Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

Constance Wu's character, Rachel Chu, wears the gown to a wedding

Constance Wu’s ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Dress Is Coming to the Smithsonian

Curator Theo Gonzalves says he hopes the gown will enable Asian American visitors “to see themselves in the museum, … see themselves in American history”

The synthetic DNA contains 61 codons, as opposed to the 64 typically found in living organisms

Scientists Create E. Coli Bacteria With Completely Synthetic Genome

The synthetic organisms appear to function much like their natural counterparts

New Research

A Nanoscale Light Trick Is the Key to Peacock Spiders’ Super-Black Spots

A new study shows how patches of bumpy microlenses capture 99.5 of the light that hits them

Structures unearthed at Achtriochtan may be linked with the bloody massacre

Archaeologists Are Excavating Site of Scottish Massacre That Inspired the ‘Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding

In 1692, members of the Campbell clan turned on their MacDonald hosts, killing at least 38 men and sending women and children fleeing into the hills

3-D Images Show Just How Much a Baby’s Head Changes During Birth

Scientists behind a new study were surprised by the degree of stress that is placed on a baby’s skull as it moves through the birth canal

In trials, the app detected the presence of ear fluid with 85 percent accuracy

Researchers Develop App That Plays Chirping Sounds to Check for Ear Infections

Although EarHealth isn’t currently available for purchase, the team hopes to receive F.D.A. approval by the end of 2019

Can a bike ride a day keep the doctor away?

Welsh Doctors Can Now Prescribe Free Bicycle Rides

The pilot program joins a recent spate of ‘social prescribing’ activities to hit the U.K.

The Louvre Pyramid is arguably the architect's best-known work.

Trending Today

I.M. Pei Dies at 102 Years Old. Here Are Some of His Essential Buildings

The architect changed the way the world sees itself

Closeup of the divisive fruit

A Stinky Durian Fruit Led to the Evacuation of an Australian Library

It was initially feared that the overwhelming stench stemmed from a gas leak

New Research

The Glacier That Produced the ‘Titanic’ Iceberg Has Suddenly Stopped Flowing

After a period of losing 66 feet of ice per year, the Jakobshavn Glacier is growing again—but that doesn’t mean glaciers aren’t in trouble

Susan Sontag photographed in 1972.

Did Susan Sontag Write the Seminal Book Attributed to Her Husband?

An upcoming biography claims that before she became a towering literary figure, Sontag was the true author of Freud: The Mind of the Moralist

Monk parrots are among the species that successfully breed in the wild.

Escaped Pet Parrots Are Doing Great in the Wild

A new study has found that 25 non-native parrots species are breeding in 23 American states

The indecipherable text carved in a rock found in the Brittany village of Plougastel-Daoulas.

Cool Finds

A French Town Is Offering $2,250 Reward to Anyone Who Can Decipher This Mysterious Inscription

The inscription was probably made during the 18th century

Scientists have been tracking Mauna Loa's carbon dioxide levels since 1958

Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach Highest Point in Human History

Last Friday, carbon concentrations at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory topped 415 ppm

Tastier Tomatoes May Be Making a Comeback Thanks to Genetics

A new analysis found that a flavor-making gene variant absent in most older variations of the fruit is increasing in frequency

The Lee Lincoln Scarp, one of the potentially active faults on the Moon.

New Research

The Moon Is Slowly Shrinking, Which May Be Causing ‘Moonquakes’ on Its Surface

Analysis of seismic data collected on the Apollo missions shows the moon is probably tectonically active

The study's authors outline three possible scenarios for the unusual fossil's formation

Cool Finds

This 100-Million-Year-Old Squid Relative Was Entrapped in Amber

The ancient ammonite was preserved alongside the remains of at least 40 other marine and terrestrial creatures

Sculptor Hannah Stewart has created a life-size bronze statue of Lily Parr

Lily Parr, a Pioneering English Footballer, Scores Bronze Monument

Parr rose to fame in the years after WWI, a time when women’s soccer blossomed in the U.K.

Granville Coggs

Granville Coggs Fought Racism in the Military as a Tuskegee Airman

Coggs, who died on May 7, at the age of 93, was among the first black aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps

American actor Doris Day with mutt co-star Hobo on the set of director Charles Walters's film, 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies'.

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

Doris Day’s Biggest Hit Is a Song She Could Have Done Without

“Que Sera, Sera” is synonomous with the actress and singer who died on Monday at age 97, though she was never a fan of the tune she called ‘a kiddie song’

Page 529 of 1129