How Campbell Soup Turned New Jersey Into a Tomato-Growing State

The canned food company's tomato breeding program was responsible for developing several important varieties | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Shakespeare First Folio Acquired by the University of British Columbia

The volume is going on display at Vancouver Art Gallery as part of a new exhibition | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Outdoor Cats Are Using $500 Starlink Satellite Dishes as Self-Heating Beds

The devices—developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX—have a warming feature to prevent snow built up from disrupting the signal | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Some Tiger Sharks Are Migrating Farther North Due to Climate Change

The predator’s movements in the Atlantic Ocean could scramble ecosystems and endanger the sharks by sending them outside marine protected areas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Dismissed as a Copy for Decades, This Flemish Masterpiece Could Now Fetch Thousands

Purchased by an art historian for $90 in 1970, researchers now say the portrait might be the handiwork of the 17th-century court painter Anthony van Dyck | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Rubin Museum Agrees to Return Stolen Religious Artifacts to Nepal

An investigation launched by the New York cultural institution concluded that the 14th- and 17th-century carvings were "unlawfully obtained" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

MIT Physicists Formed Quantum Tornados by Spinning Ultra-Cold Atoms

The experiment documented what happens when atoms cross from classical physics to quantum behaviors | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

A Long-Overlooked Necropolis in Naples Reveals the Enduring Influence of Ancient Greece

The Ipogeo dei Cristallini's well-preserved tombs will open to the public as soon as summer 2022 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Archaeologists Discover—and Start to Decode—Rare Medieval Runes

One of the newly unearthed objects, an inscribed bone, is the first of its kind found in Oslo in decades | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

The Horses of Medieval Times Weren't Much Bigger Than Modern-Day Ponies

A study of the remains of 2,000 specimens reveals the steeds were around 4 feet 10 inches tall | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Naturalists Accidentally Discover Britain's Largest Ever, Near-Complete Marine Reptile Fossil

The skeleton measures more than 32 feet in length, with a 6.5-foot-long skull that weighs about a ton | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

The Quest to Protect California's Transcontinental Railroad Tunnels

Built by Chinese immigrants in the 1860s, the caverns cutting through Donner Summit helped unite the country | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

New Tech Can Distinguish Brush Strokes of Different Artists

Researchers used 3-D scanning and A.I. to identify artists from tiny samples of their paintings | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

China's Artificial Sun Just Broke a Record for Longest Sustained Nuclear Fusion

Superheated plasma reached 126 million degrees Fahrenheit for 17 minutes | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Watch This Goldfish Drive an Aquarium on Wheels

The car was designed to move depending on the fish's location in its tank, showing animals can understand how to navigate foreign environments | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

The First Newly Identified Plant Species of 2022 Was Named After Leonardo DiCaprio

Scientists credit the actor with helping save the Ebo Forest—the plant's home–from logging | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Eight Historic Movie Theaters With Interesting Second Acts

In a new book, photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre honor the remains—and the creative reuses—of North America's iconic 20th century cinemas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Construction in Rome Reveals Well-Preserved, 2,000-Year-Old Dog Statue

Researchers also uncovered three stone tombs, an urn and the remains of a young man | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

How Sidney Poitier Rewrote the Script for Black Actors in Hollywood

Smithsonian curators reflect on the legacy of the late Poitier, who starred in “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

This Man Was the Only Eyewitness to the Deaths of Both Lincoln and Garfield

Almon F. Rockwell's newly resurfaced journals, excerpted exclusively here, offer an incisive account of the assassinated presidents' final moments | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Beavers Are Reshaping the Arctic Tundra. Here's Why Scientists Are Concerned

Ponds made by the large rodents are causing permafrost to thaw, releasing methane and carbon dioxide once stored in the frozen Earth | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Hollowed-Out, 4k-Year-Old Tree Trunk Coffin Discovered (2021)

The rare Bronze Age sarcophagus contained human remains, an ax and plant bedding | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Health Risks of Smoke and Ozone Rise in the West as Wildfires Worsen

High levels of two dangerous pollutants are occurring with increasing frequency, researchers say | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Archiving the January 6 Insurrection for History

On the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, the National Museum of American History continues to collect related artifacts | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Scotland Considers Pardon for Thousands of Accused 'Witches'

Advocates are calling on leaders to exonerate the thousands of women and men targeted in witch hunts during the 16th through 18th centuries | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

See Pandas, Elephants, Cheetahs and More Enjoy a Snow Day at the National Zoo

At least six inches of snowfall covered Washington, D.C. this week causing closures and delays for residents, but the zoo animals were out to play | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Sixteen Innovators to Watch in 2022

These trailblazers are dreaming up a future with cell-cultured breastmilk, energy-saving windows and more | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Researchers Identify Possible Location of Lost Temple of Hercules

Archaeologists in Spain used laser scanning technology to locate submerged ruins along the coast of the Bay of Cádiz | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

How the Smithsonian Protects Cultural Heritage Around the World

In the wake of crisis and disaster, rescue workers led by the Smithsonian step in to safeguard irreplaceable treasures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Boom Heard in Pittsburgh on New Year's Day Was Likely an Exploding Meteor

The energy released during the blast is as powerful as 30 tons of TNT | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

How Betty White Broke Barriers for Women in Television

A Smithsonian curator reflects on the legacy of the beloved “Golden Girls” actress | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Old-Age Record Could Reach 130 by Century’s End

Analysis of supercentenarians suggests human lifespan may have no limit | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Meet the Black Men Who Changed Lincoln's Mind About Equal Rights

During the Civil War, these individuals convinced the president, altering the course of U.S. history | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

This Wonder Bird Flies Thousands of Miles, Non-Stop, as Part of an Epic Migration

The more scientists learn about the Hudsonian godwit, the more they’re amazed—and worried | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

At the Iraqi Site of Assur, Ancient History Stands at Risk of Destruction

In its time, the Assyrian capital faced waves of invasions and abandonment. Now a small team of archaeologists are protecting it from more modern threats | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Earth's Oldest Ocean Giant Was a Reptile With an Eight-Foot Skull

The newly discovered specimen sheds light on how the sea creatures, known as ichthyosaurs, evolved their gargantuan size so quickly | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

From Korean Pear Juice to Clove Extract, Scientists Put Hangover Cures to the Test—but None Worked

Researchers examined 23 different at-home treatments for side effects of heavy drinking | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Italy Bans McDonald's Drive-Through at Ancient Roman Baths Site

Upholding an earlier decision, the high court halts construction of a new restaurant, resolving a years-long dispute in favor of cultural preservation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Whales Once Walked Along the Coasts of North America

Increasing fossil finds are helping researchers understand how such early whales made their way to the continent | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Why Do We Count Down to the New Year?

A historian traces the tradition's links to space travel, the Doomsday Clock and Alfred Hitchcock | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

The Science Behind Champagne Bubbles

As you uncork that bottle and raise your glass, take time to toast the physics and chemistry along with the New Year | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Winnie-the-Pooh, an Ernest Hemingway Classic and a Massive Library of Sound Recordings Will Enter the Public Domain on January 1

Works newly available to copy, republish and remix in 2022 also include poems by Langston Hughes and Dorothy Parker | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions

From nanobots to cancer treatments, nature inspires a wide variety of innovations | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

DNA Preserved in Lice Glue Reveals South American Mummies' Secrets

Remarkable samples from an ancient culture offer scientists a promising new way to study the past | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Seven New Things We Learned About Human Evolution in 2021

Paleoanthropologists Briana Pobiner and Ryan McRae reveal some of the year's best findings in human origins studies | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Remembering E.O. Wilson's Wish for a More Sustainable Existence

From a lifelong passion for ants, E.O. Wilson guided humanity to think of conservation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2021

The key finds and moments in a year packed with amazing stories about the terrible lizards | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago

Ninety-Nine Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2021

The year's most exciting discoveries include a Viking "piggy bank," a lost Native American settlement and a secret passageway hidden behind a bookshelf | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 years ago