Ice Age Artists May Have Used Firelight to Animate Carvings

Researchers examined 15,000-year-old stone art and suggest the makers were inspired to show movement by dynamic lighting of the fireside environment | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Retired Astronaut Launches a Fabric Line Inspired by Her Views of Earth From Space

Karen Nyberg's two missions to the International Space Station over her 30-year career with NASA fueled her creativity as an artist | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Venice Biennale Includes Last-Minute Exhibition of Ukrainian Art

Curators joined efforts to ensure artists could showcase their work, even during wartime | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

More Than 50 Billion Tons of Top Soil Have Eroded in the Midwest

The estimate of annual loss is nearly double the rate of erosion the USDA considers sustainable | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Bald Eagles Are Dying From Bird Flu

The highly contagious H5N1 strain is also infecting commercial chickens and turkeys | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Devastating Ice Age Floods That Occurred in the Pacific Northwest Fascinate Scientists

The Scablands were formed by tremendous and rapid change, and may have something to teach us about geological processes on Mars | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How Yellow Fever Intensified Racial Inequality in 19th-Century New Orleans

A new book explores how immunity to the disease created opportunities for white, but not Black, people | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Does the National Park Service’s Reservation System Shut Out Non-White, Low-Income Campers?

The federal website excludes some would-be adventurers, a University of Montana study suggests | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

George Harrison’s Childhood Home—an Early Beatles Rehearsal Venue—Is Now a Vacation Rental

The guitarist lived in the three-bedroom Liverpool home as a child and teenager | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Fragment of Oldest-Known Maya Calendar Discovered in Guatemalan Pyramid

A glyph representing "7 Deer" marks the earliest known use of the historical system—for now | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A New Electronic Nose May Help Sniff Out Counterfeit Whiskey

Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia developed NOS.E, a device that can detect differences among whiskies by "smelling" them | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

New Vaccine Could Save Rabbits From Deadly Hemorrhagic Disease

Scientists have a new tool in the fight against a spreading virus that threatens the small mammals | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Native American Tribe Wants Federal Recognition. A New DNA Analysis Could Bolster Its Case

The new findings could help Mukwema Ohlone prove they never went "extinct" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Iconic Portraits and Tiaras Tell the Stories of Britain's Indomitable Queens

As Elizabeth II celebrates 70 years on the throne, Sotheby’s takes a look back at royal history | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Pandemic Mapping Project Shows How Covid-19 Transformed Our Worlds

Hundreds of homemade maps reveal how people from around the globe found their way through crisis | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Your Favorite Sugary Breakfast Cereal Is Suddenly Everywhere

Nostalgia for childhood has led to new, fanciful flavors of maple syrup, snacks and even legal marijuana | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Did This Artist Lock Lips With Ancient Works of Indigenous Mexican Art?

Pepx Romero kissed and licked centuries-old archaeological wonders to raise awareness of the ongoing, contested sale of pre-Hispanic treasures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Largest Comet Ever Discovered

The icy object is larger than the state of Rhode Island and weighs an estimated 500 trillion tons | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Baby Seal Found in a Traffic Circle on Long Island Released Back Into the Ocean

The three-month-old gray seal had wandered through streets and parking lots until it was captured by a local nonprofit, rehabilitated and released | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Possible Royal Graves Dated to the Time of King Arthur Found in Great Britain

New research brings the number of potential burial sites of early medieval Celtic rulers from 2 to more than 20 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

National Park Service Adds 16 New Underground Railroad Sites to Commemorative Network

The recognitions honor the resistance and bravery of freedom seekers and their allies who risked their lives to resist slavery | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Amazing Discoveries About Bear Hibernation May Help Improve Human Health

The creatures’ annual protracted snoozes have much to tell us about the biology of mammals, ourselves included | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The True History Behind Showtime's 'The First Lady'

The new series dramatizes the White House years of Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford and Michelle Obama | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Virologists Identify More Than 5,000 New Viruses in the Ocean

The new study focused on under-researched RNA viruses, which often infect animals and humans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Country Legend Loretta Lynn Braved Controversy to Tell the Truth About Women's Experiences

On her 90th birthday, the self-taught singer-songwriter is donating personal items to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The World's Skinniest Skyscraper Has a Storied Musical Past

At 1,428 feet tall and just 60 feet wide, Steinway Tower is so slender that its top floors sway in the wind | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

New Research: Hitler’s Teeth Confirm He Died in 1945

The first examination of Hitler's teeth permitted in 70 years shows the complicated dental work matches the Fuhrer's medical records | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

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

This guidance comes as experts warn that children are experiencing a mental health crisis, which the pandemic has worsened | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Long-Lost Medal Honoring Revolutionary War Hero Sells for Record-Breaking $960,000

The artifact, which honors General Daniel Morgan, went missing for years—then mysteriously turned up at an auction house specializing in coins and medals | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Ancient Origins of the Easter Bunny

A scholar traces the folk figure's history from the Neolithic era to today | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Captain Cook and His Crew Stole These Spears. Centuries Later, They're Finally Back in Australia

The artifacts are on display alongside modern spears created by the descendants of the Indigenous Dharawal people | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Twice Accused of Murder, This Writer Later Foresaw the Sinking of the Titanic

Under the pseudonym Mayn Clew Garnett, author Thornton Jenkin Hains published a maritime disaster story with eerie parallels to the real-life tragedy | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Connecticut Mechanic Found Artwork Worth Millions in a Dumpster

Jared Whipple discovered the life's work of Francis Hines, a largely forgotten Abstract Expressionist artist | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scientists Stage Worldwide Climate Change Protests After IPCC Report

Over 1,000 scientists from 25 countries took part in the Science Rebellion’s demonstrations last week | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Australia's Oldest-Known Human Remains Will Be Reburied in the Outback

The decision comes after a decades-long campaign by Aboriginal groups, but not all stakeholders are pleased with the current plan | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Paleontologists Find Fossilized Remains of a Dinosaur Possibly Killed in Earth's Fifth Mass Extinction Event

The leg bone is one of many other specimens uncovered at the North Dakota site | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Is This New England's Oldest Known English Shipwreck?

New research suggests the vessel is the mysterious "Sparrow-Hawk" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Secrets Lie Beneath the Surface of Picasso's Blue Period Paintings?

An exhibition at the Phillips Collection reveals hidden compositions beneath three of the Cubist's canvases | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How Did Climate Change Affect Ancient Humans?

Sophisticated climate models were paired with evidence from the archeological record to reveal where ancient humans may have lived and evolved | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Guatemalan City Rolls Out Colorful Sawdust Carpets for Holy Week

The longstanding tradition brings a dazzling display to the streets of Antigua each spring | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Nine Artists on What It Means to Create

Forty years of bringing critical attention to the nation's best-known makers in the arts is celebrated at this year’s Smithsonian Craft Show | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Police Find 1,090 Taxidermy Animals in a Private Collection in Spain

The animals include about 400 protected species | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why So Many Superheroes Are Orphans

A new exhibition at London's Foundling Museum explores how growing up without birth parents shapes comic book characters | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scientists Identify 50,000th Spider Species on Earth—but Thousands More Are Waiting to Be Discovered

A new kind of jumping spider discovered in South America marks the major milestone | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Brain Infection Likely Killed 100-Year-Old Greenland Shark Washed Ashore in England Last Month

It is the first known case of meningitis in the species | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Anonymous Buyer Pays Over $1 Million for a Piece of Invisible Art

The receipt for one of Yves Klein's "Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility" was described by Sotheby's as an early NFT | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Could High-Flying Kites Power Your Home?

Nearly a dozen companies are betting on computer-controlled, airborne wind energy to electrify the future | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Mushrooms May Communicate With Each Other Using Electrical Impulses

A computer scientist found the average fungal lexicon contains 50 words | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago