Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

David Bowie released his iconic song “Starman” in 1972.

There’s a Starman Waiting at the Auction Block

David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for ‘Starman’ could sell for more than $35,000

People line up for Covid-19 vaccines in Washington, D.C., last December. The Food and Drug Administration approved updated booster shots Wednesday. 

CDC Recommends New Covid-19 Boosters Targeting Omicron Subvariants

The updated shots could be available within days

A mannequin named after Arturo Campos is headed into space on NASA's now-postponed Artemis 1 mission.

How Artemis 1 Honors an Apollo 13 Hero—and a Champion for Diversity in Space

A mannequin that will orbit the moon is named for Arturo Campos, a Mexican-American electrical engineer who worked on several NASA missions

Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith on the set of the television show “The Monkees” in 1967

The FBI Kept Files on the Monkees—and Micky Dolenz Wants to See Them

The band’s last surviving member is suing the FBI, which monitored the group in the 1960s

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Western Australia

Male Dolphins Have (Lots of) Wingmen

To find a mate, male dolphins work together in complex social networks that dwarf those of any other animal, except humans, study finds

Sixty unnamed schools are piloting an A.P. African American studies class, which covers 400 years of history.

A.P. African American Studies Is Coming to U.S. High Schools

The course covers everything from slavery to civil rights to pop culture

Tens of thousands of dead fish, including sharks, sturgeon and large striped bass, are washing up dead on the shores of the San Francisco Bay and its waterways as a widespread algal bloom continues more than a month after first being detected. 

Dead Fish Are Washing Ashore in the Bay Area

A ‘red tide’ algal bloom is likely at fault, spurred by excess nutrients and warmer waters

E.T. looks out the window with Elliott (Henry Thomas) in a scene from the 1982 movie.

Why the Legacy of ‘E.T.’ Endures, 40 Years Later

A new book offers a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic Steven Spielberg movie

The Alfred Merlin, France’s new high-tech underwater archaeological exploration ship

Archaeologists From Eight Countries Team Up to Explore the Skerki Banks

Coordinated by Unesco, the project will examine the underwater site between Sicily and Tunisia

Digital facial reconstructions of two of the individuals found in the well, based on skeletal remains and DNA

Bones Found in Medieval Well Likely Belong to Victims of Anti-Semitic Massacre

A new DNA analysis suggests the 17 individuals were Ashkenazi Jews murdered in Norwich, England, in 1190

Under the federal Clean Air Act, other states may follow California's lead in banning gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

Other States May Follow California’s Lead in Banning Gas-Powered Cars by 2035

Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia and others appear likely to adopt the Golden State’s ambitious plan for phasing out internal combustion engines

Ice collapsing off the Russell Glacier in Greenland. Researchers agree that ice-sheet melt in Greenland will lead to at least several inches of global sea-level rise by the end of the century. 

Melting Greenland Ice Sheet Will Cause at Least Ten Inches of Sea-Level Rise, Study Finds

Experts break down the new finding, which provides a higher estimate of meltwater than previous research

English writer Charles Dickens, circa 1860

Charles Dickens Was a Busy Man and a ‘Mild Diva’

Eleven never-before-seen letters go on display at the Charles Dickens Museum

Ignacio Mundo measures one of the ship’s ribs

Can Tree Rings Solve the Mystery of a 19th-Century American Shipwreck?

A wreck off the coast of Argentina is likely a Rhode Island whaling vessel from the 1850s

Many of the children who survived Hurricane Katrina are still healing from the trauma of their experiences.

The Black Children of Hurricane Katrina Finally Tell Their Stories

A new documentary, ‘Katrina Babies,’ spotlights the disaster’s youngest survivors

Paleontologists uncovered vertebrae and ribs from an enormous sauropod in Portugal.

Portuguese Man Accidentally Finds 82-Foot-Long Dinosaur in His Backyard

Scientists say this could be the largest specimen ever discovered in Europe

An epaulette shark in the South Pacific

This Shark Can Walk on Land to Survive Its Extreme Habitat

Epaulette sharks could help scientists understand how animals respond to harsh conditions, including those caused by climate change

One of the man’s huts

The Last Member of an Uncontacted Tribe in Brazil Has Died

Known as “the Man of the Hole,” he lived in isolation for more than two decades

The 3,000-year-old Imsety sculpture is a lid to a canopic jar, which held organs during mummification.

Customs Officials Seize a 3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Artifact in Tennessee

The stone sculpture depicts the Egyptical funeral deity Imsety

So far, pedestrians have mixed feelings about the experimental new lights in Hong Kong.

Can These Lights Make Crosswalks Safer for Pedestrians Distracted by Their Phones?

Hong Kong has launched an experimental initiative to remind walkers to look up before crossing the street

Page 299 of 1127