Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Travel

A still from El Primo Amanecer, a short film narrated in Huichol, an indigenous language of Mexico that UNESCO classifies as "vulnerable." The film will be shown as part of a Smithsonian festival about endangered languages this week.

Four Things That Happen When a Language Dies

This World Mother Language Day, read about why many say we should be fighting to preserve linguistic diversity

Check Out Yosemite’s “Firefall” Illusion Light Up El Capitan

The firefall is back this year, and it’s just as spectacular as ever

An 1817 illustration of a draisine.

This Wooden Running Machine Was Your Fixie’s Great-Great Grandpa

The draisine was invented as a potential replacement for the horse during a shortage

The Ryuguji temple

How 13th-Century “Mermaid Bones” Came to Be Displayed in a Japanese Temple

According to legend, the ningyo washed ashore on the Japanese island of Kyushu in 1222

Yellow Fever Outbreak in Congo and Angola Finally Comes to an End

After almost 1,000 confirmed cases of the disease, the WHO has declared outbreak over

This approximate true-color image of the Gusev Crater is one of the three potential landing sites for the Mars 2020 rover.

Life in the Cosmos

Check Out NASA’s Three Options for the 2020 Mars Rover Landing

Scientists have narrowed down potential sites for the next rover to set wheel on the red planet

One of the first teddy bears has been in the Smithsonian's collection for over a half-century.

Some of the Most Important (and Cutest) Teddy Bear Moments of the Past 114 Years

The American toy was introduced in 1903, and almost immediately made its mark

The smooching couple in the center left gave the bakery its nickname.

Cool Finds

How a Pompeiian Bakery Became This Year’s Hot Date Destination

The romance never dies at the House of the Chaste Lovers

Cool Finds

These Photos Show Just How Colossal the World’s Tallest Sandcastle Is

The new Guinness World Record holder is a 48.8-foot creation on Puri Beach that celebrates world peace. It’s shore to impress

The interior of the Islamic Art Museum after a car bomb damaged the museum in 2014

Trending Today

Egypt’s Museum of Islamic Art Triumphantly Re-Opens

The museum has restored 160 artifacts damaged by a 2014 truck bomb and has expanded, putting three times as many artworks on display

Fit for a beauty...or a beast.

Win a Stay at a Castle Fit for “Beauty and the Beast”

Though it’s a Scottish castle, not French château, it’s sure to be a fairytale trip

Revolution is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.

Cool Finds

Fly Through Space With This “Mixed Reality” Coaster

The park promises it won’t give you motion sickness—well, more than on a regular rollar coaster, that is

New Zealand volunteers formed a human chain in the water at a remote beach on Friday as they tried to save about 100 whales after more than 400 of the creatures beached themselves in one of the worst whale strandings in the nation's history.

Trending Today

Hundreds of Pilot Whales Stranded on New Zealand’s Farewell Spit

Up to 300 have died and volunteers are scrambling to get the remaining creatures back in the water

The 500 artifacts featured in "Tunnel: The Archaeology of Crossrail" offer insight into millennia of the region's history—from Mesolithic tool makers to those affected by the Great Plague of 1665.

New Exhibit Reveals 8,000 Years of London’s History

The Museum of London Docklands highlights 500 finds unearthed by the Crossrail Project

Trapeze artist Antoinette poses with her husband aerialist Arthur "Art" Concello.

This Archive Is Digitizing the History of the Circus

In a bid to preserve circus culture, Illinois State University’s Milner Library is making more than 300 circus route books available online

An unidentified player takes a putt at the original "Tom Thumb Golf" built by Garnet Carter.

The Brief 1930s Craze for ‘Tom Thumb Golf’

Miniature golf courses had been around before, but Garnet Carter gave it a roadside attraction spin

Twain's living room

Trending Today

Mark Twain Museum Battles Mold

A malfunctioning HVAC system led to mold contaminating 5,000 artifacts in a storage room, which will be restored over the next four months

Claude Monet's "The Green Wave" (ca. 1866) is just one of 375,000 images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art that are now available to download for free.

Cool Finds

375,000 Images From the Met Are Now Yours for the Taking

It’s a milestone for one of the world’s most significant art collections

Wanted: a few patrons to help preserve Vincent van Gogh's grave for future generations.

Trending Today

The Quest to Save Vincent van Gogh’s Grave

His final resting place is in disrepair, so fans of the tormented artist are pitching in to save it

A woodcut from 1482 is yours for the coloring in a book by the Bodleian Library.

Cool Finds

#ColorOurCollections Is Back, Turning Your Favorite Cultural Institutions Into Coloring Books

In its second year, it’s more vibrant than ever

Page 77 of 117