Articles: News & Features | Smithsonian Magazine

Q Monts sits patiently at Nu Flava Ink while tattoo artist Charles “Coco” Bayron puts the finishing touches on Q’s tattoo reading “Time is Money, Money is Time.”

July 6: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Today at the Folklife Festival: John Philip Sousa’s legacy, line dancing and stained glass crafts

July 6, 2012

According to one evolutionary biologist, the modern family might look very different had some scrawny male hominids not found a clever workaround to having to physically compete against strong alpha males for mates.

Nerd Love and Why It’s Better For Everyone

In a new study, evolutionary biologist Sergey Gavrilets makes a fascinating claim for how monogamy took root several million years ago

July 5, 2012

About 90 miles north of San Francisco lies Fort Ross, a site chosen to be the Russian empire's only colony in what would later become the contiguous United States. Pictured is a Russian Orthodox chapel at Fort Ross.

When Russia Colonized California: Celebrating 200 Years of Fort Ross

A piece of history on the Pacific Coast was almost lost to budget cuts, until a Russian billionaire stepped in to save the endangered state park

July 5, 2012

The Tallest, Strongest and Most Iconic Trees in the World

Where to see the greatest trees in the world

July 5, 2012

Swimsuit Series, Part 3: Is Today Truly the 66th Anniversary of the First Bikini?

The two-piece bathing suit got skimpier and more scandalous in 1946 Paris

July 5, 2012

Escape the Sunday heat for a little refinement with the American Art Museum’s Steinway Series concert.

Events July 6-8: Constellations, Silk Road Treasures and a Sunday Concert

This weekend, become a constellation, make your own Silk Road mirror and enjoy the Classical stylings of pianist James D’León

July 5, 2012

Did All Dinosaurs Have Feathers?

A newly-discovered fossil raises the possibility that all dinosaur lineages were fuzzy

July 5, 2012

White-Nose Syndrome Kills Social Bats Most Frequently

Scientists have found that bat species that hibernate in clusters are more likely to be struck by the dreaded disease and may be at risk of extinction

July 5, 2012

North Carolina Rep Pushes Wrong Button and Approves Fracking in the State

Fracking can go ahead in North Carolina, all because one tired legislator pushed the wrong button

July 5, 2012

Today is Actually the 1700th Anniversary of the Bikini, not the 66th

July 5th, 1946 is classically regarded as the birth date of what we now call the bikini. But that version of history misses the long view

July 5, 2012

The Woman Who Took on the Tycoon

John D. Rockefeller Sr. epitomized Gilded Age capitalism. Ida Tarbell was one of the few willing to hold him accountable

July 5, 2012

What if Newton’s Principia Mathematica, Published Today, Had Been in Comic Sans?

The rage over CERN’s font choice drives the question: How would the world have reacted to Newton’s world-changing tome had Comic Sans existed at the time?

July 5, 2012

Dust jacket of the book Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler.

Germans un-Kampf-ortable With Reissue of Hitler’s Tome

Starting in 2015, Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf will once again be available to German readers

July 5, 2012

17 Minutes of Fireworks Go Off in 15 Seconds

Yesterday, in the San Diego Bay, a fireworks show meant to last 17 minutes went off in 15 seconds

July 5, 2012

From the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ new digital collection, an image of two baby chimpanzees out for a stroll from Minnesota Longfellow Gardens Guide.

Lions, and Tigers and Bears: The History of the Zoo Goes Digital

Images of tea-sipping orangutans and baby chimps in strollers are part of Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ growing digital collection of zoo materials

July 5, 2012