Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

In this Dec. 21, 2012 file photo, people gather in front of the Kukulkan temple in Chichen Itza, Mexico. Mexican experts said Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016 they have discovered what may be the original structure at the pyramid of Kukulkan at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.

Ancient Maya Heritage Comes Alive…With Some Help From Google and the British Museum

Victorian explorer Alfred Maudslay’s images are now available online for all to see

More than 50 percent of Sweden is covered in forest, making bunkers easy to disguise in plain sight.

New Video Highlights Hidden Cold War Bunker in Sweden

Viral footage shows off the site that appears to have been inhabited by Swedish intelligence workers

Indonesia Gets Its First Contemporary Art Museum

The inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara features 90 works by 70 artists

'Alice's Wild West Show' was actress Virginia Davis's favorite role in the 'Comedies'

Walt Disney’s First ‘Princess’ Was A Spunky Four-Year-Old

The silent ‘Alice Comedies’ ran from 1924 through 1927, predating Mickey

Unicode By LN Tallur Bronze, coins and concrete 2011 Tallur Studio, Koteshwara, Karnataka, India

Sweeping Mumbai Exhibition Tells the Story of India, With Help From the British Museum

‘India and the World’ features 124 loans from London and 104 objects from institutions across India

Icy sugar cubes - Overall winner and winner: Earth Science and Climatology

Trending Today

Royal Society Photo Contest Winners Capture Drama and Wonder of the Natural World

From Antarctic ice to eclipses and killer whales, the images unveil nature’s strange and sometimes surreal beauty

Geminid meteor shower streaks across skies in December of 2013.

Geminid Meteor Shower Will Blaze Across Skies

Will you stay up to catch the show?

Civil War reenactors fire a salute in a public parade.

Civil War Reenactments Were a Thing Even During the Civil War

These ‘practice battles’ are the root of today’s Civil War reenactors

Orange County Sheriff's Department disposing of illegal alcohol, circa 1932.

Why the Ku Klux Klan Flourished Under Prohibition

The Ku Klux Klan’s resurgence in the 1920s is linked to the passage of the Volstead Act in 1920

Codex Amiatinus

After 1300 Years Abroad, the Earliest Complete Latin Bible Returns to England

The Codex Amiatinus will go on display at the British Library in 2018

Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle in New York City

More than 120 Academics and Artists Call for Removal of Controversial Monuments in New York

The letter singles out three statues and two commemorative markers honoring contentious historical figures

Glowing proteins produced by the modified E. coli.

New Research

DNA Code Gets Two New Synthetic Letters—And Uses Them to Create a New Protein

Researchers hope the advance is a step toward producing a range of new compounds, including designer drugs and biofuels

Marianne Means during a 1983 interview with C-SPAN's Brian Lamb.

Pioneering Political Journalist Marianne Means Has Died at Age 83

The first woman assigned to cover a president’s activities on a full-time basis, Means wrote a widely syndicated column about the goings-on in Washington

New Research

Researchers Investigate What Makes a Poem Popular

A recent study found that vividness of imagery best predicted a poem’s aesthetic appeal

New Research

Your Oldest Ancestor Was Probably Sponge Like

A new study may settle a long-running debate about which creature was the first to evolve from a universal common animal ancestor

Winter recreationists circa 1975.

The Snowmobile Changed How Americans Did Winter

As the cold comes in, snowbound communities are tuning up their vehicles and recreationists are making speedy winter plans

The Amur leopard twins Akeno, left, and Zivon, right, are being baptized at the zoo in Leipzig, Germany, Thursday, July 6, 2017. The twin animals were born on 22 April.

Rare Amur Leopard Call Gets Caught on Tape

New footage of the cat making its distinctive roar offers a glimpse into the endangered species’ behavior

An aircraft takes off from Ronald Reagan National Airport, passing in front of the Moon as it rises above Washington D.C.

Trending Today

Super Pictures Capture This Year’s Only Visible Supermoon

If you missed last night’s celestial show, these images feature our lunar orb in all its glory

University of Michigan paleontologist Daniel Fisher holds up an intact mammoth rib unearthed from the field.

Cool Finds

Mammoth Remains Unearthed at Michigan Farm, Hint at Ancient Human Butchering

Researchers have found 40 additional bones, including the skull, tusks and teeth of an ice age creature

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Cool Finds

Chilean Telescope Takes Deepest Look Into the Cosmos Yet

In the process, researchers discovered 72 new galaxies and details on 1,600 more

Page 620 of 1116