December 2021
Smithsonian magazine delivers trusted and incisive reporting on history, science, nature, culture and travel.
Features
Keeping Faith in Caribou Country
To most Americans, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the subject of an intense policy controversy. To the Gwich’in people, it’s home
Quest for Copper
Beneath a desert in Israel, archaeologists are unearthing astonishing new evidence of an advanced society in the time of the biblical Solomon
The Long Mile
In dogged pursuit of an exotic world record, an engineer heads to the desert to shoot an arrow farther than anyone ever
Reign of Terroir
Rich, powerful and eccentric, Roquefort is still the king of cheeses. But for how much longer?
Departments
A House Full of Ideas
One of Smithsonian’s most storied buildings is reopening with an eye toward humanity’s many potential futures
Discussion
Your feedback on Memphis libraries, traveling to Mars, King George III and more
The Caregiver
Two hundred years after her birth, the famously intrepid Clara Barton’s pioneering commitment to public health has only become more crucial
Beyond Realism
Raw and affecting portraits of rural life in the early 20th century were strikingly modern
Pictures That Deceive
Today’s video hoaxes can be downright ugly. But image-makers have been fooling viewers from the beginning
Faster Than Sound
When the spirited Jackie Cochran piloted this jet, she broke all kinds of barriers
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