Dog Breed Doesn't Affect Behavior, According to New Genetic Research

Personality is shaped by a combination of factors, including a pup’s environment | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Portrait of a Covid-Era Haircut Claims First Prize in the Outwin Boochever Competition

Judges for the triennial National Portrait Gallery contest chose Alison Elizabeth Taylor's "marquetry hybrid" out of a pool of 42 finalists | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The National Mall's Oldest Building Is Now Open to the Public

The long-lived Lockkeeper's House represents centuries of D.C. history | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scars on Snails Offer a 100,000-Year Record of Crab Populations

A surprisingly simple technique for studying marks on shells shows how California’s crab population has changed over millennia | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Chevrolet's Classic Corvette Is Going Electric

A new hybrid model of the iconic American sports car, rumored to reach up to 1,000 horsepower, will hit the market as early as 2023 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The United States Is Phasing Out Incandescent Light Bulbs

Officials estimate this will cut carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over 30 years and will save Americans $3 million per year on utility bills | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Without Action on Climate, Another Mass Extinction Event Will Likely Happen in the World’s Oceans

Marine species at the poles will face increasing pressure if warming isn’t curbed | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

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

The smaller version of the iconic painting was displayed at the White House for decades | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

You Can Now Explore an Open-Source Encyclopedia of 10,000 Years of South Asian Art

The online reference aims to make the region's masterpieces more accessible than ever | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Trailblazing Black Entrepreneurs Who Shaped a 19th-Century California Boomtown

Though founded by Confederates, Julian became a place of opportunity for people of color—and a model for what the U.S. could look like after the Civil War | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

View the Grandaddy of Political Scandals in Oils, Cartoons and Sculpture

The 1972 Watergate break-in that led to Richard Nixon's resignation is the subject of a new exhibition | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Traditionally Dyed Eggs Spring Into Action for Ukraine

The colorful folk art is a centuries-long custom | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

View a Rare Black Moon This Weekend

The phenomenon will also be marked by a partial solar eclipse | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How the “Suicide Squad” Turned into One of the World’s First Rocket Companies

Aerojet celebrates its 75th anniversary. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

More Than Half of Americans Have Been Infected With Covid-19

The percentage of the population with Covid-19 antibodies resulting from infection rose significantly in recent months | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Archaeologists Discover Temple in Egypt Inspired by Greek God Zeus

The deity was honored throughout the ancient world | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Trio of Elizabeth Catlett Sculptures Convey the Power of Service to Humanity

Regarded as “guardians of the Black narrative,” the artworks greet visitors to NMAAHC’s Heritage Hall | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Library's Mysterious Trove of Wax Cylinders Will Soon Break Its Century-Long Silence

The recordings may include mundane conversations—and some of opera’s most legendary singers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The 1983 Military Drill That Nearly Sparked Nuclear War With the Soviets

Fearful that the Able Archer 83 exercise was a cover for a NATO nuclear strike, the U.S.S.R. readied its own weapons for launch | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Carnival Makes a Triumphant Return to Rio de Janeiro

Covid canceled the 2021 festival. Now, the Brazilian city is reclaiming its streets | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Evidence of Earliest Aurora Found in Ancient Chinese Texts

Such historical records of celestial events can help astronomers track and model patterns of space weather | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Critically Endangered Spotted Tree Frogs Released into the Wild in Australia

Bushfires, fungal disease, predation and other threats have pushed these amphibians to the brink of extinction | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Want to Work Out Like Walt Whitman or Henry VIII? Try These Historic Fitness Regimes

Travel through time by lifting like passengers on the Titanic or swimming like the sixth U.S. president | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Last Day of a Doomed Dinosaur

The young, eighteen-foot-long Edmontosaurus had no idea about his fate as he grazed in a forest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

New Research Suggests England's Early Medieval Rulers Had a Veggie-Based Diet

Two papers argue that these 5th- through 11th-century kings and queens mainly ate meat during special feasts thrown by their subjects | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Protected Areas Don’t Always Help Wildlife, Study Shows

After examining waterbird populations, researchers found that how a protected area is managed is key in determining its effectiveness | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Lunar Backpack Could Aid Astronauts on Future Missions to the Moon

The pack can create 3-D maps in real-time of uncharted terrain | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Melting Ice in Norway Reveals 1,700-Year-Old Sandal

An ancient traveler likely discarded the worn-out leather shoe as rubbish around 300 C.E. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Who Gets to Define Native American Art?

A pivotal letter from Oscar Howe, whose work is the focus of a new exhibition, demanded the right to free expression and the art world began to listen | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Digging Up the History of the Nuclear Fallout Shelter

For 75 years, images of bunker life have reflected the shifting optimism, anxieties and cynicism of the Atomic Age | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why MIT Researchers Are Studying Oreos

Fluid dynamics experts find that it’s nearly impossible to split the black-and-white cookie’s sweet filling evenly in half | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Lost Charlotte Brontë Manuscript Sells for $1.25 Million

The tiny booklet contains the author's last unpublished poems | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Cherokee Nation Members Can Now Gather Plants on National Park Land

A new agreement between the tribe and the National Park Service allows Cherokee citizens to collect plants with cultural and medicinal significance | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Hubble Space Telescope's 35th Anniversary Photo Features Dramatic Galaxy Cluster

The five galaxies, dubbed the Hickson Compact Group 40, will merge in roughly a billion years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How Playwright August Wilson Captured the Highs and Lows of Black America

An immersive exhibition in Pittsburgh explores the award-winning dramatist's life and legacy | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Should Traditional Vaccines Be Used in the Global Fight Against Covid?

Researcher Maria Elena Bottazzi says such vaccines may be key to protecting individuals in middle- and low-income countries | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The History Behind Robert Eggers' 'The Northman'

The revenge saga blends traditional accounts with the supernatural to convey the lived experience of the Viking age | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

First U.S. Open-Air Test of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Deemed a Success

Biotech firm Oxitec engineered the bugs in an effort to curb their numbers and help stop the spread of disease | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Nevada Toad Receives Rare Emergency Protection

The construction of a geothermal power plant could create problems for the amphibian | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A New Surge of Earth Optimism Takes Center Stage at This Year’s Folklife Festival

The challenges are many, but evidence shows that positivity emboldens global conservation efforts | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Walmart Heirs Launch New Music Festival in Bid to Make Arkansas an Art Destination

FORMAT will bring big-name musicians, contemporary artists to Bentonville | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Pterosaurs May Have Had Vibrant Feathers Like Modern Birds

Researchers say different colors on the flying reptiles were a possible means of communication, and may indicate a common ancestor with dinosaurs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Martha Mitchell Was the Brash 'Mouth of the South' That Roared

A portrait reveals the dignity behind the maligned woman who stepped up to tell the truth | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Holocaust Survivors Ask Israel Museum to Return One-of-a-Kind Haggadah

Their lawsuit claims the Passover book was stolen, then purchased under dubious circumstances | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Researchers Develop a 'Bear-Dar' That Warns Humans of Approaching Polar Bears

The artificial intelligence-powered radar system is needed as climate change brings the animals closer to towns | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Denver Apologizes for Anti-Chinese Riot of 1880

A white mob terrorized residents and murdered a man, but the city never punished the perpetrators | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Rise and Fall of World's Fairs

Sixty years after Seattle's Century 21 Exposition, world's fairs have largely fallen out of fashion in the U.S. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Dutch Teenage Painter's Multi-Million-Dollar Masterpiece Was Hidden in Plain Sight

The still life went unnoticed at an Australian school for 150 years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago