Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

The dazzling pink and yellow fish is the only member of its genus known to reside in the Atlantic rather than the Pacific

Cool Finds

Newly Discovered Neon Fish Species Is Named After Greek Goddess of Love

Researchers were so entranced by the pink and yellow fish that they failed to spot a sixgill shark swimming just above their heads

Michael D’Antuono, "The Talk"

NYC Pop-Up Exhibition Traces Broken Windows Policing’s Toll

The show explores how the policing of minor crimes has caused an uptick in racial profiling, particularly targeting African American and Latino communities

Cool Finds

Historian Identifies Subject of Van Gogh’s “Gardener”

The portrait is likely of a day laborer that worked on the grounds of the asylum where the troubled artist stayed near the end of his life

Millennial mainstays like “twerk,” “emoji” and “listicle" have been included in the official Scrabble dictionary.

“OK,” “Sheeple” Says Scrabble, Which Added 300 New Words to Official Dictionary

“For a living language, the only constant is change,” says Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster

An artist’s impression of the prehistoric bird from the early Cretaceous period that retained some pretty dino-like features.

This 127-Million-Year-Old Fossil Links Dinosaur and Bird Evolution

The dino-bird hybrid boasts a stubby tail, clawed wings and sharp teeth

London Stone sat largely unnoticed behind this iron grill for roughly 50 years

London’s Lucky Stone—Referenced by Shakespeare, Blake—Set to Return to Rightful Place

It’s been identified as a remnant of an ancient Roman monument, the altar employed in Druidic human sacrifice, even the stone that yielded Excalibur

Study participants Kelly Thomas, who was paralyzed in a truck crash and Jeff Marquis, who was injured while mountain biking.

New Research

How Implanted Electrodes Helped Paralyzed People Stand and Walk Again

Two new studies demonstrate that epidural stimulation and intensive therapy can help people overcome paralysis from spinal cord injuries

Females that inherited two copies of a mutated gene developed antenna and claspers similar to males, rendering them unable to lay eggs or bite their prey

Gene Drive Technology Eliminates Malaria-Transmitting Mosquito Population

Researchers introduced a sterilization mutation that wiped out lab populations in seven to 11 generations

The unabashed depiction of violence seen in Caravaggio's "Judith Beheading Holofernes" underscores its creator’s bestial inclinations

Art Meets Science

Caravaggio May Have Died of Infected Sword Wound, Not Syphilis

The Italian Old Master had a notoriously mercurial temperament and was forced to flee Rome in 1606 after killing his rival in a duel

Portrait of Galileo Galilei (1636) by Justus Sustermans

Newly Discovered Letter Catches Galileo in a 400-Year-Old Lie

Fearing repercussions of his groundbreaking scientific claims, which flew in the face of church doctrine, the famed astronomer fibbed

Giant pandas put it all out there when calling out for love.

Pandamonium

Giant Panda Mating Calls Say a Lot About Them

Panda love grunts are packed with information, like size of the potential mate and more, but long distance calls are less reliable

Researchers produced the immature egg cells (seen in pink) out of stem cells created using human blood

Scientists Create Immature Human Eggs Out of Blood Cells For the First Time

The lab-grown eggs were not advanced enough for fertilization, but researchers say this next step in the future of reproduction could arrive soon

An aerial view of the razed Mackintosh building following the June 2018 fire

Glasgow School of Art Will Be Rebuilt, But Construction Could Last Up to a Decade

In June, an inferno blazed through the Scottish school’s historic Mackintosh Building, which was under renovation following a 2014 fire

New Research

Explorers Will Face Dangerous Amounts of Radiation On Their Trip to Mars

New data from the Mars Trace Gas Orbiter shows just the flight there and back alone will expose astronauts to 60 percent the lifetime radiation dose

Cool Finds

Maldivian Government Destroys World’s First Intertidal Art Gallery

Before President Abdulla Yasmeen lost the country’s election, his government ordered the demolition of the conservation-minded underwater sculpture garden

Halema‘uma‘u aerial view on June 12, 2018

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to Reopen Without Molten Lava or Lava Glow

The lava lake in the Halema‘uma‘u crater is gone and lava flows from Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater have stopped

Researchers first discovered Dickinsonia fossils back in 1946.

New Research

The World’s Earliest Known Animal May Have Been a Blob-Like Undersea Creature

Traces of fat found on a 558-million-year-old fossil suggest Dickinsonia was an animal rather than fungus, plant or single-celled protozoa

Ptil Tekhelet sells tzitzit, or fringes attached to the corners of Jewish prayer shawls, colored with dye from the Murex trunculus snail

Jerusalem Museum Untangles History of the Color Blue, From Biblical Hue to Ancient Royalty

The show inks out the history of the enigmatic sky blue dye known as ‘tekhelet’

R.I.P., guppy.

New Research

Praying Mantis Seen Hunting Fish for the First Time

The ravenous insect repeatedly returned to the hunting site, suggesting praying mantises may be capable of complex learning

Arthur Mitchell in "Agon."

Remembering Arthur Mitchell, the Barrier-Breaking Black Ballet Dancer

Mitchell joined the New York City Ballet in 1955 and later founded the Dance Theater of Harlem

Page 562 of 1116