Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

Windows of Burano, Italy.

These Window Collages Are Serious Eye Candy

A Portuguese photographer provides a window into, well…windows

Older community barbershops in Detroit serve as community gathering places.

Barbers Are Giving Buzz Cuts to Detroit’s Overgrown Lots

A new project funded by a Knight Cities grant has local barbers and landscape contractors working to revitalize vacant spaces

Rice Lake in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve.

Canada

One Vancouver Forest Played Just About Every Wooded Locale on “The X-Files”

If the truth is still out there, there’s a good chance it’s in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve

The famous Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island, New York.

Urban Explorations

Ride America’s Most Historic Roller Coasters

This summer, ride the coasters that add history to their thrills

Mosasaur

14 Fun Facts About the Animals of “Jurassic World”

While the lead predator of the film might be a genetically modified fiction, these real fossil species were just as amazing and bizarre

People Get Seasonal Depression in the Summer, Too

Millions suffer from SAD in summer as well as winter, and evidence hints that birth season plays a role in who develops the disorder

Q'eswachaka suspension bridge. Q'eswachaka, Apurímac River, Canas Province, Cusco, Peru.

Urban Explorations

A Dozen Indigenous Craftsman From Peru Will Weave Grass into a 60-Foot Suspension Bridge in Washington, D.C.

The ancient technology used lightweight materials to create soaring 150-foot spans that could hold the weight of a marching army

Artist Jeff Koons admires his Puppy (1992). Carpeted in colorful swaths of flowering plants, the 41-foot-tall Westie joined the Guggenheim Bilbao’s permanent collection in 1997 and stands in the square just outside the museum entrance.

Shine On: Jeff Koons in Bilbao

Frank Gehry’s titanium-clad Guggenheim plays host to a stunning survey of Koons’s larger-than-life career

Allis Markham puts the finishing touches to her entries at the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships in Springfield, Missouri, on May 6.

Why Taxidermy Is Being Revived for the 21st Century

A new generation of young practitioners is leading a resurgence in this centuries-old craft

Week of Making

Maker’s Week at the Zoo is Business as Usual

When the right product doesn’t exist for a fish ultrasound or other procedure, scientists build it themselves

To discourage the harmful trade that is having a catastrophic effect on elephant populations, nearly one ton of illegal ivory was crushed Friday, June 19, 2015, in Times Square.

Where Do Important Ivory Artifacts Fit in the Race to Save Elephants from Poaching?

The fight against poaching and trafficking came to a head in Times Square last week with the destruction of a one-ton cache of illegal ivory

A customs officer in Thailand examines specimens from a three ton ivory seizure, estimated to be worth $6 million.

Anthropocene

DNA and Databases Help Untangle the Web of the Illegal Wildlife Trade

Two new data-driven approaches help identify key hotspots for poaching and trafficking

Previous analysis of the Kennewick Man's skull suggested that he might be closely related to Asian populations and Polynesians. But new genetic analysis indicates his ancestral roots are in the Americas.

New Research

Genome Analysis Links Kennewick Man to Native Americans

Ancient DNA sequenced from the skeleton adds to the controversy over the individual’s ancestry

New Research

Kangaroos Are Lefties, and That Can Teach Us About Human Handedness

The discovery strengthens the case that upright posture drove the evolution of dominant hands in humans

Penicillin: a fuzzy little life saver.

11 Reasons to Love Bacteria, Fungi and Spores

From medicines to jet fuel, we have so many reasons to celebrate the microbes we live with every day

Tiny ovenbirds wore an even tinier backpack equipped with a GPS tracker that monitored their migratory paths over the course of a year—offering new data on their routes.

The Hottest New Accessory for Songbirds: Tiny GPS-Enabled Backpacks

Peter Marra and Michael Hallworth of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center test a groundbreaking device that tracks birds’ migrations

A cereus in Arizona in 2009. These night-blooming flowers spring forth from cacti just one night a year, in concert with other nearby cereus. They usually wilt the next day.

Urban Explorations

See the Flowers that Bloom All At Once, One Night a Year

The mysterious night-blooming cereus just dazzled a garden in Tucson. Scientists still aren’t sure exactly how they bloom at the same time

Page 543 of 1324