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Articles

When a walk in the park is your worst nightmare.

New Research

Why Do Humans Have Allergies? Parasite Infections May Be the Trigger

Protein analysis suggests that antibodies that evolved to fight parasites might be turning their focus to otherwise harmless agents

A fisher in New England empties cod from a drag net.

Age of Humans

Why Smarter Fishing Practices Aren’t Saving Maine Cod From Collapse

Warming waters are undermining the recovery of the already troubled Gulf of Maine fishery

What makes these guys creepy?

On the Science of Creepiness

A look at what’s really going on when we get the creeps

This small amphora from the Fourni wrecks likely carried luxury goods.

A Shipwreck Graveyard Has Been Found Off This Greek Archipelago

A recent expedition to the Fourni islands uncovered piles of ancient cargo, including types of amphorae never before seen on the seafloor

Tabulae Anatomicae Clarissimi Viri..., Bartolomeo Eustachi, 1722

Halloween

The Grisly Details of Early Anatomy Textbooks

These images detail the inner workings of human bodies in all their gruesome glory

Stars shine above in the form a planetarium made of hand-carved jack o'lanterns.

This Is What 7,000 Jack O’Lanterns Look Like

At a historic landmark in New York, pumpkins take the shape of dragons, spider webs and even a planetarium

The fossil of Jane, a definitive young Tyrannosaurus rex, stands in the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Illinois.

New Research

Tiny Terror: Controversial Dinosaur Species Is Just an Awkward Tween Tyrannosaurus

Fossil analysis supports the argument that the proposed Nanotyrannus is not its own unique species after all

Images of survivors of the Herero genocide foreshadowed similar scenes from the liberation of Nazi death camps

A Brutal Genocide in Colonial Africa Finally Gets its Deserved Recognition

Activist Israel Kaunatjike journeyed from Namibia to Germany, only to discover a forgotten past that has connections to his own family tree

What Do the Most Innovative Chefs Keep in Their Fridges?

A new book gives a peek inside the home refrigerators—and minds—of some of Europe’s top culinarians

Electric eels are really shocking biologists.

New Research

Electric Eels Curl Up to Double Their Shock Value

The predators take down difficult prey by curling up their bodies to create a powerful electric dipole field

Shoppers flock to a stall to purchase organically grown produce, a rarity on the island of Mauritius. As incomes rise here, so does the demand for organic, but only a handful of farmers have figured out how to balance organic growing with the special demands of a tropical climate.

Age of Humans

Against All Odds, This Indian Ocean Island Is Trying to Go Organic

Mauritius is one of many places suddenly seeking organic produce. But as local farmers are finding, it’s not that easy

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Beauty of Venice’s Everyday

Instagram photographer Alvise Giovannini discovers Venice beyond its iconic symbols and places

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: How Do You Make a Mummy?

Mummification has been practiced for eons and the Egyptians are the best known, but not the only practioners

A Rabari tribal elder, Rajasthan, 2010.

Steve McCurry’s New Photography Book on India Has Been Decades in the Making

A conversation with the renowned photographer about his latest book of photographs

An artist's rendering shows an acoustic hologram trapping a particle over a levitation device.

New Research

This Acoustic Tractor Beam Can Levitate Small Objects With Sound

The device allows researchers to float and manipulate targets with just a single array of ultrasound emitters

Boss Tweed and the Tammany Ring, caricatured by Thomas Nast, c. 1870

To Stop an Endless Cycle of Corruption, History Says Fix the System, Not the Politician

A turn-of-the-century muckraker named Lincoln Steffens understood the true problem with a “throw the bums out” strategy

Mary Seton Corboy, founder of Greensgrow Farm in Philadelphia, took a Superfund site 20 years ago and turned it into a thriving urban oasis.

Age of Humans

Inner-City Farmers May Have Toxic Soil on Their Hands

Lead is a particular risk as people try to turn potentially contaminated urban sites into productive and sustainable farms

This 3D printed tooth could kill germs in your mouth

These 3D Printed Teeth Fight Bacteria

Researchers in the Netherlands are making dental implants that kill microbes that settle on them

Light reflecting off Saturn illuminates the plumes shooting out of Enceladus in this 2013 Cassini image.

New Research

NASA Spacecraft Heads for Deepest Ever Dive Into Saturn Moon’s Plumes

Cassini will plunge into the watery geysers to search for evidence of hydrothermal vents and other clues about the moon’s hidden ocean

James Monroe (L) and Alexander Hamilton (R) nearly dueled each other, but an unlikely political ally stepped in

That Time When Alexander Hamilton Almost Dueled James Monroe

And it was an unlikely ally who put a stop to their petty dispute

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