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A vintage spray-paint canister containing Fire Orange—one of DayGlo’s most recognizable and ubiquitous hues—and produced by New York Bronze Powder Company Inc., likely in the early 1980s.

With an Experiment in Their Basement Photo Lab, Two Brothers Created a Paint That Outshines Them All

In the 1930s, the Switzer brothers stumbled onto a way to mimic fluorescence. That led to Day-Glo, which has been making the world a brighter place ever since

Two livestock guardian dogs, both akbash and Great Pyrenees mixes, stand among their flock at a ranch run by the prominent dog-breeding Buchholz family.

When Coyotes Threatened Livestock on Central Texas Ranches, the Solution Was to Unlock an Ancient Ability in Dogs

Killing the predators is not nearly as effective as the intimidating presence of well-trained guardians, a role some breeds have played for 5,000 years

Once treated by humans as prey, horses became key to transportation, warfare, trade and companionship. Their history is intertwined with our own.

Gallop Into the Year of the Horse With These Five Amazing Equine Discoveries

Since their domestication, horses have changed the course of human history. It’s no wonder the Chinese zodiac associates them with prosperity and success

This statue of George Washington on horseback, dedicated in February 1860, is highlighted in silhouette.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Commemorate Presidents’ Day With 15 Images That Celebrate the Founding Fathers

See Smithsonian magazine contest photos that honor U.S. presidents and their monuments

Wu’s innovation won the top prize of $25,000 at the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

This 14-Year-Old Is Using Origami to Imagine Emergency Shelters That Are Sturdy, Cost-Efficient and Easy to Deploy

Miles Wu folded a variant of the Miura-ori pattern that can hold 10,000 times its own weight

Easy-Bake Oven, 1977

How the Easy-Bake Oven, an Appliance That Allowed Kids to Heat Treats With a Light Bulb, Revolutionized the Toy Industry

The product, launched in 1963, became a staple in American households

A pair of vinegar valentines poking fun at the recipients’ looks

Feeling More Hate Than Love This Valentine’s Day? Send Snarky ‘Vinegar Valentines’ to Your Enemies Like the Victorians Did

These oft-anonymous messages took aim at pretentious poets, unhelpful salespeople, suffragists and secessionists alike

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The Tragedy of the Alps’ Disappearing Glaciers for Those Who Live, Visit and Ski There

Warming temperatures are wreaking havoc at elevation, upending the Winter Olympics and the tourism industry and imperiling communities

Paleontologists have found early examples of theropods, the group that would eventually include tyrannosaurs. But precisely how another group of dinosaurs, known as the bird-hipped ornithischians, evolved remains a major question in paleontology.

An Asteroid Ended the Age of the Dinosaurs. But How Did Their Reign Begin? Mysterious Early Reptiles May Hold the Answer

Researchers are uncovering the evolutionary steps that set the stage for dinosaurs to rule the planet

The Château de Montal's early Renaissance style marked a transition from the medieval fortresses that dot a landscape so keenly fought over by the English and French during the Hundred Years’ War.

How a Little-Known French Region Safeguarded the Louvre’s Treasures During World War II

More than 3,000 artworks from national museums were stowed in chateaus in the Lot—about 350 miles south of Paris

“If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated,” wrote Carter G. Woodson in a 1926 essay.

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

A White Historian Claimed That Black People ‘Had No History.’ This Trailblazing Scholar Dedicated His Life to Proving Otherwise

Carter G. Woodson, the “father of Black history,” founded the celebration now known as Black History Month in 1926. A prolific writer and activist, he viewed his efforts to educate the public as a “life-and-death struggle”

Scientists found that fringe-lipped bats have a roughly 50 percent success rate when trying to capture prey.

These Lazy Bats Are Super-Efficient Killers That Carefully Conserve Energy to Attack at a Moment’s Notice

Wild fringe-lipped bats spend just one-tenth of the night in flight, but they can precisely snatch a calling frog and nab prey that rivals their own size

Clockwise from top left: John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, Herbert Hoover, James A. Garfield and Ulysses S. Grant

One Was a Teenage Diplomat. Another Was a Nuclear Engineer. Here’s How Eight Presidents Made Their Mark Outside of the White House

From Abraham Lincoln’s patent to James A. Garfield’s geometry proof, learn how these 19th- and 20th-century commanders in chief shaped their legacies beyond politics

For their scale, these microbes are faster and more resilient than any human athlete.

If Microbes Entered the Olympics, These One-Celled Superstars Would Win Gold

They race, they spin, they shoot. Meet the organisms for which physical prowess is more than sport—it’s a matter of life and death

A skier takes advantage of several inches of snow covering blanketing the landscape, including trees that resemble piles of cotton balls, on Revelstoke Mountain in British Columbia.

These 15 Inspiring Images of Winter Sports Will Help You Rediscover Your Olympic Spirit

You don’t have to be an Olympian to enjoy these snowy activities

Sceptobius beetles groom ants to steal the pheromones that they produce. The beetles cloak themselves in those pheromones to match the scent of the ant colony, gaining the ability to live among the ants undetected.

These Beetles Are Entirely Dependent on Ants for Survival. Here’s Why That’s Not an Evolutionary Death Sentence

Rove beetles cloak themselves in ant pheromones to sneak into the insects’ nests for protection. But in an odd catch-22, that makes them forever reliant on their hosts

A juvenile harbor seal lies on a beach in the Netherlands.

Seals Are Seemingly Vanishing Off the Dutch Coast. These Scientists Are Trying to Get to the Bottom of the Mysterious Disappearances

Recent counts of the Wadden Sea’s adult harbor seal population have revealed a surprising trend of decline, prompting a consortium of researchers to investigate whether the animals are dying off, relocating or experiencing something else altogether

A third-century B.C.E. plaque unearthed at Ai-Khanoum in Afghanistan depicts the mother goddess Cybele in a chariot driven by Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.

Afghanistan Was a Crossroad of the Ancient World, Where Hellenistic Culture Blended With Buddhist Influences

Alexander the Great conquered the region around 329 B.C.E., leaving behind Greek and Macedonian settlers who intermarried with locals. Their descendants eventually formed new kingdoms whose legacies continue to be debated today

The Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the national anthem, on view at the National Museum of American History

From Giant Art to Amazing Specimens, See These 20 New and Revitalized Smithsonian Shows in 2026

The Institution’s museums are commemorating America’s 250th birthday, showcasing the art of noise and displaying the best of portraiture

A guest follows along during the 25-hour-long reading of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; or, the Whale at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts. 

250 Places to Celebrate America

Fervent Fans of ‘Moby-Dick’ Flock to This Massachusetts City to Read the Book Cover to Cover

Once the whaling capital of the world, New Bedford remembers Herman Melville’s literary masterpiece with an annual reading marathon

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