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The Hermitage in Nashville is the former plantation of Andrew Jackson.

Archaeologists Discover Lost Burial Site of Enslaved People on President Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee Plantation

An estimated 28 probable graves were identified at the seventh American president’s former property, called the Hermitage

Someone has been sticking googly eyes onto public art installations, such as artist Brandon Zebold's Orb I, in Bend, Oregon.

Trending Today

Someone Is Sticking Googly Eyes on Public Sculptures in Oregon—and City Officials Are Not Amused

Many residents of Bend love the illicit adornments, which they say are sparking joy and driving engagement with public art

A suitcase containing Ernest Hemingway's early writings was stolen in 1922. The exhibition imagines what his first novel might have looked like.

None of These Books Exist. An Inventive New Exhibition Asks: What If They Did?

“Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books” spotlights more than 100 texts written (or invented) by the likes of Shakespeare, Byron and Hemingway

Our most-read stories of the year featured photographer Vivian Maier, underwater caves in the Yucatán Peninsula, auroras and more.

Ten Top Smithsonian Stories of 2024, From a Mysterious Underground Chamber to Dazzling Auroras

The magazine’s most-read articles of the year included a close-up look at the adorable yet venomous pygmy slow loris, a profile of a little-known 20th-century street photographer and a majestic journey with divers into Mexico’s underwater caves

An 1864 photo of General Ulysses S. Grant

On This Day in History

Why Union General Ulysses S. Grant Issued an Order to Expel Jews From Certain Confederate States During the Civil War

An attempt to cut down on the illegal cotton trade, Grant’s decision, announced on this day in 1862, was immensely controversial and hounded him for years

This gold wreath thought to be from Corinth, Greece, dates to the third to second century B.C.E.

Why Has Gold Dazzled So Many Cultures Throughout History?

An exhibition in Brooklyn examines gold’s ubiquitous appeal across thousands of years through art, artifacts, paintings, sculptures and fashion

Last week, scientists conducted the first-ever dissection of a spade-toothed whale, the rarest whale species on Earth.

Scientists Just Dissected the World’s Rarest Whale in New Zealand. Here’s What They Found

Only seven spade-toothed whales have ever been identified, and the species has never been seen alive. After one washed ashore last summer, researchers have made new discoveries—including that the animal had nine stomach chambers and vestigial teeth

The bronze head of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus on display at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen

An Ancient Statue of a Roman Emperor Will Finally Be Reunited With Its Head

The torso of the bronze sculpture depicting Septimius Severus was repatriated last year, and a Copenhagen museum has now agreed to return the head

François Lanoë, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona, helped discover an 8,100-year-old canine jawbone in Alaska in 2023.

Humans Fed Salmon to Canines 12,000 Years Ago, Study Suggests, Hinting at the Origin of Our Relationship With Dogs

New research indicates early humans and canines were interacting in the Americas 2,000 years earlier than previously thought

A solar flare erupts from the sun on June 20, 2013, seen at the left of the image.

Superflares Erupt From Sun-Like Stars Roughly Every 100 Years, a New Study Finds. Is Our Sun Overdue for a Massive Blast?

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections could cause serious damage to telecommunications systems, satellites and power grids here on Earth

A collection of Nokia mobile handsets, including unseen prototypes

If You’re Nostalgic for Nokia, See the Devices That Defined ’90s Cellphone Design in a New Online Archive

The iconic brand’s mobile phones were pop culture mainstays. Soon, a new online archive will bring together thousands of documents, early models and design concepts

Paleontologists made discoveries about a wide variety of dinosaurs over the past 12 months.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2024

From the realization that paleontologists still haven’t found the biggest dinosaurs to the unearthing of a small burrowing dino, the year has been marked by awe-inspiring finds

 Mount Fuji from Lake Shōji

On This Day in History

It’s Been More Than 300 Years Since Japan’s Breathtaking Mount Fuji Last Erupted

Mount Fuji’s last eruption, which happened on this day in 1707, was also its largest, spewing ash and debris over cities and farms, causing famines, respiratory problems and untold death

A circa 1883 photograph of Lakota leader Sitting Bull

On This Day in History

Why Sitting Bull Was Killed by Indian Agency Police at His Cabin on the Standing Rock Reservation

Because of his alleged involvement with the Ghost Dance movement, the Lakota leader, who died on this day in 1890, was seen as a threat to the U.S. government’s efforts to subdue Indigenous Americans

Suffragettes protest along a London street wearing sandwich boards in 1912.

On This Day in History

What Happened When British Women Voted in a General Election for the First Time

The enfranchisement of property-owning women over 30 on this day in 1918 came at a time of great strife within political parties in post-World War I Britain

DNA on Earth is built from sugars with a property known as right-handedness. Though left-handed sugars aren't used by any known life, scientists can create them—but now, researchers say they shouldn't.

Scientists Warn of an ‘Unprecedented Risk’ From Synthetic ‘Mirror Life,’ Built With a Reverse Version of Natural Proteins and Sugars

So-called mirror cells could rampage through our ecosystems, food supply and immune systems, experts say, potentially without existing barriers to protect against them

A mantel clock designed by André-Charles Boulle with a movement by Claude Martinot (circa 1726)

See These Ornately Decorated 18th-Century Clocks Before Time Runs Out

An exhibition in London is highlighting a collection of Baroque timepieces designed by the renowned Parisian craftsman André-Charles Boulle

A representation of the evolution of the universe over 13.77 billion years.

James Webb Telescope Confirms the Universe Is Expanding Faster Than We Thought—and Scientists Still Don’t Know Why

The findings suggest that astronomers’ widely accepted cosmology models might be missing something—meaning the longstanding mystery known as the “Hubble tension” continues

Charles de Gaulle talking to reporters in 1945

Cool Finds

A Forgotten Collection of Charles de Gaulle’s Personal Letters, Speeches and Manuscripts Has Been Discovered in a Safe

Most of the documents are heading to the auction block, where they could fetch more than $1 million. They were found in a bank vault owned by the French statesman’s son

A Nile crocodile.

Scientists Unlock the Secrets of Crocodile Skin and Its Irregular, Mystifying Patterns

The scales on crocodiles’ heads are very different from the skin appendages of other animals and even distinct from the scales on the rest of their bodies

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