Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

An ant of the species Iridomyrmex purpureus (center) lifts a leg in an aggressive display when she encounters ants from a different nest.

Antennae Yield New Clues Into Ant Communication

Despite more than a century of study, scientists still have much more to learn about the complex world of ant communication

1960s family sitting in four-door sedan automobile

“Driving While Black” Has Been Around As Long As Cars Have Existed

Documentarian Ric Burns talks about his forthcoming film about the “Green Book” and other travel guides for African-Americans

Newspapers chronicled gun incidents, referring to them as "melancholy accidents"

History of Now

When Newspapers Reported on Gun Deaths as “Melancholy Accidents”

A historian explains how a curious phrase used by the American press caught his eye and became the inspiration for his new book

David Baker directing the SJMO in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Jazz Legend David Baker’s Soaring Legacy

Smithsonian’s maestro, a founding director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, has died at the age of 84

Avenue of Cherry Trees Yoshida Hiroshi, Showa era, 1935

How Cherry Trees Blossomed Into a Tourist Attraction

The fragile and transient blossom may herald the first stirrings of spring, but their significance has evolved since the 9th century

The Right Body Language Can Boost Odds of Online Dating Success

Potential partners size you up in seconds, and the way you sit or stand matters

Digital Skin by Mateo Mounier

See Dozens of Dazzling New Light Installations in Baltimore This Week

Light City Baltimore is a massive, site-specific festival, launched in hopes of becoming an annual spectacle

A crackmeter in action, measuring the gaps between a rock sheet and a rock wall

Why Rockfalls Happen on Beautiful Days in Yosemite

Temperatures drive rocks to expand and contract—until one lovely day when slabs may suddenly fall

Coquerel's Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) trio in trees, Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar

Why People Turn to Lemurs and Other Endangered Animals for Dinner in Madagascar

A close look at trade in bushmeat finds that consumption is common and out in the open

Independence Day Celebration by Lauren Good Day Giago, (Arikara/Hidatsa/Blackfeet/Plains Cree), 2012, antique ledger paper, colored pencil, graphite, ink, felt-tipped marker

For These Native American Artists, the Material Is the Message

A new exhibition traces the evolution of Plains tribes’ narrative art from the 18th century up through today’s contemporary works

The Bisti Badlands in northern New Mexico is known for its Easter egg-like rock formations.

These Massive Rock Formations Look Just Like Cracked Eggs

Bisti Badlands’ bizarre eggs bring a bit of Easter to the New Mexico desert

From the desk of Susan B. Anthony, this inkstand was used by the women's rights advocate to produce the articles she wrote for her newspaper The Revolution.

Women Who Shaped History

For Susan B. Anthony, Getting Support for Her ‘Revolution’ Meant Taking on an Unusual Ally

Suffragists Anthony and Cady Stanton found common cause in a wealthy man named George Francis Train who helped to fund their newspaper

liquid gravity, 2013. A cosmonaut seems to levitate in an industrial environment but the view of Earth through a porthole “dislocates the viewer’s perspective,” Najjar writes in an email. The image comes from Najjar’s experience in the hydrolab, a huge tank of water, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

Art Meets Science

An Artist Imagines the Future of Humans in Space

Through manipulated photographs and video, Michael Najjar tackles the meaning of space travel

A New Addition to #MyDaguerreotypeBoyfriend Is the Civil War’s Most Daring Naval Officer

Who is this cool cat, posing for an unusually casual photo for famed photographer Alexander Gardner?

An adorable shelter dog shouldn’t have a difficult time finding a home—but it might if it comes with the label “pit bull.”

Call a Dog a Pit Bull and He May Have Trouble Finding a Home

Dogs labeled as pit bulls at shelters may wait three times longer to be adopted—even when they aren’t actually pit bulls

Much of the bunker looks the same as it did when it was fully functional.

Switzerland

Switzerland’s Historic Bunkers Get a New Lease on Life

As the shadow of war fades, the country’s former fallout shelters now house everything from museums to cheese factories

What’s It Like in Space? Ariel Waldman Has the Answers

The NASA adviser and author of a new book gives some insight on living beyond the Earth’s atmosphere

What a Tiny Fish Can Tell Us About How Humans Stood Upright

What is the root of why our ancestors gained the power to walk on two feet and chimpanzees didn’t?

The green color of the superb startling’s wing feathers is produced by microscopically structured surfaces that interfere with and scatter light.

Art Meets Science

The Extravagant Beauty of Feathers

A new book spotlights the astonishing diversity of avian plumage

How Do Butterflies Fly and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Page 491 of 1324