Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

Josef Küblbeck (l) with "Seppi" and Oliver Storz with "Moni"

Germany’s New Dachshund Museum Is Not Just for the Dogs

The Dackelmuseum is stuffed with 4,500 sausage dog-related items

‘Our Bodies, Ourselves,’ the Revolutionary Feminist Health Book, Will No Longer Print New Editions

In the 1970s, the book promoted nonjudgemental discussions about women’s sexual and reproductive health

New Research

This Ancient Reptile Was One of the Most Massive Creatures That Ever Lived

A fossil jawbone found in England suggests the ‘sea monster’ was nearly the size of a blue whale

Trending Today

NASA Sends Human Sperm to the International Space Station

Astronauts will study how microgravity affects the motility of the little swimmers

Crown, gold and gilded copper with glass beads, pigment and fabric, made in Ethiopia, 1600-1850

London Museum Says It’s Willing to Return Looted Ethiopian Artifacts on Long-Term Loan

A new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum grapples with Britain’s seizure of cultural treasures during the 1868 Battle of Maqdala

This aerial photo shows spills from TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone pipeline on Friday, November 17, 2017.

Keystone Pipeline Leak Was Twice as Big as Previously Thought

A representative of TransCanada Corp., which owns the pipeline, says the leak spilled 9,700 barrels of oil into South Dakota farmland

Judy Chicago's Sappho plate

Cool Finds

Now You Too Can Eat Off of Judy Chicago’s Famous Feminist Dinnerware

Reproductions of four plate designs from “The Dinner Party” are available for the first time

Under a blacklight, scorpions put on quite a show.

Puffin Beaks Are Fluorescent, and They’re Not the Only Ones

Scorpions, stick insects and caterpillars are among the many critters that glow under UV light

This Colorful Exhibition Was Made for Instagram

Artist CJ Hendry’s latest house-like installation assigned each room a distinct color

New Research

If a Cosmic Bubble Destroys the Universe, Scientists Now Know When It’ll Happen

Don’t panic yet; the end won’t be for at least 10 octodecillion years, if it happens at all

Leif Erikson pointing toward North America. Did he use a sunstone to navigate the open seas?

New Research

Simulation Suggests Viking Sunstones of Legend Could Have Worked

If they existed, the crystals—used to locate the sun’s position on cloudy days—could have helped Vikings sail to far away places

Illustration of pregnant ichthyosaur with octuplets.

Fossilized ‘Sea Monster’ Found Pregnant With Eight Babies

The fossil provides the earliest evidence of ichthyosaur embryos from the UK

A new study reveals how Walden Pond has dramatically changed thanks to human activity.

Humans Have Wreaked Havoc on Walden Pond

A new study details the intensity of the damage to this beloved location

Archaeologists Used Drones to Find New Ancient Drawings in Peru

About 50 new examples of the Nazca lines had been hiding in plain sight

Cool Finds

“Lost” Feminist Dinner Set Goes on Public Display for the First Time

The 50-plate “Famous Women Dinner Set” by Bloomsbury Group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant includes portraits of the well-known and the overlooked

The structure of herpes virus simplex 2, aka genital herpes

Art Meets Science

Herpes Is Kind of Beautiful, On the Molecular Level

This detailed visualization of the herpes virus is a step toward finding new treatments

The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist

Europe

Ancient Statue Destroyed by ISIS Resurrected in London—With a Twist

Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz has created a reproduction of the statue using 10,500 date syrup cans

New Research

The Center of the Milky Way May Be Chock-Full of Black Holes

Researchers spotted about a dozen black holes lurking at our galactic center—and there may be up to 10,000 more

A scene from The City Without Jews.

1924 Film That Anticipates the Holocaust Found and Restored

A collector found a complete copy of the film at a flea market in Paris in 2015

Not a sick raccoon, but one that is certainly riled up.

‘Zombie-Like’ Raccoons Are Terrorizing Youngstown, Ohio

Sadly, the critters’ strange behavior can likely be ascribed to a serious illness

Page 620 of 1141