Articles tagged as Discoveries | Smithsonian Magazine

Superheavy elements round out the seventh row of the periodic table

January 4, 2016

Overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Bethsaida was a day’s walk from Nazareth. When Jesus returned to his boyhood hometown to preach, the Gospels say he was rejected by a mob.

Surprising archaeological finds are breaking new ground in our understanding of Jesus’s time—and the revolution he launched 2,000 years ago

January 2016

The site where workers found crypts just a few feet beneath the surface.

Construction Workers Find 200-Year-Old Bodies Buried Just a Few Feet Below Greenwich Village

Two crypts uncovered near Washington Square Park a reminder of New York City’s past

November 6, 2015

The World’s Oldest Papyrus and What It Can Tell Us About the Great Pyramids

Ancient Egyptians leveraged a massive shipping, mining and farming economy to propel their civilization forward

October 2015

Hawaii, three foot long egg mass, the product of a species of open ocean squid.

Cool Finds

This Huge, Gooey Blob Could Be a Clutch of Squid Eggs

The blob was the size of a car…and completely baffling to a group of divers

July 28, 2015

Scientists have for the first time identified the four people buried in Jamestown's first church. They are (from left) minister Robert Hunt, Sir Ferdinando Wainman, Captain Gabriel Archer and Captain William West.

New Jamestown Discovery Reveals the Identities of Four Prominent Settlers

The findings by Smithsonian scientists dig up the dynamics of daily life in the first permanent British settlement in the colonies

July 28, 2015

A female specimen of the newly discovered Alto Tambo woodlizard.

New Research

New Dwarf Dragons Have Been Found in the Andes

It seems that every time herpetologists wander into the Andean cloud forests, they emerge with colorful lizard species in tow

April 6, 2015

An artist's rendition of an asteroid impact.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Largest Asteroid Crater Ever Discovered Underground in Australia

Deep in Earth’s mantle, scientists find evidence of a colossal impact that could reveal new information about Earth’s history

March 24, 2015

This detail from Rome's Trajan's Column hints at what the Roman soldiers who built the fort recently discovered near Trieste may have looked like.

New Research

The Oldest Known Ancient Roman Fort Has Been Discovered in Italy

Researchers use laser scanners to identify a Roman military camp that may have initiated the settlement of the modern Italian city of Trieste

March 18, 2015

Controversy surrounds the recent announcement of a re-discovered ancient settlement in the jungles of Central America

March 13, 2015

These coppery titi monkeys have a red beards similar to those sported by the newly discovered Milton’s titi monkey. The new species can be further identified by a light gray stripe across their foreheads and a bright orange tail.

New Research

Adorable Monkey New to Science Identified in Threatened Rainforest

Researchers in the Brazilian rainforest describe a previously undocumented species of titi monkey whose habitat faces man-made threats

March 13, 2015

An image of white-tailed eagle talons from the Krapina Neandertal site in present-day Croatia, dating to approximately 130,000 years ago. Scientists theorize that they may be part of a necklace or bracelet.

New Research

Neanderthal Jewelry Is Just as Fiercely Cool as You’d Imagine

A re-examination of a cave find indicates that the early human species sported eagle talons like some kind of prehistoric punk rockers

March 12, 2015

An artist's rendering of what the Aegirocassis benmoulae looked like.

New Research

Scary Lobster-Like Fossil Was Once One of the Earth’s Largest Animals

One of the earliest arthropods was giant, weird-looking—and played a big role in the course of evolutionary history

March 12, 2015

A view of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

New Research

The Galaxy May Be Way Bigger Than We Thought

New data analysis suggests that the Milky Way may be 50-percent larger than previously believed

March 11, 2015

Cool Finds

A Paralyzed Woman Operated a Flight Simulator Using Only Her Thoughts

Electrodes implanted in the brain are shown to enable those with quadriplegia to achieve amazing feats

March 4, 2015

The impact of EnChroma sunglasses: the left shows what a wearer with red-green colorblindness would typically see. The right shows what they see while wearing the sunglasses.

A Scientist Accidentally Developed Sunglasses That Could Correct Color Blindness

The California company EnChroma is creating lenses that allow some to see colors for the first time

March 3, 2015

A view of the dense Honduran rain forest.

Cool Finds

Amazing Ruins of a Long Lost City Discovered in Honduras

A scientific expedition into the depths of the Honduran rain forest discovered a lost city

March 3, 2015

A cross section of a polymetalic deep sea nodule of manganese and cobalt discovered on a previous expedition.

Cool Finds

An Underwater Field of Weird Metal Balls Is a Key to Both Past And Future

A huge deposit of manganese nodules beneath the Atlantic might be a potential source of highly prized rare earth metals

February 18, 2015

Cool Finds

Get Ready for a Taste of the Byzantine Empire’s Favorite Wine

Scientists hope the discovery of 1,500-year-old grape seeds may help resurrect the historically famous “Wine of the Negev”

February 16, 2015

Vatican with the Tiber River and St. Peter's Basilica

New Research

Two of the Vatican’s “Ancient” Egyptian Mummies Are 19th Century Fakes

Specimens once thought to be the remains of children or animals are likely a product of the 1800’s “mummy mania”

February 3, 2015