Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

The newly recognized species, Taksinus bambus, is the first known tarantula to nest exclusively inside bamboo stalks.

Good News

A Wildlife YouTuber Discovered This New Species of Tarantula in Thailand

The bamboo-dwelling spider is so distinct from others that it’s been declared a new genus and species

The elite used the highly-prized, donkey-like creatures for travel and warfare.

This Ancient Wild Ass Was the Earliest Known Animal Hybrid Bred by Humans

Called a kunga, the donkey-like creature may have been considered a status symbol about 4,500 years ago

Ringgold's mural, For the Women's House (1971), showcased earlier at a Brooklyn Museum exhibition in 2017. The painting will be permanently relocated to the museum pending its removal from the Rikers prison complex.

An Evocative Mural on Rikers Island Will Be Moved to the Brooklyn Museum

Faith Ringgold’s “For the Women’s House,” which sought to inspire female inmates, will be relocated ahead of the jail complex’s impending closure

Betty White poses with a parrot at the Los Angeles Zoo in 2014.

Good News

Animal Shelters See an Influx of Donations in Honor of Betty White

Fans donated thousands of dollars to local animal shelters on what would have been her 100th birthday

Map from front endpapers to The Odyssey of Homer (translated by T. E. Shaw (Col. T. E. Lawrence)), 1935. 

Art Meets Science

See Fantastical Maps From ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Lord of the Rings’ and More

In honor of the centennial of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses,’ a San Marino, California exhibition takes museumgoers on a literary journey

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra (left) performs blood draw on European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake for the recent study.

Space Is Destroying Astronauts’ Red Blood Cells

The discovery could complicate long-term space travel, including future Mars missions

This watercolor of Huna Mill in Scotland is one of 79 paintings by Prince Charles on display at the Garrison Chapel in London.

See Prince Charles’ Watercolors of Landscapes Around the World

A new show in London features 79 watercolors by the British royal

Researchers examined 24 Martian sediment samples collected from six exposed locations in the Gale Crater that contained mudstones of an ancient lake.

‘Intriguing’ Carbon Isotopes on Mars Could Be From Cosmic Dust, UV Radiation or Ancient Life

NASA scientists compared the data to chemical signatures of biological processes on Earth and found some similarities to billion-year-old microbes

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia curated by volunteer community editors, found itself at the center of conversations about whether to categorize non-fungible tokens as "art."

Should NFTs Be Classified as Art? Wikipedia’s Editors Vote ‘No’

Makers of the free encyclopedia spar over the categorization for non-fungible tokens, the relatively new phenomenon sweeping the digital art world

The explosion was likely the biggest volcanic eruption recorded anywhere on the planet in more than 30 years.

Why the Eruption in Tonga Was a ‘Once-in-a-Millennium’ Event for the Volcano

The blast, which sent tsunami waves across the Pacific, left thousands of Tongans without access to water and power

The multidisciplinary team suggests that Arnold van den Bergh, a notary and member of Amsterdam's Jewish Council, gave the Secret Annex's address to the Nazis to avoid deportation.

New Research

Did a Jewish Notary Betray Anne Frank to the Nazis?

A six-year investigation posits that Arnold van den Bergh disclosed the diarist’s hiding place to protect his family from deportation

Some of the ancient Roman decorative pottery pieces uncovered at the archaeological site in England.

Cool Finds

Ancient Roman Trading Settlement Unearthed 80 Miles From London

Researchers discover a Roman road, coins, jewelry and evidence of makeup at a dig site near a railway project

The Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum preserves photographs and artifacts from the civil rights movement.

New Funding Will Help Highlight Five Black History Sites in the American South

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s $50,000 grants will support civil rights museums, a monument to victims of an industrial disaster and other organizations

Using data and data visualization software that mapped the asymmetrical bubble, the research team calculated that at least 15 supernovae have gone off over millions of years and pushed gas outward, creating a bubble where seven star-forming regions dot the surface.  

A Star-Producing, Cosmic Bubble Shrouds Our Solar System

Researchers created a 3-D model of Earth’s galactic neighborhood

In the last two decades, cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. have tripled. In one year, 476,000 individuals come down with flu-like symptoms accompanied by a distinct bulls-eye rash.

Lyme-Spreading Ticks May Thrive in Warmer Winter Conditions Across North America

In a new study, insects carrying the disease were more likely to survive cold or fluctuating temperatures than their uninfected peers

When putting on or taking off a mask, handle it by the edges or straps to avoid contamination.

Covid-19

Can You Reuse a KN95 or N95 Mask? Experts Say Yes, but Follow These Steps

Regularly check for stretched-out straps, staining and soiling, which can compromise masks’ ability to filter viruses like Covid-19

Maya Angelou, pictured here in 2008, became the first Black woman to feature on a U.S. quarter this week. The celebrated poet and author died in 2014. 

Women Who Shaped History

Newly Minted Maya Angelou Quarters Enter Circulation and Make History

Here’s how to find one of the new U.S. quarters—the first to feature a Black woman

The image of the playwright on the title page is also just one of two portraits with "any claim to authenticity," according to the British Library. 

Shakespeare First Folio Acquired by the University of British Columbia

The volume is going on display at Vancouver Art Gallery as part of a new exhibition

Five cats pile onto a Starlink satellite dish in a snowy yard.

Outdoor Cats Are Using $500 Starlink Satellite Dishes as Self-Heating Beds

The devices—developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX—have a warming feature to prevent snow buildup from disrupting the signal

A female dolphin cald swims about her mother at the Madrid Zoo and Aquarium in 2018.

Female Dolphins Have a Fully Functional Clitoris

A new study finds surprising similarities between human and cetacean sexual anatomy

Page 328 of 1116