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Articles

Here's the Tolkien nerd’s guide to the third Hobbit movie.

The Tolkien Nerd’s Guide to “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”

The final chapter in Peter Jackson’s trilogy strays furthest from the book, but there are still a few buried Easter eggs for die-hard fans to enjoy

Meet William Harvey, a Misunderstood Genius in Human Anatomy

A new video from the World Science Festival tells the story of this medical pioneer

The Claudio Aqueduct was built in the 1st century along the Appian Way in Rome.

Anthropocene

Ancient Roman Water Networks Made the Empire Vulnerable

A model of ancient water movement shows how trade practices might affect today’s urban centers as the climate changes

Following the end of "The Colbert Report," the National Portrait Gallery will hang Stephen Colbert's portraits-within-a-portrait.

A Stephen Colbert Portrait Returns to the Smithsonian, With Even More Stephens

As the Comedy Central host’s show ends, his likeness(es) head to the National Portrait Gallery

Eurasian lynx playing in the snow in Germany.

New Research

Europe Is a Great Place to Be a Large Meat-Eater

In a rare success story for wildlife, bears, lynx, wolverine and wolves are increasing in numbers across the continent

A still from Ben Sturgulewski's travel drone video "Solstice."

The Most Beautiful Drone Travel Videos of 2014

2014 was the year of the aerial drone travel video—here are some of the best of the best

An aerial view of the lower portion of the Colorado River shows the leading edge of the water pulse flow on May 12, before it connected with the sea.

Anthropocene

The Colorado River Delta Turned Green After a Historic Water Pulse

The experimental flow briefly restored the ancient waterway and may have created new habitat for birds

What Does ‘Happy New Year’ Even Really Mean?

Physicists engage in a strange debate about whether time really passes

Why the Leatherback Turtle Has a Skylight in its Head

How do animals with poor vision see in dark locales?

Think Big

Why String Theory Still Offers Hope We Can Unify Physics

Evidence that the universe is made of strings has been elusive for 30 years, but the theory’s mathematical insights continue to have an alluring pull

“You could say that saving species is in my blood,” says Chris Darwin, a conservationist who lives in the mountains explored by his great-great-grandfather.

Evotourism ®

How Australia Put Evolution on Darwin’s Mind

The famous naturalist’s revolutionary theory first took shape not in the Galápagos but in the primeval Blue Mountains

Beware of this meat-eating Albertosaurus on the Royal Tyrrell Museum plaza.

Canada

Want to Excite Your Inner Dinosaur Fan? Pack Your Bags for Alberta

Canada’s badlands are the place to see fantastic dinosaur fossils (and kitsch)—and eye-opening new evidence about the eve of their fall

How Did Right-Handedness Evolve? And More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

From the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

There Are 120 Years of Lakota History on This Calendar

The visual recording of life in the nation sheds light on a vanished culture

Guadalupe Peak and El Capitan: a landscape “lonely as a dream,” wrote Edward Abbey.

Evotourism ®

When Texas Was at the Bottom of the Sea

A hike to the “top of Texas,” the world’s most famous fossil reef, leads to a new sense of the sublime

Unpublished Photos by Gordon Parks Bring a Nuanced View of 1950s Black America

An exhibit in Boston highlights unpublished photos from the acclaimed Life magazine photographer

London Mayor Boris Johnson released his book, The Churchill Factor, in November 2014.

London Mayor Boris Johnson on Winston Churchill’s Cheekiest Quotes

London’s mayor talks about his new Churchill biography, 50 years after the British Bulldog’s death

January 2015 marks 50 years since the death of Winston Churchill, shown here in 1943, known for his writing and speeches.

The Illustrious History of Misquoting Winston Churchill

Saying exactly what Churchill said isn’t easy—or cheap

King led a throng of 25,000 marchers through downtown Montgomery in 1965.

The Radical Paradox of Martin Luther King’s Devotion to Nonviolence

Biographer Taylor Branch makes a timely argument about civil right leader’s true legacy

The wounded soldiers above were photographed at a hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia, between 1861 and 1865.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?

One hundred and fifty years later, historians are discovering some of the earliest known cases of post-traumatic stress disorder

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