Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

At the Smithsonian

Landscapes have been managed by humans for thousands of years – some sustainably, others less so. The Martu people of Australia burn the grasses in continent’s Western Desert. The practice yields food, but also increases biodiversity in the area.

Smithsonian Voices

New Study Pushes Origins of Human-Driven Global Change Back Thousands of Years

Understanding people’s past land use strategies could help us better conserve global biodiversity now.

Shreya Ramachandran created her own nonprofit, The Grey Water Project, to educate and provide resources to diverse audiences on water recycling both at home and in the workplace.

Smithsonian Voices

Meet Water Advocate and Hero Shreya Ramachandran

The Grey Water Project educates and provides resources to diverse audiences on water recycling at home and in the workplace

On January 20, 2021, poet Amanda Gorman read her her poem "The Hill We Climb" during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Why Poetry Is Experiencing an Awakening

Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of April’s National Poetry Month with these workshops from the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Photograph for a Coca-Cola ad featuring Selena, 1994, by Al Rendon.

Smithsonian Voices

How Do We Remember Selena?

On the anniversary of her 50th birthday, honoring the legacy of the first Tejana singer to top the U.S. Billboard charts with her Spanish-language album

The periodical cicada species, Magicicada septendecim, will erupt from the ground this spring in the mid-Atlantic region. The last time the species from Brood X appeared for their cyclical mating cycle was in 2004.

Smithsonian Voices

What to Expect When the Cicadas Emerge This Spring

A trillion cicadas expected to invade the Washington metropolitan region when the ground warms to 64 degrees

This view of Gemini VII from VI-A in December 1965 shows the spacecraft’s orbital configuration.

Smithsonian Voices

How Neil Armstrong Avoided Near-Disaster to Make the First Space Docking

Smithsonian curator Michael Neufeld recounts the harrowing details of when Gemini Vlll astronauts faced the first life-threatening, in-flight emergency

As many commercial operators and homeowners are shifting to LEDs, which tend to fall somewhere in the blue-white spectrum, the new results may have important implications beyond tropical rainforests.

Using Amber-Filtered Bulbs Instead of White Light Attracts Fewer Bugs

In a tropical rainforest study, 60 percent fewer insects visited traps illuminated in a golden glow. Researchers say the results may be widely applicable

The Perseverance captured this image of itself and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter days before its maiden flight.

Smithsonian Voices

What to Expect When Ingenuity Takes Flight This Week on Mars

Nicknamed ‘Ginny,’ the Mars helicopter is set to take off from the surface of the Red Planet no earlier than April 14

Example of a new meeting background in use, featuring the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology.

Smithsonian Voices

Celebrate National Library Week With Bibliophilic Backgrounds for Your Virtual Meetings

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives offers book lovers these nine stylish backdrops

"The Grave of Bonaparte" sheet music, song and music by L. Heath, as performed by the Hutchinson Family Singers, Boston, 1843. "The Grave of Bonaparte," recalling the French leader who vanquished much of Europe before being defeated, reflected the Hutchinson Family Singers' concern for the cause of freedom abroad as well as at home.

Smithsonian Voices

How the Arts Have Inspired Social Change

Americans have a long tradition of inspiring and elevating movements for change using benefit concerts, song and other artistic traditions

The Soviet MiG-15, a formidable aircraft, shocked the West with its ability to do hit-and-run attacks. The National Air and Space Museum displays one of these jets in the Boeing Aviation Hangar of its Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Day Soviet Aircraft Attacked American Pilots

On that April ‘Black Thursday’ 70 years ago, the air war over Korea changed as the Allies scrambled to counter the superior MiG-15 jet fighter

The National Museum of Natural History’s 146 million objects and specimens are studied by researchers worldwide who are looking to understand all aspects of the natural world.

Smithsonian Voices

How Museum Collections Advance Knowledge of Human Health

Surprisingly, mosquitoes, leeches, parasites, birds and minerals can be important sources for research to fight cancer and prevent disease

Above: This leaf-tailed gecko hatchling receives his medication from a syringe, which he laps up with his impressive tongue.

Smithsonian Voices

Watch How Zookeepers Give Animals Their Meds

It takes more than just a spoonful of sugar to entice compliance from geckos, red pandas, kiwis and monkeys

Christina Koch (left) poses for a portrait with Jessica Meir while preparing for their first spacewalk together.

Smithsonian Voices

Gender-Inclusive Language Puts an End to the Era of ‘Manned’ Spaceflight

It is time to honor six decades of women’s contributions to spaceflight, says the Air and Space Museum, with unbiased verbs like ‘crewed’ or ‘piloted’

Alma Thomas, Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze, 1973, acrylic on canvas

Smithsonian Voices

Why These Five Women Changemakers in American Art Deserve Reconsideration

A rising scholar of equality issues in American Art dives into the Smithsonian collections to find dynamic stories for her upcoming webcomic series

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery boasts the only public collection of images depicting every single U.S. president throughout history.

The Thorny Politics of Presidential Portraiture

In a new podcast, the National Portrait Gallery reveals that a portrait is being commissioned of the former president

A new study suggests the lush, hyper-diverse rainforests of South America were shaped by the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs.

How the Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Spurred the Evolution of the Modern Rainforest

New evidence from fossil plants shows today’s South American rainforests arose in the wake of Earth’s fifth mass extinction

Participate in the City Nature Challenge by spotting and recording animals and plants in your city starting Apr 30.

Smithsonian Voices

Learn About Dogs, Mangroves and Gardens at Free Online Natural History Programs This Month

Stream these free programs and more this April through the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

Illustration from the graphic novel 'Martina and the Bridge of Time' by Aaron O'Dea and Ian Cooke Tapia.

Smithsonian Voices

Time Travel Into Panama’s Deep History With This Richly Illustrated New Graphic Novel

‘Martina and the Bridge of Time’ tells the story of the Isthmus’ formation and evolution through the adventures of a young Panamanian girl

A 1928 photograph of Ernest Hemingway, held in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, was taken in Paris by the artist Man Ray after the legendary writer suffered a life-threatening head injury.

In Search of the Authentic Ernest Hemingway

Take a deep-dive into the story behind this rarely published Smithsonian portrait of the legendary writer

Page 41 of 276