Ecuador's High Court Rules Wild Animals Have Legal Rights

The landmark case involved a deceased woolly monkey named Estrellita | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Greta Thunberg Is Publishing the 'Ultimate Guide' to Climate Change

The book will feature contributions from over 100 novelists, scientists and activists | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Yellowstone Is Selling a Park Pass for the Year 2172

The national park’s fundraising arm is offering the futuristic pass for a $1,500 donation that will help preserve and protect wildlife, natural resources | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Rabid Fox and Her Kits Euthanized After Nine People Were Bitten on Capitol Hill

Bite victims included a reporter and a U.S. congressman | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Trailblazing Sisters Who Founded the Nation's First Woman-Led Museum

A new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, tells the story of founders Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Yellow-Bellied Marmot Hibernation Could Unlock the Key to Longevity

The fluffy rodents stop aging when they curl up in their dens for winter and start again once they emerge in spring | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

These Space Scientists Want to Update Earth's Message to Extraterrestrials

The broadcast builds on the 1974 Arecibo message and portrays information about science, math and human life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Black WWII Soldiers Who Spirited Supplies to the Allied Front Line

The Red Ball Express' truck drivers and cargo loaders moved more than 400,000 tons of ammo, gas, medicine and rations between August and November 1944 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Book That Incited a Worldwide Fear of Overpopulation

'The Population Bomb' made dire predictions—and triggered a wave of repression around the world | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Gender-Neutral Words Like 'People' and 'Person' Are Perceived as Male, Study Suggests

Researchers found that society's concept of "person" and similar terms prioritizes men over women | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Did the Vikings Abandon Their Most Successful Settlement in Greenland?

A new study argues that an extended drought, and not cold temperatures, drove the Norse settlers from the region | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Shipwreck, a Robot and an Archival Treasure Hunt Reveal the Diverse History of the Whaling Industry

Free Black Americans and Native Americans once worked on the "Industry," a whaling ship whose wreck was recently identified in the Gulf of Mexico | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Science Behind Those Big Ol' Puppy-Dog Eyes

Our canine friends evolved extra muscle fibers around their eyes and mouths that allow them to make facial expressions humans find adorable | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Science Behind Those Big Ol' Puppy-Dog Eyes

Our canine friends evolved extra muscle fibers around their eyes and mouths that allow them to make facial expressions humans find adorable | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Stolen Charles Darwin Notebooks Returned After 22 Years

One of the items contains the renowned naturalist's first sketch of the Tree of Life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Puerto Rico's Bioluminescent Bays Are Brighter Than Ever

The nightly light shows have rebounded from Hurricane Maria's devastating blow | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The World's Favorite Scent Is Vanilla, According to Science

Some smells are perceived as more pleasant than others, which means preference for certain odors could have evolutionary roots in our past | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Does This 17th-Century Painting Smell Like?

A new exhibition in Spain incorporates ten fragrances inspired by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens' "The Sense of Smell" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

To Prevent Catastrophic Damage by 2100, Climate Experts Warn 'It's Now or Never'

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states deep and rapid cuts to greenhouse gases are needed by 2025 to avoid an 'unlivable world' | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Betty Reid Soskin, Oldest National Park Service Ranger, Retires at 100

As an NPS employee, she promoted the stories of African American people and women of color who contributed to the home front effort during WWII | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Japanese American Incarceration Camp in Colorado Receives Federal Protection

The Granada Relocation Center, also known as Amache, grew to become the state's tenth largest city at its peak during World War II | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Wildlife Biologists Prioritize Monitoring Wild Animals for SARS-CoV-2

The Covid-19 pandemic is driven by human-to-human transmission, but the virus is known to infect animal species | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

50,000-Year-Old Campfires Reveal the Deep Historical Roots of Australia's National Flower

Australian wattle or acacia plants were used as firewood by ancient people navigating the harsh climes of the Western Desert, new research finds | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scotland Issues Formal Apology to Thousands Accused of Witchcraft

An estimated 2,500 Scots were executed as witches between the 16th and 18th centuries | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Ancestral Homeland Returned to Rappahannock Tribe After More Than 350 Years

The historic reacquisition spans 465 acres in the Northern Neck of Virginia | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Many of These Plants Older Than Dinosaurs Face Extinction

Cycads have changed a great deal since they first appeared around 280 million years ago, and habitat loss and illegal trade are now threats | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Man Who Walked Around the World, Collecting the Autographs of the Rich and Famous

In the early 1900s, Joseph Mikulec traveled some 175,000 miles on foot, gathering 60,000 signatures in a leather-bound album that is now up for sale | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Abraham Lincoln, True Crime Writer

While practicing law in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln defended a man in a highly unusual case and later recounted the mystery as a short story | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Ancient Owl Hunted in the Daytime

The fossil evidence fills a gap in these birds' evolutionary history | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Small Library Off the Coast of Maine Is Collecting Banned Books

With challenges to books in the United States at a high, the Matinicus Island Library is a remote haven for controversial literature | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Museum in Rome Narrates Italian History Through Cookbooks and Kitchenware

Reopening this spring, Garum explores more than 500 years of local culinary traditions | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

These Are the Winners of Smithsonian Magazine’s 19th Annual Photo Contest

From the beauty of bodies in motion to the symbiotic behaviors of insects, these photographers captured fascinating moments in time | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The CIA Burglar Who Went Rogue

Douglas Groat thought he understood the risks of his job—until he took on his own employer | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Historical Roots of Racial Disparities in American Health Care

A new documentary from the Smithsonian Channel, 'The Color of Care,' produced by Oprah Winfrey, shines a light on medicine’s biases | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Meet Spot, the Dog-Like Robot Roaming the Ruins of Pompeii

The bot, built by Boston Dynamics, can navigate difficult terrains that humans can't access safely | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Quest to Find the World's Largest Bee

The rediscovery of Wallace’s giant bee uncovers disheartening truths about the tenuous fate of hidden insect species | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Century Before Wordle Went Viral, Crossword Mania Swept the Country

In the 1920s, puzzling inspired a Broadway musical, built a publishing house and counted the queen of England as a fan | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Century Before Wordle Went Viral, Crossword Mania Swept the Country

In the 1920s, puzzling inspired a Broadway musical, built a publishing house and counted the queen of England as a fan | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Forensic Scientists Are Testing Whether Honey Bees Can Help Locate Human Bodies

Researchers think they can find evidence of volatile organic compounds from a decomposing body in honey | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Enslaved Woman Who Liberated a Slave Jail and Transformed It Into an HBCU

Forced to bear her enslaver's children, Mary Lumpkin later forged her own path to freedom | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

From ducks to dolphins, females have developed sex organs that help them deter undesirable suitors and derive pleasure from non-reproductive behavior | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scientists Have Finally Sequenced a 'Gapless' Human Genome

Scientists have deciphered the missing eight percent of our genetic blueprint, setting the stage for new discoveries in human evolution and disease | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Hubble Telescope Spots the Most Distant Star Ever Detected in Outer Space

The star, nicknamed Earendel, is 12.9 billion light-years from Earth | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Apollo 11 Moon Dust Samples Go Up for Auction Against NASA’s Wishes

Auction house Bonhams is expecting around $1 million | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Archaeologists Virtually Reconstructed an Ancient House in Pompeii

The team hopes to simulate how visitors would have experienced the space and gain a stronger understanding of the motivation behind Roman designs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Françoise Gilot Was More Than Picasso's Muse

The artist famously inspired the Cubist, but a new book shows that her own paintings deserve renown | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Each Guitar Reuben Forsland Makes Tells a Story

The Canadian luthier builds custom instruments from unique materials that deliver impeccable sound | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Legend of The Music Tree

Exotic lumber salvaged from a remote forest in Belize is the world’s most coveted tonewood | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago