Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

Fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel in Paris in 1937

Two Hundred Rare Chanel Looks Are Coming to London This Fall

“Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto” is the first retrospective of the iconic designer’s work staged by a major British museum

The meatball made with woolly mammoth DNA was unveiled at a museum in the Netherlands this week.

This Massive Meatball Was Made With Woolly Mammoth DNA

Meant to be more sustainable than animal meat, this lab-grown alternative might offer a glimpse into the future of food production

Researchers think old masters like Sandro Botticelli, who painted Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, may have mixed egg into their oil paints to alter certain qualities.

Art Meets Science

Why Did Old Masters Use Eggs in Oil Paintings?

A new study explores how artists may have added yolk to alter the properties of their paints

Gut bacteria, more than genetics, impact mice's motivation to exercise, a recent study suggests.

Could Gut Bacteria Impact Your Motivation to Exercise?

In a study of mice, researchers show their microbiomes play a role in how much they run and how quickly they grow fatigued

A portrait of Minerva Parker Nichols

Women Who Shaped History

History Forgot Minerva Parker Nichols, the Country’s First Solo Woman Architect

A new exhibition celebrates the pioneering designer, who opened her own practice in the late 1880s

Infinitely many copies of a 13-sided shape can be arranged with no overlaps or gaps in a pattern that never repeats.

At Long Last, Mathematicians Have Found a Shape With a Pattern That Never Repeats

Experts have searched for decades for a polygon that only makes non-repeating patterns. But no one knew it was possible until now

York resident Luke Budworth has covered the 17th-century paintings with replicas in order to preserve the originals.

Cool Finds

Kitchen Renovation Reveals 400-Year-Old Paintings in English Apartment

The two nine-foot paintings depict scenes from a 17th-century book of poetry

Black widows are the most venomous spider in North America, with venom about 15 times as potent as a rattlesnake's.

Black Widow Spiders Are Being Killed Off by Non-Native Brown Widows

Despite their reputation as fearsome predators, black widows are on the defensive due to attacks by their cousins, a study shows

While Crystal Pepsi and New Coke failed, both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are still thriving.

The Museum of Failure Celebrates Some of the World’s Biggest Flops

Now on view in New York City, the traveling exhibition presents failure as a critical learning opportunity

David Hockney's Dog Painting 19 (1995)

See How History’s Great Artists Painted Their Dogs

A new exhibition showcases portraits of pets by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and David Hockney

Top: The citizen science photo of an alleged juvenile goblin shark found on the beach of Anafi Island in Greece. Bottom: A juvenile female goblin shark found near Shimizu, Japan.

Were Scientists Duped by a Plastic Shark Toy?

Researchers withdrew a report of a rare and elusive goblin shark spotted in Greece after their peers raised concerns about the alleged discovery

Zebrafish experience what's known as "emotional contagion" and react when their peers are afraid.

Fish May Sense Each Other’s Fear

Zebrafish respond when their peers act afraid, an ability regulated by the same hormone that drives human empathy, a new study shows

The Great Wave off Kanagawa is the first print in Katsushika Hokusai's series Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji

The Enduring Influence of Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave’

A rare early print of the iconic image sold for a record-breaking $2.8 million at auction

Amid a multi-year drought, record winter rainfall has led to conditions perfect for fungi.

Winter Rains Bring Mushroom Boom in California

Fungi are popping up in numbers the West Coast may not see again for years

Ai Weiwei's Water Lilies #1 will be on view starting April 7.

Ai Weiwei Unveils Recreation of Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’ Made Entirely of Legos

In a new exhibition, the renowned Chinese artist explores beauty, technology and growing up in exile

A digitally colorized view of Vibrio vulnificus bacteria under a scanning electron microscope

These Flesh-Eating Bacteria Are Thriving Because of Climate Change

New research finds that infections caused by Vibrio vulnificus have increased over the last 30 years and expanded to new geographic areas

Activists from Just Stop Oil marched from London's Pentonville Prison in February 2023 in support of the U.K.'s political prisoners, including seven from their organization.

In Landmark Pledge, British Lawyers Say They Won’t Act in the Interest of Fossil Fuels

The litigators refuse to represent new coal, oil and gas developments or prosecute peaceful climate protesters

Skywatchers can see five planets this week.

How to Watch Five Planets Align in the Night Sky This Week

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will appear as if in a parade in the Western sky on Tuesday

A sunet behind the mountains in what is now the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada

Biden Designates Two New National Monuments

In total, the protected areas across Nevada and Texas encompass 514,000 acres of public lands

New York City's Flatiron Building is wedged between Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

New York City’s Iconic Flatiron Building Sells for $190 Million at Auction

The landmark hasn’t been up for public auction since the Great Depression, when it sold for $100,000

Page 275 of 1143