Temple Restoration Reveals Vibrant Art of Vulture-Like Egyptian Goddesses

Millennia of grime, soot and bird poop had covered up—and preserved—the archaeological treasure | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How the Voyage of the Kon-Tiki Misled the World About Navigating the Pacific

Smithsonian geographer Doug Herman explains the traditional science of traversing the ocean seas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

'Top Gun' Is Back. But Is the Elite Navy Fighter Pilot School Really Like the Movies?

The Smithsonian’s Chris Browne flew the much-feared F-14, and as a former TOPGUN student, knows well the power of a Navy-trained fighter pilot | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Field Museum Confronts Its Outdated, Insensitive Native American Exhibition

Co-created with Indigenous partners, the new permanent installation reckons with past harm | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Can the World's Oldest Mummies Survive Climate Change and Other Threats in the Coming Decades?

Up to 7,000 years old, the mummified remains are treasured by local residents | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Did the Suffragists Really Think About Abortion?

Contrary to contemporary claims, Susan B. Anthony and her peers rarely discussed abortion, which only emerged as a key political issue in the 1960s | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Paleontologists Find Biggest Pterosaur Species Ever Unearthed in South America

The ancient fossils with wingspans the size of school buses are estimated to be 86 million years old | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

NASA Snaps Photos of Underwater 'Sharkcano' Erupting

Kavachi, a submarine volcano in the southwest Pacific Ocean, is home to several species of sharks and fish that can withstand the extreme environment | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Ancient Roman Statue Embodies the 'Perfect' Man. But Was It Stolen?

Italy wants a Roman replica of "Doryphoros" in the Minneapolis Institute of Art returned | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

1996 Dunblane Massacre Pushed the U.K. To Enact Stricter Gun Laws

A devastating attack at a Scottish primary school sparked national outcry—and a successful campaign for gun reform | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Makeshift Raft Speaks to the Risks Cubans Took to Escape Their Homeland

In the mid-1990s, tens of thousands left in boats or handcrafted floats facing treacherous waters in search of a better life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Lost Cities of the Amazon Discovered From the Air

Mapping technology cut through the canopy to detect sprawling urban structures in Bolivia that suggest sophisticated cultures once existed | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

U.S. Customs Agents Find Rare Moth Last Spotted in 1912

Larvae and pupae found in seed pods at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last fall hatched into Salma brachyscopalis Hampson moths | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Italian Art Police Recovered a Long-Lost Titian. But Is It Really the Renaissance Master's Work?

The recently confiscated painting is worth an estimated $7 million | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Wandering Salamanders Skydive From Some of the World's Tallest Trees

The amphibians stretch their limbs and tails to glide in a smooth style | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Who Was Pinocchio's Mysterious Blue-Haired Fairy?

Author Carlo Collodi may have drawn inspiration from one—or a few—female figures in his life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

There’s No Place Like Home—but What’s the Right Place for Dorothy's Dress From 'The Wizard of Oz'?

Donated to the head of Catholic University’s drama department in 1973, the garment's ownership is now at the center of a legal dispute | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This 12,000-Year-Old Wyoming Quarry Could Be North America's Oldest Mine

The state's archaeologists believe people quarried red ocher at Powars II starting 12,840 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Readers Respond to the April/May 2022 Issue

Your thoughts on Italian villages, the legend of the music tree and the politics of wind power | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Escape From the Gilded Cage

Even if her husband was a murderer, a woman in a bad marriage once had few options. Unless she fled to South Dakota | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How Ukrainian and Russian Immigrants View the War From Afar

To residents of Southern California with ties to the Eastern European nations, the conflict feels close to home | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Past, Present and Future of Using Ketamine to Treat Depression

The drug's initial successes have upended what many neuroscientists know about the brain and mental illness | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why the Smithsonian Adopted a New Policy on Ethical Collecting

For more than a century, museum artifacts were acquired in ways we no longer find acceptable. How can we repair the damage? | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Holocaust-Era Comic That Brought Americans Into the Nazi Gas Chambers

In early 1945, a six-panel comic in a U.S. pamphlet offered a visceral depiction of the Third Reich's killing machine | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Real Story of Pinocchio Tells No Lies

Forget what you know from the cartoon. The 19th-century story, now in a new translation, was a rallying cry for universal education and Italian nationhood | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Boeing's Starliner Reaches the International Space Station

After two and a half years of issues, the spacecraft's successful arrival is an important next step in NASA's commercial crew program | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scientists Recreate Cleopatra's Favorite Perfume

Reconstructing the scentscapes of bygone civilizations is anything but simple | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Dolphins May Use Coral and Sponges as Skin Care Items

The mammals rub on invertebrates, possibly to contact substances that might work like antibacterial creams | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Mouse That Squeaked Its Way Into Scientific History

Forget Dolly the Sheep. The birth of a mouse named Cumulina 25 years ago launched a genetic revolution | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What 4,500-Year-Old Poop Teaches Us About the People Who Built Stonehenge

Fossilized feces found near the Neolothic monument suggests its builders chowed down on undercooked animal organs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Global Cultures Have Always Worshipped—and Feared—Women

A new explores two sides of female divinity | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Shirley Temple Black's Remarkable Second Act as a Diplomat

An unpublished memoir reveals how the world’s most famous child actress became a star of the environmental movement | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

An Exclusive Preview of the New World War I Memorial

One sculptor and his team of artists take on the epic project of conveying the century-old conflict through a massive bronze installation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Does Moby-Dick Sometimes Have a Hyphen? (2015)

The hunt for the true story behind Melville's hyphen is as mysterious as the famous white whale | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Doctors Are Stumped by a Rare Monkeypox Outbreak

So far, health officials have detected cases in Europe, Canada and the United States | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Black Market Is Crawling With Spiders, New Study Finds

More than 1,200 species of spiders, scorpions and other arachnids are involved in the wildlife trade | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Civil War Drastically Reshaped How Americans Deal With Death. Will the Pandemic?

Around 750,000 people died during the conflict—2.5 percent of the country's population at the time | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Can Greece and the U.K. Finally Broker a Deal to Return the Elgin Marbles to Athens?

New talks raise old questions about the ancient Parthenon sculptures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Volunteers Uncover Rare, 4,800-Year-Old Stone Circle in England

Ground scans at Castilly Henge revealed seven pits where ancient stones once stood | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Saving the Imperiled Saltmarsh Sparrow

Conservationists are racing to rescue a delightful coastal animal from rising seas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Brief History of Red Drink

The obscure roots of a centuries-old beverage that’s now a Juneteenth fixture | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Do Only Men's Bicycles Have Crossbars? And More Questions From Our Readers

You've got questions. We've got experts. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Lovebirds Use Their Beaks As a Third Limb While Climbing

Researchers find that their chops are as powerful as a rock climber's arms | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Minerals Used In Kitty Litter Could Help Fight Climate Change

An MIT study shows how, when treated with copper, a clay called zeolite can convert methane to carbon dioxide, a less powerful greenhouse gas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Man Ray's Iconic Portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse Is Now the Most Expensive Photo Ever Sold at Auction

The Surrealist and Dada artist superimposed violin f-holes on his muse’s back | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The 'Greatest Show on Earth' Is Coming Back—Without Circus Animals

After seemingly closing for good five years ago, Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey will launch a new, more modern show in 2023 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Unlocking the Secrets of the 'Clotilda,' the Last Known Slave Ship

Archaeological divers spent 10 days evaluating the sunken ship in the Mobile River, and took samples for possible traces of DNA | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Makes the Library of Congress a Monument to Democracy

The world’s largest book repository has expanded far beyond its original scope to include sound recordings and digitized collections | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago