Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

Researchers unearthed three Polish nuns' remains at a municipal cemetery in Orneta.

Researchers Uncover Remains of Polish Nuns Murdered by Soviets During WWII

As the Red Army pushed the Nazis out of Poland in 1945, soldiers engaged in brutal acts of repression against civilians

A satellite image captured in September of 2020 shows how wildfire smoke blanketed the West Coast.

New Research

Wildfire Smoke Is More Damaging to Respiratory Health Than Other Sources of Air Pollution

Smoke exposure was associated with more hospital admissions than equivalent amounts of non-wildfire emissions

Alexander Calder checks some of his mobiles during a 1962 exhibition of his work at Tate London.

Education During Coronavirus

Explore the Newly Digitized Archive of Alexander Calder, Famed ‘Sculptor of Air’

A new online trove from the Calder Foundation offers fans endless avenues to learn about the artist’s life and work

Wreckage uncovered in Thorpeness, along England's Suffolk coast, may belong to an 18th-century collier, or coal-carrying vessel.

Cool Finds

Storms Reveal Two Historic Shipwrecks on England’s Eastern Coast

Archaeologists have only gotten a “tantalizing glimpse” of the vessels, which are currently inaccessible due to Covid-19 restrictions

C. elegans are roundworms that are about one millimeter long and commonly used in scientific experiments as model organisms.

New Research

These Worms Have No Eyes, but They Avoid the Color Blue

When a scientist noticed that blind nematodes avoid bacteria that make blue toxin, he wondered if they took color into account

Researchers are still investigating who created the tunnel and why.

Cool Finds

Contractors Discover Forgotten Medieval Tunnel Beneath Welsh Garden

The passageway runs along a brook near Tintern Abbey, a 12th-century monastery on the border between Wales and England

An illustration based on the satellite observation data from the first confirmed instance of a space hurricane.

New Research

First Ever Space Hurricane Spotted in Earth’s Upper Atmosphere

The 600-mile-wide swirling cloud of charged particles rained down electrons from several hundred miles above the North Pole

NASA's latest image of Venus taken by the Parker Solar Probe. Using Venus's gravity, the Parker Probe will circle our host star seven times while getting closer and closer over the course of seven years.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Snaps Luminous Photo of Venus

The image revealed unknown capabilities of the imaging instrument, WISPR, aboard the Parker Solar Probe and more insight into the planet’s atmosphere

A close-up look at one of the pieces of stolen armor

Authorities Recover Intricate Renaissance Armor Stolen From the Louvre in 1983

An appraiser’s quick thinking helped recover the treasures, which vanished from the Paris museum 38 years ago

Some of the animals—including this dog—were buried in pieces of pottery.

Cool Finds

Is This 2,000-Year-Old Egyptian Burial Site the World’s Oldest Pet Cemetery?

Excavations show how humans treated cats, dogs and monkeys in first- and second-century Egypt

Ancient embalmers dipped a piece of red linen in a plant-based concoction before applying the cloth to the deceased's face.

Cool Finds

Oldest Known Mummification Manual Reveals How Egyptians Embalmed the Face

Prior to the find, researchers had only identified two ancient texts detailing the enigmatic preservation process

Photos of the kitefin shark glowing in the dark.

New Research

Nearly Six-Foot-Long Glowing Shark Discovered in Deep Sea Off New Zealand

The kitefin shark is one of three species of glowing sharks described in a new paper

The bomb may date to the spring of 1942, when the German Luftwaffe heavily bombarded Exeter and other historic English cities.

An Unexploded WWII Bomb Was (Safely) Detonated in England

Routine construction work near the University of Exeter unearthed the 2,204-pound device in late February

Cephalopods like cuttlefish have donut-shaped brains with dozens of lobes

New Research

Cuttlefish Show Impressive Ability to Exert Self-Control

The clever cephalopods ignored so-so food for up to 130 seconds in order to get their favorite snack, live grass shrimp

Some of the marks seen on the woman's skull predated her death, while others were likely left by natural forces following her burial.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Solve Mystery of 5,600-Year-Old Skull Found in Italian Cave

Natural forces moved a Stone Age woman’s bones through the cavern over time

A new study finds most conversations don't end when we want them to.

New Research

Most People Don’t Know When to Stop Talking, According to Science

A new study finds folks are pretty bad at guessing whether to wrap up a chat or keep talking

Vincent van Gogh, Field With Irises Near Arles, 1888

How the ‘Ecstatic Joy of Nature’ Unites Vincent van Gogh and David Hockney

Houston exhibition marks the first time the famed artists have been shown side by side in an American museum

A descendant of art collector John Skippe donated the painting to the parish in 1909.

Cool Finds

Forgotten Last Supper Scene Linked to Renaissance Master Titian Spent Century Hidden in Plain Sight

Researchers spotted the artist’s signature, among other clues to the 16th-century painting’s provenance, on the canvas

While blooming, the Amazonian cactus releases a unique sweet scent similar to honeysuckles and gardenias, but that scent is short-lived and turns foul after two hours.

Education During Coronavirus

Watch First Time-Lapse Footage of a Rare Moonflower Cactus Blossoming

The rare Amazonian cactus blooms only once a year for 12 hours

An early 20th-century photo of the building in its original location on Prince George Street in Williamsburg, Virginia

University Building Identified as One of the U.S.’ First Schools for Black Children

The Williamsburg Bray School educated around 400 free and enslaved students between 1760 and 1774

Page 401 of 1128