Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

A large display case holds the fossil of a plesiosaur at the Natural History Museum in London.

New Research

A Long-Necked Marine Reptile Is the First Known to Filter Feed Like a Whale

The bizarre Mortuneria used sieve-like teeth to strain tasty morsels from the muddy Cretaceous seafloor

Women observe anti-Semitic graffiti in Vienna in a film shot by an American in 1938.

Watch Rarely Seen Footage of Life in Nazi Austria, Thanks to a New Video Archive

The Ephemeral Films Project offers the public a chance to see what Jews experienced during the Anschluss

When You Sweat, Vents in These Clothes Automatically Open

Harnessing the power of bacteria, MIT researchers and New Balance have created breathable workout gear

Ribbons of light slash through the darkness that is New York City during the Giant power Failure November (th. The "ribbons" are formed by the lights of vehicles moving along a highway.

When New York City Lost Power in 1965, Radio Saved the Day

How the news was reported on the day of the famous blackout

A bird watcher walks through a dried-up riverbed in the Netherlands in 2007.

Age of Humans

A New “Drought Atlas” Tracks Europe’s Extreme Weather Through History

The data, based on tree rings, fills in details about past events and could help improve climate modeling for the future

Five hundred years ago, officials welcomed foreign Jews to Venice, but confined them to a seven-acre section of the Cannaregio district, a quarter soon known as the Ghetto after the Venetian word for copper foundry, the site’s previous tenant.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Centuries-Old History of Venice’s Jewish Ghetto

A look back on the 500-year history and intellectual life of one of the world’s oldest Jewish quarters

Hybrid Holism, dress, July 2012. 3D-printed UV-curable polymer. In collaboration with Julia Koerner and Materialise. High Museum of Art.

The Dutch Designer Who Is Pioneering the Use of 3D Printing in Fashion

In a new exhibition, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta shows how Iris van Herpen started a high-tech movement

A detail of Jennifer Angus' work In the Midnight Garden, 2015

The Renwick Reopens

How Thousands of Dead Bugs Become a Mesmerizing Work of Extraordinary Beauty

With much love for the insect world, artist Jennifer Angus crafts an installation made entirely out of beetles, cicadas, katydids and weevils

The site where workers found crypts just a few feet beneath the surface.

Construction Workers Find 200-Year-Old Bodies Buried Just a Few Feet Below Greenwich Village

Two crypts uncovered near Washington Square Park a reminder of New York City’s past

When people come to the Smithsonian,” says lighting designer Scott Rosenfeld, (inside the gallery displaying the work of mixed media artist Gabriel Dawe) “they want to experience art. They don’t have to worry about spectrum.”

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick’s New Lighting Saves Energy, Money, Art, and Your Eyes, All at the Same Time

There’s way more to it than just screwing in the bulb and the museum’s chief lighting designer is turning it into an artform

A 17th-century engraving of the revolutionary printer

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Man Who Changed Reading Forever

The Venetian roots of revolutionary modern book printer Aldus Manutius shaped books as we know them today

Europe

Experience Alpine Enchantment at These Eight Austrian Huts

Grander than their name might imply, these hütten are the perfect perch for weary travelers

An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission at Mars.

New Research

The Sun Stole Part of Mars’ Atmosphere, and NASA Was Watching

Observations from the MAVEN spacecraft should help scientists figure out if and when Mars had the right conditions for life

2015 Grand Prize Winner Atlantic Puffin with Wild Iris, by Megan Lorenz, Elliston, Newfoundland, Canada. "Perched precariously on the edge of a cliff trying desperately to overcome my fear of heights,' says Megan Lorenz, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, "I watched this Atlantic Puffin pull a Wild Iris from the ground and walk along the cliff toward me. He stopped for a moment and I had enough time to capture him with the blue sky in the background before he dropped the Iris over the side where his mate was waiting at the burrow entrance."

A Taste of “The Best of the Best” Nature Photography

Take a trip around the world with these breathtaking images of nature

A sugar mold with the University of Michigan logo

A Disaster in the Kitchen Leads to a Breakthrough in the Lab

After a failed attempt at making cotton candy, biomedical engineer Chris Moraes thought to use sugar to mold silicone and study human cells

Document Deep Dive

A Look Inside Howard Carter’s Tutankhamun Diary

The famed archaeologist took detailed notes of what he found inside King Tut’s tomb

Seasonal affective disorder can cause people to feel isolated and hopeless.

New Research

Talking Is the Latest Tool for Battling Seasonal Depression

A large-scale study suggests that talk therapy may have longer-lasting benefits than light boxes for treating wintertime blues

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick’s Curator-in-Charge On What It Means to Open Ourselves to Wonder

Before the renovation, Nicholas Bell asked nine artists to tour the building and think deeply about public spaces dedicated to art

The Dakotaraptor fossil, next to a paleontologist for scale.

New Research

New Winged Dinosaur May Have Used Its Feathers to Pin Down Prey

Meet “the Ferrari of raptors,” a lithe killing machine that could have taken down a young T. rex

The weasel-like fisher, an already at-risk animal, faces threats of poison from pot farms.

New Research

Illegal Pot Farms Are Killing Rare Animals With Bacon-Scented Poison

Marijuana plots hidden in California’s forests are inadvertently poisoning protected mammals called fishers

Page 516 of 1324