worn cemetery of Ninilchik’s Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Chapel are a testament to the heritage of the village.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Alaska

Tracing Alaska’s Russian Heritage

From onion domes to tsarist-era Russian dialects, evidence of the Russian colonialism remains

A train heads to Seward, Alaska.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Alaska

Guide to Awesome: 14 Reasons to Visit Alaska Now

From the tallest North American peak to the world’s largest bears, Alaska is home to unparalleled experiences

Who will be the next Hamilton?

Which Great American Should Be Immortalized With the Next Big Broadway Musical?

Hamilton has caught the nation’s attention. A panel of Smithsonian writers and curators suggest who’s next.

A grave marker in Kingston's Hunt's Bay Cemetery carved with a skull and crossbones and Hebrew lettering

The Forgotten Jewish Pirates of Jamaica

Today, some tour operators and cultural historians are calling attention to the country’s little-known Jewish heritage

Galaxy GN-z11 seen in its youth by the Hubble telescope. GN-z11 is shown as it existed 13.4 billion years in the past, just 400 million years after the Big Bang.

Life in the Cosmos

If Telescopes Are Time Machines, the JWST Will Take Us the Furthest Back Yet

The James Webb Space Telescope promises to peer back into the making of the first galaxies

Guanabara Bay at night, Rio de Janeiro.

11 Fun Facts About Rio

It’s more than beaches, favelas and that Duran Duran song

Signing of the Highway Beautification Bill

Lady Bird Johnson Wielded Power With a Delicate Touch

The First Lady was a trailblazer who flew under the radar as a quiet champion of Civil Rights and protecting the environment

NOW co-founder Muriel Fox says: “There’s still a need for a women’s movement. We can’t do it as individuals, each of us working for our own interests. We get much further if we work together."

The NOW Button Takes Us Back When Women’s Equality Was a Novelty

At the half-century mark, for the National Organization for Women it is still personal—and political

An artist's concept of a moon-sized body slamming into a Mercury-sized world in another solar system. High speed collisions like this were more likely to occur in systems with gas giants, but they took place early in a planet's life, allowing time for the world to recover. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Space Hub

How a Young Jupiter Acted as Both Protector and Destroyer

Like a boisterous older sibling, the gas giant both beat up and protected young Earth

Why Brown Bears Are Misunderstood

Historically feared by humans, brown bears were once aggressively hunted in the contiguous U.S.

Self-Portrait on the Border Line Between Mexico and the United States, 1932, by Frida Kahlo (Colección Maria y Manuel Reyero, New York)

Explore Frida Kahlo’s Mexico City

Here are four places with connections to the late Mexican artist to visit on her birthday, July 6, and beyond

The FarmBot Genesis Brings Precision Agriculture to Your Own Backyard

Developed by a team from California, this machine plants seeds, pulls weeds and waters plants individually

Young Syrian refugees play with donated paper and pens in the former Oxy transit camp in Lesvos, Greece.

Child Refugees Pose Unique Challenge for Mental Health Practitioners

As the crisis deepens, mental health experts move from questions of short-term survival to ones of longer-term rehabilitation

Aogashima

The Sleepy Japanese Town Built Inside an Active Volcano

It’s been about 230 years since the last eruption killed half the population. But locals won’t let the volcano dictate their future

An artist's rendition of Juno in orbit around Jupiter. The craft is powered entirely by the sun's rays.

Space Hub

It’s Official: We Are Now in Orbit Around Jupiter

After a nerve-wracking entry, NASA spacecraft Juno successfully entered the gas giant’s orbit

Future of Energy

One Step Closer to Turning Plastics Into Fuel

Researchers in California and China have discovered a new method for breaking polyethylene into liquid fuel and solid wax

Would-be assassin Frank Holt, also known as Erich Muenter

The Harvard Professor Who Shot a Financial Titan and Fomented Anti-German Sentiment in a Pre-WWI America

Readers on July 4, 1915 learned the story of a would-be assassin who said he was trying to keep the U.S. out of the European conflict

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