Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

The marshmallows are essential, but the sweet potato is the heart of this classic dish.

How Marshmallow-Topped Sweet Potato Casserole Became a Thanksgiving Classic

Sweet potato pudding has been a part of American cuisine for a century

Born in 1888, author Raymond Chandler was best known for his detective novels.

Newly Discovered Raymond Chandler Story Skewers U.S. Healthcare System

It’s titled ‘It’s All Right – He Only Died’

A radio built in the 1930s.

How a New Accent Overturned BBC Tradition and Messed With the Nazis

A man with the name of Wilfred Pickles brought regional dialect to the BBC as part of an anti-Nazi-propaganda strategy

The Magritte Museum in Belgium contained the final piece of the Magritte puzzle.

Cool Finds

Final Piece of Hidden Magritte Masterpiece Found

X-rays have revealed the last bit of “La Pose Enchantee,” which the artist cut up and reused in the early 1930s

Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi'

Why Critics Are Skeptical About the Record-Smashing $450 Million da Vinci

While the sale of “Salvator Mundi” has generated a considerable amount of excitement, there are doubts about its authenticity

The formerly wobbly Millennium Bridge

New Research

What Makes Bridges Wobble? Your Awkward Walk

A new study asks: How many people does it takes to set a pedestrian bridge a-swaying?

Lawsuit Seeks “Personhood” for Three Connecticut Elephants

An animal advocacy group has filed a petition requesting that the elephants be removed from a traveling zoo

“For 20 years, everyone referred to The Dinner Party as ... ‘vaginas on plates,’” Chicago says. “Nobody called it the history of women in western civilization, which of course, is what it is.”

These Fall Exhibitions Explore the Origins of Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party”

Brooklyn Museum and National Museum of Women in the Arts revisit the artist’s celebration of unrecognized women, female body

A voting sign from the 2008 election.

For a Few Decades in the 18th Century, Women and African-Americans Could Vote in New Jersey

Then some politicians got angry

Mary Martin as Maria von Trapp in a publicity photo for The Sound of Music, the musical that debuted on Broadway on this day in 1959.

The Real-Life Story of Maria von Trapp

“The Sound of Music” was based on the true story of her life, but it took a few liberties

A Leonid meteor in 2009

Leonid Meteor Shower Will Streak Through Skies This Weekend

Expect 10 to 25 shooting stars per hour as the planet passes through the debris of comet Tempel-Tuttle

Artists impression of Ross 128 b

Cool Finds

Earth-Sized Planet Detected Just 11 Light Years Away

Orbiting the star Ross 128, our new planetary neighbor is thought to be temperate, with days up to a balmy 68 degrees Fahrenheit

Cool Finds

New Portrait of Lord Nelson Found, Scars and All

One of many Nelson portraits by Leonardo Guzzardi, the painting has been restored to include his war wounds

General view of incised pillar stone

Pictish Carving of Large-Nosed Warrior Found in Scotland

The carving may have marked the property of a high-ranking individual

Recycling bins at the Whiteman Recycling Center in Montana.

How the 1970s Created Recycling As We Know It

People recycled before then, but for different reasons

This is base of Neolithic jar being prepared for sampling for residue analysis.

Cool Finds

Oldest Evidence of Wine Making Found in Georgia

The discovery of grape residues on pottery suggest Neolithic people had a taste for wine 8,000 years ago

Sperry today sells a variety of footwear beyond the iconic deck shoes.

The Story of the Sperry Top-Sider

Paul A. Sperry’s innovative boat shoes were inspired by his dog

JFK, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnston, First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy and others watching the 1961 flight of astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

A Year Before His Presidential Debate, JFK Foresaw How TV Would Change Politics

Television’s first iconic president was remarkably prescient on the subject of TV

A makeshift shrine to Timothy Caughman, a black 66-year-old man who was fatally stabbed by James Harris Jackson, a white 28-year-old who reportedly traveled to New York with the intention of killing black men, on March 20th, 2017. The memorial was seen on the sidewalk at the Southeast corner of West 36th Street near to where Caughman resided and was slain. (Photo by Albin Lohr-Jones)

Trending Today

U.S. Hate Crimes Ticked Upward in 2016

The latest FBI stats show a 4.6 percent rise, but crimes may be underreported by a factor of 50

New Research

Global Carbon Emissions on the Rise After Three-Year Pause

An uptick in China and U.S. coal use is expected to make 2017 the year of greatest emissions yet

Page 624 of 1116