December 2025

Smithsonian magazine delivers trusted and incisive reporting on history, science, nature, culture and travel.

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Features

OPENER - Chubby the macaw arrived with self-plucking injuries, which are typically caused by stress, boredom, anxiety or life changes. Chubby was 22 at the time of being photographed in 2025, and she has since been adopted.

Gimme Shelter

Inside America’s largest sanctuary for rescued pets—and its controversial quest to “Save Them All”

By Douglas Starr | Photographs by Shayan Asgharnia

OPENER - The Tugunbulak settlement was inhabited between the 6th and 11th centuries.

The Lost City of the Silk Road

In the remote highlands of Uzbekistan, archaeologists are uncovering the remains of a vast metropolis that may rewrite the history of the fabled trading route’s origins

By Andrew Lawler | Photographs by Simon Norfolk

A Grand New Design

After a 1902 train wreck in the heart of Manhattan, one self-taught engineer proposed an improbable urban transformation. His vision reshaped the face of American cities

By Michelle Stacey | Photographs by Cassie Floto Warner

The Kelp Comeback

Wondrous seaweed forests off the coast of California are starting to return—teeming with life, cleaning the water and the atmosphere, and bringing new hope for the future

By Evan I. Schwartz | Photographs by Sage Ono

Departments

For a Quarter of a Century, We've Helped Make It Possible to Protect Birds Over a Cup of Coffee

The Smithsonian’s bird-friendly coffee certification program started after researchers made an unexpected correlation around a farm. It has been helping migratory birds and forest farms for 25 years now, one sip at a time

Tide of History

The Hudson is bursting with a storied past. Now, with restoration wins, it has a future, too

Naughty or Nice?

A new book from street photographer Lee Friedlander captures Christmas from all angles

Greatest Movie Ever?

With his 1954 triumph, Akira Kurosawa became one of the most influential directors of all time

First in Glass

A visionary Venetian entrepreneur revived the centuries-old art on the island of Murano

Saluting Grandma Moses

Many critics wrote off the painter. A new exhibition places her in the highest echelons of American art

Meals on Wheels

An Oklahoma businessman’s signature invention unburdened shoppers

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