Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

Autumn near Killington, Vermont

See Where Brilliant Fall Foliage Will Peak Across the Country in This Map

An interactive map predicts when the orange, red and yellow hues of autumn will brighten up the countryside

Bronze-tailed Comet (Polyonymus caroli) perched on a cactus in Peru.

New Research

Hummingbirds in the Andes Go to Chilly Extremes for a Good Night’s Sleep

The longer a bird spent in a state of torpor, the less body mass it lost overnight

Volunteers at Bamburgh Castle discovered the foundations of an ancient roundhouse.

Cool Finds

Traces of 2,000-Year-Old Roman Roundhouse Found in Northern England

Excavations at Bamburgh Castle uncovered the foundations of a circular dwelling dated to the Roman occupation of Britain

The hoard includes 453 bronze objects, including axe heads, spearheads, sword fragments and bracelets

Cool Finds

London’s Largest Cache of Bronze Age Objects Is on View for the First Time

The Havering Hoard includes 100 pounds of artifacts recovered from an ancient enclosure ditch

Patricia Marroquin Norby will serve as the museum's inaugural associate curator of Native American art.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Hires First Full-Time Curator of Native American Art

Patricia Marroquin Norby previously worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian–New York

Left: an artist's rendering of the GW Orionis system depicts its misaligned rings of dust and gas. Right: a view of GW Orionis

A Rare Planet Might Be Hiding in This Oddly Shaped, Triple-Star System

Two new studies explain why GW Orionis, a rare triple-star system 1,300 light years away, looks so misshapen

View of shore at Crissy Field in San Francisco, Alcatraz in the distance.

Photographs Capture Eerie Skies That Cloaked the Bay Area in an Orange Glow

Smoke from more than 20 major fires burning in the surrounding region shrouded the city through the morning hours

The Meroe pyramids in northeastern Sudan sit about1,650 feet from the banks of the Nile. Now, the site's royal bath is at risk of damage from record flooding.

Record Flooding Threatens Millennia-Old Pyramids in Sudan

Rising water levels could damage ancient structures at Meroe and Nuri

A lower resolution copy of a 3,200 megapixel image of Romanesco broccoli. The photo was taken by a camera being built to help the Vera Rubin Observatory's telescope study space.

Scientists Tested Out the World’s Largest Digital Camera on a Piece of Broccoli

Soon, it’ll photograph the cosmos. But first, scientists used it to snap a highly-detailed picture of an ordinary vegetable

This intricately carved capital may have been part of a royal palace.

Cool Finds

Remnants of Ancient Palace Discovered in Jerusalem

Experts say the stone ruins, which may have once housed royalty, likely date to the early seventh century B.C.

Yakutia [pictured] is 83.4 percent forested, making it "one of the most fire-hazardous Russian regions.

‘Zombie Fires’ May Have Sparked Record High Carbon Emissions in the Arctic

Increasing temperatures due to climate change and wildfires may be propelling the region into a fiery new normal

New digital reconstruction of Abbot John of Wheathampstead

Facial Reconstruction Reveals Medieval Monk’s ‘Impish’ Features

Researchers digitally revived Abbot John of Wheathampstead 555 years after his death

Parasitic dodders use outgrowths called haustoria to leech water and nutrients from their host plants.

New Research

Parasitic Plant Waits for Host’s Signal Before Flowering

Dodders grow into tangled masses of leafless tendrils also called wizard’s net and strangleweed

A sonar scan of the German warship Karlsruhe, which was recently discovered off the southern coast of Norway

Cool Finds

Wreck of German Warship Sunk in 1940 Found Off Norwegian Coast

A British torpedo struck the “Karlsruhe” during the Nazis’ invasion of the Scandinavian country

In one example of redlining, this Home Owners' Loan Corporation map depicts part of Chicago, Illinois and labels neighborhoods as "hazardous" (red) or "best" (green). Borrowers could be denied access to credit if their homes or businesses were located in "hazardous" neighborhoods, typically economically disadvantaged neighborhoods with large minority populations.

How Redlining Made City Neighborhoods Hotter

A growing body of research highlights the connection between systemic discrimination and the local climate

The total emissions released increased as temperatures rose, doubling when temperatures went from 104 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit

On Hot Days, Asphalt Can Release as Much Air Pollution as Cars

During heat waves, pavement can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which unleashes harmful particles into the air

The blue areas in this composite image from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 orbiter show water concentrated at the Moon's poles. Homing in on the spectra of rocks there, researchers found signs of hematite, a form of rust.

Why Is the Moon Covered in Rust? Even Scientists Are Stumped by This Metal Mystery

Without oxygen and water, how is the substance

The exterior of Maeshowe, a chambered tomb in Scotland's Orkney Islands, pictured in September 2019

Why Were This Ancient Scottish Tomb’s Chambers Built Upside Down?

New research suggests the inverted designs seen at Maeshowe were designed to ensure passage into the underworld

All classes are free and open to the public.

Education During Coronavirus

Take Free, Online College Classes Featuring Anthony Fauci and Other Covid-19 Experts

MIT’s class includes live-streamed lectures on Tuesday mornings and Purdue’s self-paced course offers a certificate in contact tracing

Archaeologists first spotted the sturgeon's bony plates near a barrel in the Gribshunden shipwreck.

Cool Finds

Well-Preserved Atlantic Sturgeon Found in 15th-Century Danish Shipwreck

The fish’s remains were stored in a barrel in the royal vessel’s pantry

Page 451 of 1142