Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

Is It Time to Scrap the Manual on Mental Illness?

After 11 years of working on the new DSM, some are saying that it’s time to retire the manual and think abut mental health entirely differently

The brighter colored and thicker lines indicate a higher bio-invasion risk.

Mapping the Routes of Invasive Stowaways

Singapore, Honk Kong, New York, Long Beach, CA, and the Panama and Suez canals are the areas most at risk from invasive species

Cavemen Used Some of the Same Words We Do

Our modern language still has some remnants of the grunting cavemen who came before us

None

There’s a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Design Contour-Hugging Armor for Women

Boob-shaped armor would have directed arrows straight to a woman’s heart and broken her sternum if she fell off her horse

How Many Weddings Will the Cicadas Ruin This Summer?

Late spring is when the 17 year cicadas come out. It also happens to be a popular time for weddings

Nearly 4,500 Kids Are Injured on Amusement Park Rides Each Year

Based on current trends in the amusement park market, these injury numbers probably won’t go down any time soon

None

On the International Space Station, Glow-in-the-Dark Plants Let You Know When They’re Stressed

To fight climate change or to grow crops in space, we need to know how plants respond to stress

None

Seahorses Inspire New Armor Designs

The plates that line seahorse tails have to be both flexible enough to grasp and rigid enough to defend themselves from predators

None

One Upside to Drought: the Fewest Tornadoes in the U.S. in At Least 60 Years

No water in the air means less fuel for tornadoes

None

You Think the NFL Has Brain Injury Problems? The Military Has it Way Worse

Thousands of soldiers return home from cobalt with traumatic brain injuries - many without even realizing it

This Is What One Half Second of High Speed Trading Looks Like

You already have welcomed your robot overlords, and they’re building our financial system

Okay Americans still maybe take the worst tourist pictures.

Americans Are Actually The Best Tourists

A recent survey reveals that many service workers don’t find American that bad at all

Facebook Likes Might Be Hurting How Much People Actually Give to Charity

“Slacktivism” - easy online activism - could actually decrease how much people donate to their pet causes

Celebrate the Kentucky Derby With Henry Clay’s Mint Julep Recipe

Sip one of Henry Clay’s very own mint juleps or spoon down a bowl of burgoo, aka roadkill soup

None

Is It Ever OK To Euthanize a Baby?

In Holland, some doctors and parents say the answer is yes

Citizens of East Dennis, Massachusetts, filed this petition against the repeal of the Personal Liberty Laws in 1860.

African-Americans Sent Thousands of Anti-Slavery Petitions in the 18th and 19th Century

The petitions lend insight into the lives of African Americans during this tumultuous period in U.S. history, and now they’re being digitized

None

The Cicadas are Coming, And So Are the Terrifying Spores That Eat Them Alive

The cicadas have been waiting for 17 years. This deadly fungus has been waiting for them

Do Blind People See Ghosts?

Can you “see” a ghost without seeing?

It’s Fine to Eat Standing Up

Should we add eating standing up to the list of food no-no’s? It’s unclear, science says

None

Game Wardens Helped Poachers Kill the Last of Mozambique’s Rhinos

Mozambique’s rhinos have been living on the edge of extinction for more than a century, but now they’re finally gone for good

Page 1061 of 1142