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Latest Features

A female (left) and male (right) golden-shouldered parrot

SCIENCE

Australia’s Most Endangered Parrot Faces an Unusual Threat: Trees

The cabbage soup diet of the 1950s allowed the indulgence in as much cabbage soup as one could consume.

INNOVATION

The Seesawing History of Fad Diets

The door of the 1,900-square-foot Nantucket fallout shelter

HISTORY

Inside JFK's Secret Doomsday Bunker

Over several decades, researchers have identified more than 140 active compounds, called cannabinoids, in the cannabis plant. 

SCIENCE

The Scientific History of Cannabinoids

“When an individual walks through this experience, they are a part of history, and now they can contribute to the future,” says the museum's Asantewa Boakyewa.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

This Show Is Everything You Need for a Year of Meaningful Community Activism

Neal V. Loving in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954

HISTORY

In 1946, a Black Pilot Returned to the Cockpit After a Double Amputation

Pueblo Bonito, a massive stone great house in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico

SCIENCE

How Should Scientists Navigate the Ethics of Ancient Human DNA Research?

Pablo Picasso in 1971

TRAVEL

Follow Pablo Picasso's Footsteps Through Spain

Current Issue

Smithsonian magazine January/February 2023 issue cover

Most Popular

1.

Smart News

Thousands of Rare Artifacts Discovered Beneath Tudor Manor's Attic Floorboards

Among the finds are manuscripts possibly used to perform illegal Catholic masses, silk fragments and handwritten music

2.

Smart News

Hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright's Designs Were Never Built. Here's What They Might Have Looked Like

So far, David Romero has digitally reconstructed over 20 of the famous architect's unrealized projects

3.

History

Inside John F. Kennedy's Nantucket Doomsday Bunker

The president's Nantucket nuclear fallout shelter could become a National Historic Landmark—but efforts to preserve its history have stalled

4.

History

In 1945, a Japanese Balloon Bomb Killed Six Americans, Five of Them Children, in Oregon

The military kept the true story of their deaths, the only civilians to die at enemy hands on the U.S. mainland, under wraps

5.

Smart News

Scientists Have Created a New Type of Ice

It looks like a white powder and has nearly the same density as liquid water

Smithsonian Voices
Smithsonian Education

Bringing Smithsonian Collections You Can See, Hear, and Touch to Learners Near You

Office of Academic Appointments and Internships

Using Drones to Monitor Tropical Forests in 3 Dimensions

Smithsonian Associates

Summer Camps Offer Kids Opportunities to Connect with the Smithsonian’s Museums and Research

National Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Scientists Unearth Signs of an Ancient Climate Calamity Buried Beneath the Seafloor

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Find Organization Inspiration in Old-Fashioned Filing Systems

Office of Academic Appointments and Internships

Bouncing Back in a Warming World

See All

Special Report
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Alaska

Alaska is nicknamed "The Great Land," and for good reason: it is wild, rugged and expansive. In a series of articles, Smithsonian magazine explores the history, culture and natural wonders of the 49th state.

View Full Report

Featured Stories

U.S. Restores Protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

Getting Up Close to the Bears of Alaska's Lake Clark National Park

A Small Town in Alaska Is Home to the World's First Hammer Museum

Made Possible Through the Support of Travel Alaska Logo-CMYK_Large_transp.png
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Smithsonian Channel

Preview thumbnail for video 'Drones Now Play an Active Role in Sea Turtle Census

Drones Now Play an Active Role in Sea Turtle Census

Play
Preview thumbnail for video 'A Single Male Lemur Stands Up to a Entire Troop of Invaders

A Single Male Lemur Stands Up to a Entire Troop of Invaders

Preview thumbnail for video 'The Dam Buster Bombers Set Their Sights on Hitler’s Last Battleship|

The Dam Buster Bombers Set Their Sights on Hitler’s Last Battleship|

Photo of the day

Essaouira (Morocco) is charming and unique. Blue Boats and a Yellow Wall

History

The door of the 1,900-square-foot Nantucket fallout shelter

Inside JFK's Secret Doomsday Bunker

The president's Nantucket nuclear fallout shelter could become a National Historic Landmark—but efforts to preserve its history have stalled

An artistic illustration of Egyptian embalmers in the underground embalming workshop at Saqqara

The Surprising Substances Ancient Egyptians Used to Mummify the Dead

Neal V. Loving in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954

In 1946, a Black Pilot Returned to the Cockpit After a Double Amputation

Science

A female (left) and male (right) golden-shouldered parrot

Australia’s Most Endangered Parrot Faces an Unusual Threat: Trees

Native vegetation blocks the birds’ ability to see approaching predators

Over several decades, researchers have identified more than 140 active compounds, called cannabinoids, in the cannabis plant. 

The Scientific History of Cannabinoids

Rescue workers and volunteers conduct search and rescue operations in the rubble of a collasped building in Diyarbakir, Turkey. 

7.8-Magnitude Earthquake Felt 'Like the Apocalypse' in Turkey and Syria

Innovation

The dodo, now extinct, weighed about 50 pounds, had blue and grey feathers and couldn't fly.

This Company Wants to Bring the Dodo Back From Extinction

Colossal Biosciences plans to de-extinct the dodo, but some scientists question whether it’s ethical—or even plausible

Fall/Winter Sears catalog from 1957

Before Folding 30 Years Ago, the Sears Catalog Sold Some Surprising Products

The Gordon Strong Automobile Objective at night

Hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright's Designs Were Never Built. Here's What They Might Have Looked Like

Arts & Culture

The cast of the 1983 film, from left to right: Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise

S.E. Hinton Is Tired of Talking About 'The Outsiders.' No One Else Is

The author reflects on her classic 1967 novel, its 1983 film adaptation and its legacy today

The New York Public Library has acquired the papers of the late literary couple Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne.

New York Public Library Acquires Joan Didion's Letters, Drafts and Notes

McCartney took the images on a 35-millimeter camera in New York, Washington, London, Liverpool, Miami and Paris.

Never-Before-Seen Photos by Paul McCartney Take You Inside Beatlemania

Travel

Pablo Picasso in 1971

Follow Pablo Picasso's Footsteps Through Spain

A full slate of events honors the painter's life in timing with the 50th anniversary of his death

The door of the 1,900-square-foot Nantucket fallout shelter

Inside JFK's Secret Doomsday Bunker

About 100 miles northwest of Mexico City in the UNESCO-designated Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, up to a billion of the brilliant-winged insects spend November to March clustered on branches.

A Ring of Fire, Millions of Monarchs and Other Rare Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling For

At the Smithsonian

“When an individual walks through this experience, they are a part of history, and now they can contribute to the future,” says the museum's Asantewa Boakyewa.

This Show Is Everything You Need for a Year of Meaningful Community Activism

The immersive exhibition, "The Utopia Project," at the Anacostia Community Museum is about setting high goals and the means for achieving them

At the Paris World's Fair a powerful display of hand-drawn diagrams (above: Income and expenditure of 150 Negro families in Atlanta, Ga.,U.S. designed by W.E.B. Du Bois and his students) called attention to the unrecognized contributions of Black Americans. The fragile posters are being rotatated in and out of an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through May 2023.

How W.E.B. Du Bois Disrupted America’s Dominance at the World’s Fair

Neal V. Loving in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954

In 1946, a Black Pilot Returned to the Cockpit After a Double Amputation