Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

Image from an animated graphic showing satellite readings of groundwater fluctuations around the world.

Groundwater, Gravity and Graphic Design

An important piece of science recently popped up in Times Square, in the form of a 19,000-square-foot interactive map by a Dutch information designer

Meet the Domino, a little chip that can diagnose your health.

Medicine Goes Small

Nanotechnology is taking health care to the molecular level and changing it in profound ways. But is it all good?

None

The Cost of “No” on Potato Chips

What can snack food marketing tell us about political campaigns?

None

Trunk Rock: Shanthi the Elephant Jams on the Harmonica

Listen to the latest stylings of Shanthi, the Dylan of elephants

Modern humans may have used art to maintain ties between social groups. Traveling between distant social groups may have led to better spatial reasoning, a new study suggests.

Superior Navigation Secret to Humans’ Success?

Greater spatial intelligence may have given modern humans an edge over Neanderthals, a new study proposes

A promotional image, featuring a baby Pachyrhinosaurus, for Walking With Dinosaurs 3-D.

Dinosaur Cinema Explosion

After a long lull, a stampede of dinosaur films is headed for theaters

The Bureau of Air Commerce's inquiry board was tasked with investigating the cause of the accident.

Document Deep Dive

Document Deep Dive: A Firsthand Account of the Hindenburg Disaster

Frank Ward was a 17-year-old crewman when he saw the infamous disaster, but his memories of that day are still strong, 75 years later

An Aguilla Bank skink, one of the 24 new species discovered

24 New Lizard Species Discovered, Half Close to Extinction

The discoverer of the world’s (then) smallest frog, snake and lizard does it again with new species of Caribbean skinks

Small coelurosaurs like this Troodon appear to have maintained stable levels of disparity during the last 12 million years of the Cretaceous.

New Wrinkle to the Story of the Last Dinosaurs

Were the last dinosaurs thriving or declining just before Tyrannosaurus and kin disappeared?

None

The Nationals’ Bryce Harper Plays Softball on the Mall

The new outfielder for the Nats made some new friends on the Mall last night

The Ginger Ninjas on the move in Guadalajara, Mexico. Where buses and airplanes would provide the horsepower for other touring bands, the Ginger Ninjas go by bicycle.

Rock, Pedal and Roll: Band Tours the World by Bicycle

“I believe the bicycle is one of the best, if not the coolest, machines ever invented,” says the frontman of the Ginger Ninjas

The Hawaiian islands, from left to right, Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and the Big Island.

Paul Theroux’s Quest to Define Hawaii

For this renowned travel writer, no place has proved harder to decipher than his home for the past 22 years

Poet Mark Strand

There is No Wind in Oslo by Mark Strand

Read the new poem by the American poet and professor

Bottoms up: Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula.

Nudity, Art, Sex and Death – Tasmania Awaits You

With one big bet, an art-loving professional gambler has made the Australian island into the world’s most surprising new cultural destination

When the future president journeyed to Kogelo in 1987, it was, he said, as if “a circle was beginning to close.”

A Journey to Obama’s Kenya

The dusty village where Barack Obama’s father was raised had high hopes after his son was elected president. What has happened since then?

In Janos, Mexico, Mormon guide John Hatch chats with a youngster at a 17thcentury Catholic church.

The Romneys’ Mexican History

Mitt Romney’s father was born in a small Mormon enclave where family members still live, surrounded by rugged beauty and violent drug cartels

Off the coast of Cape Town, Robben Island is home to African penguins, whose future is by no means assured.

Make Way for the African Penguins

Few places let you get as close to the raffish birds—many of which are endangered—as South Africa’s Robben Island

Mandela returned in 1994 after being elected president.

A Visit to Robben Island, the Brutal Prison that Held Mandela, Is Haunting and Inspiring

To visit the brutal prison that held Mandela is haunting, yet inspiring

The narrow-gauge Durango & Silverton train steams through history above the Animas River.

Smithsonian Best Small Towns 2012

The 20 Best Small Towns in America of 2012

From the Berkshires to the Cascades, we’ve crunched the numbers and pulled a list some of the most interesting spots around the country

Billions of miles from Earth, the probes prepare to break out of the “bubble” of solar particles.

Timothy Ferris on Voyagers’ Never-Ending Journey

With the spacecraft poised to leave our solar system, the writer who helped compile the time capsules they carry reflects on our foray into outer space

Page 826 of 1321