Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

New research finds oxygen levels in the world's temperate freshwater lakes are declining due to the rising temperatures caused by climate change.

New Research

Climate Change Is Draining the World’s Lakes of Oxygen

Hotter, longer summers are increasing water temperatures, which reduces lake oxygen levels, especially in deep waters

Billions of cicadas have emerged across 14 states and Washington, D.C.

As Brood X Numbers Grow, Cicadas Interfere With Cars, Planes and Radar

Lawnmower-like singing isn’t the only way that these bugs have made themselves known

Tinier whales threaten the species’ survival because smaller whales do not have as many offspring. Nursing mothers who entangle themselves in nets also produce smaller calves.

Humans, We’ve Shrunk the Whales

North Atlantic right whales born today are three feet shorter on average than whales born in 1980—and commercial fishing could be to blame

Though researchers repaired the crack, much of the egg's contents leaked out.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover—and Crack—an Intact, 1,000-Year-Old Chicken Egg

Human waste in a cesspit in Israel preserved the shell and its contents for a millennium

The newly auctioned gold coin is the only 1933 "Double Eagle" legally held in private hands.

The World’s Most Valuable Coin Sells at Auction for $18.9 Million

Three collectibles, including a 1993 gold “Double Eagle” and the world’s rarest stamp, fetched more than $30 million at Sotheby’s

Free Little Art Galleries simulate the culture of Little Free Libraries: Take what you want and give what you can.

Innovation for Good

Why Free, Miniature Art Galleries Are Popping Up Across the U.S.

Modeled on Little Free Libraries, these pint-sized museums make art accessible during the pandemic

Workers removed the replica Lady Liberty from its plinth on June 7. The statue will set sail for the U.S. on June 19.

France Is Sending the Statue of Liberty’s ‘Little Sister’ on a Trip to the U.S.

The bronze replica, set to go on view at Ellis Island in July, weighs 992 pounds and stands more than 9 feet tall

“Not much in my life in the natural world has made me cry, but this did,” Nate Stephenson, an ecologist at the USGS who has been studying sequoias for 40 years, tells the Chronicle. “It hit me like a ton of bricks.”

Fire Destroyed 10 Percent of World’s Giant Sequoias Last Year—Can They Survive Climate Change?

A new draft report suggests between 7,500 and 10,600 of the massive trees were killed by wildfire in 2020

More than 200 bird species show anting behavior, which involves fanning their wings out on the ground and picking up insects, usually ants. But capturing a photo of the behavior is rare.

Photographer Captures Crow Taking an ‘Ant Bath’

Over 200 bird species partake in ‘anting,’ but so far, the behavior is poorly understood

The older man, who died when he was in his 50s, succumbed to an injury likely sustained during a Viking raid. The second, who was in his 20s when he died, was targeted in the St. Brice's Day massacre of 1002.

Cool Finds

Viking-Era Relatives Who Died on Opposite Sides of the Sea Reunited at Last

Either half-brothers or a nephew and uncle, one died after taking part in a raid, while the other was the victim of an English massacre

A new analysis of a ceramic jar discovered in Athens suggest its owners placed the curse ahead of a lawsuit.

Ancient Athenians Used a Jar Filled With Chicken Bones to Curse Their Enemies

The object’s owners inscribed the names of at least 55 intended victims on its surface

A photo of the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii where scientists measure atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

New Research

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Reaches New High Despite Pandemic Emissions Reduction

Global carbon emissions in 2020 were lower than they were in 2019, but those reductions would need to be sustained for years to slow the climate crisis

Using growth layers on the bear's skull, the researchers dated the remains at 35,000 years old and concluded that the cave bear was an adult around ten years old when it died.

This 35,000-Year-Old Skull Could Be the First Evidence of Humans Hunting Small Cave Bears

The hole in the specimen may have been from injuries inflicted with a spear or during a postmortem ritual

Archaeologists unearthed this well-secured wooden box near the melting Lendbreen glacier in Norway.

Cool Finds

Melting Glacier in Norway Reveals Remnants of Centuries-Old Beeswax Candle

Carefully preserved in a pine box, the item would have provided light for farmers who traversed the icy alpine pass

New displays at Arlington House center the stories of individuals enslaved by Lee and his family.

Robert E. Lee’s Former Home Reopens With Renewed Focus on the Enslaved

Built by George Washington’s adopted son, Arlington House recently underwent a three-year “rehabilitation” project

Researchers Anthony Bourached and George Cann trained an algorithm to recreate "lost" works of art like this Modigliani portrait.

Art Meets Science

Did Modernist Master Modigliani Paint a New Portrait Over a Likeness of His Ex?

A.I. reconstruction reveals hidden image that may depict the Italian artist’s former girlfriend, Beatrice Hastings

In one clinical trial, Biogen's drug aducanumab showed that it could reduce beta-amyloid plaques and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

FDA Approval of a New Alzheimer’s Drug Comes With Controversy

Aducanumab is the first approved drug that targets a possible underlying cause of Alzheimer’s disease

It took over a decade to identify the dinosaur bones because of the remote location of the bones, the fragile state they were in, and their massive size and weight that at times require a forklift to move.

Two Farmers Found the Largest Dinosaur Ever Unearthed in Australia

The long-necked herbivore’s length measured the span of a basketball court, stood at two stories, and weighed an estimated 70 tons

A rotifer seen under a microscope.

New Research

Scientists Revive Tiny Animals That Spent 24,000 Years on Ice

These bdelloid rotifers survived for thousands of years in the Siberian permafrost and scientists want to find out how

The 2,000-year-old civic building is set to open to the public following an extensive restoration project.

Cool Finds

Enormous Roman Basilica Dated to King Herod’s Reign Revealed in Israel

At its height, the public building boasted opulent marble columns and sculptures

Page 369 of 1116