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Latest Features

AIM users could log on and instantly ping messages back and forth, remotely chatting with friends, colleagues and loved ones.

INNOVATION

In the 25 Years Since Its Launch, AOL Instant Messenger Has Never Been 'Away'

As recent archival finds and reappraisals of well-known documents show, Liss forged her own path to freedom—and may have even spied on the British while doing so.

HISTORY

Did an Enslaved Woman Try to Warn the Americans of Benedict Arnold's Treason?

All are welcome at Papunya Tula's art centers.

ARTS & CULTURE

Australia's Western Desert Art Movement Turns 50

On the island of Dejima, European traders could interact with the Japanese, but with a few (carefully escorted) exceptions, they were barred from continuing on to mainland Japan.

HISTORY

The Wild West Outpost of Japan's Isolationist Era

The first-ever image of a black hole in the Milky Way

SCIENCE

Here’s What the Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way Looks Like

After his shooting, a hospitalized Wallace holds up a newspaper touting his victories in the Maryland and Michigan Democratic presidential primaries.

HISTORY

How a Failed Assassination Attempt Pushed George Wallace to Reconsider His Segregationist Views

Cookbook author Grace Young set out to raise awareness of the struggle that Chinatown's business owners were facing, recording her “Coronavirus Stories”—short on-the-spot video interviews with members of the community.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Grace Young, Who Documented the Toll of Anti-Asian Hate on NYC's Chinatown, Receives Julia Child Award

Taste testers involved in a recent study preferred chocolate that shattered in their mouth.

INNOVATION

Have Scientists Designed the Perfect Chocolate?

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine April/May 2022 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

History

The Deadliest Disaster at Sea Killed Thousands, Yet Its Story Is Little-Known. Why?

In the final months of World War II, 75 years ago, German citizens and soldiers fleeing the Soviet army died when the "Wilhelm Gustloff" sank

2.

Smart News

Danish Biologists Cultivate Morel Mushrooms Year-Round With New Indoor Technique

The black morel mushrooms are grown in a climate-controlled environment that produces 20 pounds per square yard per year

3.

Smart News

Amateur Archaeologist Stumbles Onto Trove of Coins Dated to Constantine the Great's Reign

Found in Switzerland, some of the buried Roman coins were minted during a time of relative political stability, between 332 and 335 C.E.

4.

Innovation

This Teenager Found a Way to Control Mosquitoes Using Essential Oils and Baker's Yeast

Aseel Rawashdeh's inexpensive larvicide kills disease-spreading species and spares beneficial ones

5.

History

What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller

A journey to the heart of New Guinea’s Asmat tribal homeland sheds new light on the mystery of the heir’s disappearance there in 1961

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Cementing Your Home Plans in 1909

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Secretary Lonnie Bunch visits “The farthest rock from the sun of the Smithsonian”

Earth Optimism

Building A Curriculum to Address Our Shared Future

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

'Python of the Sea' Study Highlights How Marine Biodiversity Can Be Dramatically Underestimated

National Museum of Natural History

How Shipwrecks Shape the Seafloor

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

See a New Interactive Map of Indigenous Fishing Practices Around the Pacific Rim

See All

Special Report
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The Future of Mental Health

As the isolation and anxiety caused by the pandemic put a renewed focus on our brain's ability to cope with trauma, Smithsonian magazine brings you stories about the latest advancements in treatments and understanding of mental illness

View Full Report

Why Psychedelic Drugs May Become a Key Treatment for PTSD and Depression

Kids as Young as Eight Years Old Should Be Screened for Anxiety, Task Force Says

Negative Effects of Social Media May Impact Adolescent Girls and Boys at Different Ages

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Preview thumbnail for video 'An Energetic Dog is Best Friends With an an Orphan Raccoon

An Energetic Dog is Best Friends With an an Orphan Raccoon

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Preview thumbnail for video 'A Vervet Monkey Befriends Some Hostile Dogs

A Vervet Monkey Befriends Some Hostile Dogs

Preview thumbnail for video 'How the Meaning of Thanksgiving Has Changed

How the Meaning of Thanksgiving Has Changed

Photo of the day

This puffin was looking at the midnight sun on the Latrabjarg bird cliffs in the Westfjords, Iceland. Visitors to the cliffs can see the puffins in the evening when they come back from a day of fishing out at sea. Atlantic Puffin at Latrabjarg cliffs

History

As recent archival finds and reappraisals of well-known documents show, Liss forged her own path to freedom—and may have even spied on the British while doing so.

Did an Enslaved Woman Try to Warn the Americans of Benedict Arnold's Treason?

New research sheds light on Liss, who was enslaved by the family of a Culper Spy Ring leader and had ties to British spymaster John André

On the island of Dejima, European traders could interact with the Japanese, but with a few (carefully escorted) exceptions, they were barred from continuing on to mainland Japan.

The Wild West Outpost of Japan's Isolationist Era

After his shooting, a hospitalized Wallace holds up a newspaper touting his victories in the Maryland and Michigan Democratic presidential primaries.

How a Failed Assassination Attempt Pushed George Wallace to Reconsider His Segregationist Views

Science

The first-ever image of a black hole in the Milky Way

Here’s What the Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way Looks Like

A team of scientists from around the world collaborated to get a visual peek of the supermassive object

Many Americans struggle with risk assessment when making decisions during the pandemic.

Why It’s So Hard to Make Risk Decisions in the Pandemic

The plants in lunar soil were compared to a control group of plants grown in volcanic ash and a lunar soil simulant known as JSC-1A. The lunar samples on the right do not appear as developed as the control samples grown in volcanic ash on the left.

Scientists Prove That Plants Can Grow in Soil From the Moon

Innovation

AIM users could log on and instantly ping messages back and forth, remotely chatting with friends, colleagues and loved ones.

In the 25 Years Since Its Launch, AOL Instant Messenger Has Never Been 'Away'

While some aspects of AIM seem like relics of a different version of the internet, others remain deeply embedded in the social media landscape

Taste testers involved in a recent study preferred chocolate that shattered in their mouth.

Have Scientists Designed the Perfect Chocolate?

Aseel Rawashdeh's innovation won sixth place in this year's Regeneron Science Talent Search, the country's most prestigious and oldest science and math competition for promising young scientists in their senior year.

This Teenager Found a Way to Control Mosquitoes Using Essential Oils and Baker's Yeast

Arts & Culture

Hieronymus Bosch, The Last Judgment, circa 1515

Inside Hieronymus Bosch's Surreal Visions of Heaven and Hell

A new exhibition in Budapest features almost 90 works by the Dutch artist and his peers

Painted to inspire a sense of patriotism among 19th-century Americans, Washington Crossing the Delaware still has cultural sticking power today. 

'Washington Crossing the Delaware' Sails Toward the Auction Block—and Could Fetch $15 Million

In the ancient Roman world, sexual pleasure was a cause for celebration rather than a source of shame.

Why Was Erotic Art So Popular in Ancient Pompeii?

Travel

When access to the interior of the statue is permitted, visitiors will be able to take in the surrounding views from the glass-encased heart at Jesus' chest.

A New Statue of Jesus Is the World's Tallest—for Now

"Christ the Protector" is taller than Rio de Janeiro's most famous monument

Originally founded in 1889, the Moulin Rouge has been a Parisian landmark for more than 130 years. 

The Windmill That Gave Paris' Moulin Rouge Its Name Is Now an Airbnb—And Is Booking for Just $1

All are welcome at Papunya Tula's art centers.

Australia's Western Desert Art Movement Turns 50

At the Smithsonian

The National Museum of American History and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum announced the joint acquisition of the historic kit envisioned by activist Martha Goddard.

Invented by a Woman Activist, an Early 1970s Rape Kit Arrives at the Smithsonian

Martha Goddard didn’t receive much recognition—instead she got the job done

The natural colors of a stoneware tea bowl from Japan and dating to 1510-1530 "speak of the spaces where Zen Buddhists practiced," says the Reverend Inryū Bobbi Poncé-Barger, a priest for the All Beings Zen Sangha in Washington, D.C.

How to Find Wholeness in the Cracks of a 16th-Century Tea Bowl

Materials and manufacturing details of the specially made suit of America's first space traveler were extensively analyzed before being prepared for display on a customized mannequin.

The Second Man in Space Had a Wee Wish—That He'd Used the Bathroom Before Blasting Off