Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

None

Los Tres Reyes Remember The Age of the Tríos

The Latin American artists discuss how their career began over 50 years ago

None

The Civil War

Document Deep Dive: How the Homestead Act Transformed America

Compare documents filed by the first and last homesteaders in the United States

None

A By-The-Numbers Look at American Real Estate

An index to houses great and small over the centuries

Caro’s hunt for the soul of LBJ has become a thrilling race against time.

Should LBJ Be Ranked Alongside Lincoln?

Robert Caro, the esteemed biographer of Lyndon Baines Johnson, talks on the Shakespearean life of the 36th president

None

Going Places

Travel pushes us. Home pulls

Few aspects of American life have been documented for as long and as precisely as Major League Baseball, which began playing games in 1876.

This Baseball Fan Digs the Small Ball

Last year major-leaguers scored the fewest runs per game in 19 seasons. A top statistician says that’s something to root, root, root for

Marilyn Monroe getting ready for her close-up in a movie of the future

Resurrecting the Dead With Computer Graphics

Rufus Choate

The Case of the Sleepwalking Killer

The evidence against Albert Tirrell was lurid and damning—until Rufus Choate, a protegé of the great Daniel Webster, agreed to come to the defense

The tooth of Ostrafrikasaurus as seen from the front (A), tongue side (B), back (c) and cheek side (d)

The Mysterious Teeth of Ostafrikasaurus

A pair of enigmatic teeth might hint that croc-snouted spinosaurs had a deeper history than we presently understand

None

The Shangri-La of Health Food

Every Tuesday, take a guided tour through the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden.

Events May 1-3: Ripley Garden Tour, the Multi-colored Universe, and Roni Horn

This week, take a garden tour, discover the universe through cutting edge developments in X-ray telescopes, and meet acclaimed artist Roni Horn

What's going on in this guy's head? Read How to Think Like a Neanderthal to find out.

A Human Evolution Summer Reading List

As you plan for summer vacation, don’t forget to pack one of these reads on Neanderthals, human origins, new fossils or the first people in the New World

Javier Núñez Florián, Anailín de la Rúa de la Torre in Una Noche

From Summer Blockbusters to Orphan Films

Three recent gatherings celebrate movies big and small

The rare all-white orca whale was spotted swimming with its pod.

Rare Sighting of All-White Orca Whale

Earlier this week, photos were released of an extremely rare killer whale off the eastern coast of Russia

Digital billboard in 2019 Los Angeles from the film Blade Runner (1982)

Billboard Advertising in the City of Blade Runner

Are Angelenos destined to be perpetually surrounded by super-sized advertisements?

None

Why Is It Cool To Hate On Dinosaur Discoveries?

Tyrannosaur traditionalists are registering their displeasure at the way paleontologists are altering our understanding of dinosaur lives

Look for more people riding on battery power.

Will America ever love electric bikes?

Most bikers scoff at them, but as the U.S. population ages and gas prices rise, expect to see more bikes running on batteries

U2 was here—and so were thousands of fans who managed to find the remote Mojave Desert location of the very Joshua tree depicted in the photo series accompanying U2's 1987 album. The tree has died and now lies in brittle bits and pieces.

From the Joshua Tree to The Slaughtered Lamb: Destinations of Story and Song

Should you go to Cephalonia, bring a copy of the Odyssey—perhaps the truest guidebook to this Greek island

None

What Are America’s Most Iconic Homes?

According to the National Building Museum, these houses, more than most, have impacted the way we live

None

The Secret Lives of Medieval Books

A new method reveals which pages of ancient religious texts were most frequently used—and which prayers perpetually put readers to sleep

Page 834 of 1327