Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Law

Physical bitcoins exist, but the currency is a digital one.

Powering the 21st Century

Bitcoins May Power the Next Election Cycle

Soon, you might be able to donate bitcoins to your favorite poltician’s campaign

China Is Slowly Undoing Its One-Child Policy

The addition of an extra exemption will let more Chinese families have more than one child

For just $875,000, you, too, could live in scenic Malta. Or anywhere else in the European Union.

Want European Union Citizenship? You Can Buy It

Got a million dollars sitting around? Move to Europe, and bring your friends

Sweetie, a virtual 10-year-old Filipino girl

A Virtual Ten-Year-Old Girl Helped Identify 1,000 Online Predators

Over a ten week period, Sweetie accrued around 20,000 solicitations for virtual sex from men from around the world

None

Americans Who Have Stereotypical Ideas About Race And Violence Are More Likely to Own Guns

These results held true even after controlling for conservative politics, being from the South and harboring anti-government sentiments and other factors

A poster for the Degenerate Art exhibit that ran in Munich’s Residenz in 1937

A Billion Dollars of Modernist Art, Stolen by Nazis, Was Just Recovered in Munich

As many as 1,500 pieces of modernist art were just found in a Munich apartment

None

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on Why Judges Wear Black Robes

The Supreme Court icon breaks down the tradition

Should EpiPens Be Stocked Everywhere People Eat?

Laws are in the works to get EpiPens into schools and restaurants

Children stand near a memorial at Cambodia’s killing fields

The Trial of Cambodia’s Genocidal Leaders Is Nearing a Verdict

More than 30 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, trials of the group’s genocidal leaders are inching closer to a verdict

None

Government-Issued Guidelines Warn Chinese Tourists Not to Spit, Shout Or Overeat at Buffets

Last year, mainland Chinese became the top tourism spenders, dropping $102 billion in destinations around the world

Supporters of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi celebrate his 2012 election.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Short History as an Officially Recognized Political Party Is Over

Amidst an ongoing military crackdown, Egypt bans the Muslim Brotherhood

Your Facebook “Likes” Are an Expression of Free Speech

‘Like’ away, Facebook activists. Your thumbs ups are constitutionally protected

The AR-15 Seems To Be the Weapon of Chioce in Random Acts of Violence

Of the 67 mass shootings in the US over the past three decades, more than three-quarters of the 143 guns used were obtained legally

Australia’s New Prime Minister Thinks Climate Science Is “Highly Contentious”

Tony Abbott’s Liberal campaign slogan of “Chose real change” may turn out to be unsettlingly on the mark

A woman operates an early decryption machine for the NSA’s progenitor

How the NSA Stopped Trying to Prevent the Spread of Encryption And Decided to Just Break It Instead

The NSA spent decades trying to stop the spread of encryption technology

None

Russian Authorities Are Deciding If It’s Illegal to Paint Putin in a Negligee

Russian police are flexing their newly appointed authority under the country’s anti-gay propaganda law

China Will Stop Harvesting Organs From Prisoners in November

China is the last to give up the practice, one that human rights organizations and the World Health Organization have been pushing against for years

Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza with President Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1962

The CIA Finally Admitted It Orchestrated the Iranian Coup of 1953

A newly-released 1970s internal CIA report admits the agency’s involvement in the 1953 coup

Messiah’s birth certificate (not pictured) will have to be updated if the judge gets her way.

Judge Decides Only One Person Can Be Named ‘Messiah,’ and It’s Not This Baby in Tennessee

The baby’s mother plans to appeal the decision

Mexico City And Washington, D.C., Are About Equally Safe

Mexico has its share of dangerous spots. But some parts of Mexico are just as unsafe as some parts of the United States, and some parts are safer

Page 31 of 35