Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

"Art About Art" features photos inspired by old masters, such as Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter and Jelly) by Vik Muniz.

See How Photographers Reimagine Old Master Paintings

“Art About Art” bills itself as a thoughtful, whimsical exploration of the connections between past and present

One of the adult ospreys in the breeding pair

Ospreys Breed in Ireland for the First Time in More Than 200 Years

The birds were driven to local extinction in the 18th century, but the new chicks provide hope for a comeback amid reintroduction efforts

The clouded leopard kitten, born last month at the Oklahoma City Zoo, has now been transferred to the Nashville Zoo to be hand-reared and eventually paired with a mate.

‘Rare’ Clouded Leopard Kitten Born at the Oklahoma City Zoo

Keepers hope the young male will have his own “little cloudies” one day, helping maintain the vulnerable species’ captive population

Early mug shots of 19th-century criminal suspects in a book by Alphonse Bertillon, chief of criminal identification for the Paris police

History of Now

A Brief History of the Mug Shot

Police have been using the snapshots in criminal investigations since the advent of commercial photography

The tanks used for storing treated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan are almost at capacity.

Japan Begins Release of Treated Nuclear Wastewater Into the Pacific Ocean

Twelve years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the move is a polarizing step toward decommissioning the defunct power plant

Charles Martinet, who has voiced Nintendo's Mario character since the 1990s, at a game launch in 2007

The Man Behind Nintendo’s Mario Is Retiring After Nearly Three Decades

Charles Martinet has voiced the famous character in more than 100 games since the 1990s

One of the more than 200 bouquiniste stalls along the Seine in Paris

The Paris Olympics

Parisian Booksellers Have Lined the Seine for Centuries. Now, They’re Fighting to Stay

Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, city officials are trying to relocate the bouquinistes for security reasons

Hogfish can change their color in less than a second to blend in with their surroundings.

How Color-Changing Hogfish Use Their Skin to ‘See’ Themselves

Light-sensitive proteins in the fish’s skin could play a role in monitoring how they camouflage, researchers theorize in a new study

Researchers found the remains of stilts and tens of thousands of wooden spikes.

Cool Finds

This 8,000-Year-Old Village on Stilts May Be the Oldest of Its Kind in Europe

Archaeologists unearthed the settlement—which had tens of thousands of defensive spikes—beneath a lake in Albania

The cast of The Outsiders during the musical's world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego earlier this year

‘The Outsiders’ Musical Is Coming to Broadway

The greasers and Socs from S.E. Hinton’s popular novel will spar on stage this spring

The rare all-brown giraffe was born in July.

See the Rare Spotless Giraffe Born at a Tennessee Zoo

The baby might be the only all-brown giraffe on the planet, as the last one on record was born in 1972

Hugh Gray's famous 1933 photo of a creature he believed to be Nessie

Loch Ness Monster Lovers Come Together for Biggest Hunt in 50 Years

Volunteers will convene in the Scottish Highlands armed with drones, hydrophones and other technologies

People in New Delhi celebrate India's successful landing of a spacecraft near the moon's south pole on Wednesday.

India Lands a Spacecraft Near the Moon’s South Pole, a First in Lunar Exploration

No other mission has successfully touched down in this scientifically interesting moon region, which contains water ice in lunar craters

Brooker began collecting in 1959 in Paris and has been assembling his library ever since.

Trove of Rare Renaissance Books Could Fetch $25 Million at Auction

T. Kimball Brooker has amassed a collection of more than 1,300 texts from the 16th century

Researchers took stem cells from the healthy eyes of patients who had suffered a chemical burn in their other eye. They then transplanted the stem cells into the injured eye.

Scientists Treat Severe Injuries in One Eye With Stem Cells From the Other

Patients’ own stem cells could help them recover from chemical burns that damaged a single eye, a small, preliminary study suggests

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is trying to keep ‘akikiki from going extinct.

How Maui’s Wildfires Threatened Endangered Birds

Conservationists battled back flames to prevent them from reaching roughly 40 ‘akikiki in captivity

Excavations near the Powder Magazine in Williamsburg, Virginia, where the four bodies were found

Four Bodies Found in Colonial Williamsburg Belonged to Confederate Soldiers

Researchers are trying to identify the men who died after the Battle of Williamsburg in 1862

Yosemite became the country's third national park in 1890.

This Resort Is Offering Free Spa Treatments to Guests Who Clean Up Trash in Yosemite National Park

Yosemite Facelift is an annual park-wide cleanup effort that started 20 years ago

Aerial photo of the Tiputini Processing Center of state-owned Petroecuador in Yasuni National Park, northeastern Ecuador. 

Ecuadorean Voters Reject Oil Drilling in the Amazon’s Yasuní National Park

The section of rainforest is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world and home to several Indigenous communities

Neptune, captured by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. A new study finds a link between the planet's cloud coverage and solar activity.

Neptune’s Clouds Have Disappeared, and the Sun Might Be Responsible

Scientists have linked shifts in the distant planet’s cloud coverage to the ever-oscillating solar cycle, which is due to peak soon

Page 217 of 1116