Unique NASA Observatory Will Make a Final Flight—to a Museum

SOFIA, a 38,000-pound telescope inside an airplane, spent eight years observing the universe in infrared | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Greek Orthodox Church, Destroyed During 9/11, Reopens at Ground Zero

The stunning new structure will also serve as place for visitors to reflect on the attacks | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

NASA Sets Sights on Crewed Moon Missions After Orion Capsule's Return to Earth

Next, the space agency wants to send astronauts to orbit—and land on—the moon | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Thieves Tried to Cut Banksy Mural From a Wall in War-Torn Ukrainian Town

The mural, located outside Kyiv, depicts a woman in a bathrobe and a gas mask | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Brief History of Silent Protests

Activists in China are using blank sheets of paper to speak out against the country's draconian zero-Covid policies | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Stephen Sondheim’s Lost College Musical Was Found Hidden in Plain Sight

Live recordings from "Phinney's Rainbow" had been sitting on a journalist's bookshelf for years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Group of Crypto Investors Is Trying to Buy the Constitution—Again

For the second year in a row, a DAO is vying to bid on a rare first-edition copy | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Is Stiff Person Syndrome? Celine Dion Announces Diagnosis of Rare Disease

The rare neurological disease affects about one to two people in a million | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

U.S. Flu Hospitalizations Highest in a Decade

The CDC estimates that 120,000 people have been hospitalized since October | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

New 'Astounding' Analysis Argues That Greenland Used to Be a Lush, Diverse Ecosystem

Scientists found evidence of over 100 types of plants and animals that lived in the northern part of the island around two million years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Fingerprints Tell Us About Jerusalem's Ancient Artisans

In an unusual collaboration, archaeologists in Israel are working with police to analyze prints left on fifth- or sixth-century pottery shards | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Two People Showed Up to Her Book Signing. Then, Margaret Atwood and Stephen King Commiserated

Famous writers around the world offered support to debut author Chelsea Banning | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2022

After two years of limited travel opportunities, we’re ready to explore the world once more | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Do Trees Talk to Each Other?

I'm walking in the Eifel Mountains in western Germany, through cathedral-like groves of oak and beech, and there's a strange unmoored feeling of entering a fairy tale. The trees have become vibrantly alive and charged with wonder. They're communicating with one another, for start … | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Necklace Unearthed in Medieval Woman’s Grave Is a 'Once-in-a-Lifetime Discovery'

Researchers say the woman may have been an early Christian leader with a large fortune | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Here’s How Burmese Pythons Eat Such Big Prey

Stretchy connective tissue between the snakes' cranium and lower jaw allows them to open their mouth four times wider than their skull | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Dogs Are Impacted by an Intense Flu Season, Too

A surge in canine influenza cases has likely resulted from changes in human behavior due to relaxed Covid-19 guidelines | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Nazi-Looted Beethoven Manuscript Returned to Original Owners

The Czech Republic's Moravian Museum gave the document to the heirs of the Petschek family | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Seven of the Wildest and Weirdest Attempts to Curb Animal Pests

Why use fences or traps, when you can use deadly viruses or lustful snakes? | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This 12-Year-Old Designed a Water Bottle You Can Eat

After seeing plastic polluting her favorite beaches year after year, Madison Checketts decided it was time to do something about it | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

'Goblin Mode' Is Oxford's 2022 Word of the Year

The term describes behavior that's "unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

In Rare Find, Scientists Unearth Fossil of Large Marine Reptile With Both Head and Body

Skeletons of elasmosaurs are often found without their skull | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Construction of World’s Largest Radio Telescope Begins

Scientists will use its instruments to study the early universe | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Elvis Presley's Private Jet Is Going Up for Auction

The famous singer bought the JetStar in 1976, a year before his death | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

An Extinct Sea Cow May Help the Restoration of California’s Dwindling Kelp Forests

Researchers are modeling out what the ocean may have looked like when the seaweed-munching mammal roamed the shores | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Jury-Rigged Experiment that Led to the Discovery of Unknown Worlds

See the Kepler technology demonstrator at the National Air and Space Museum, along with a host of technologies that brought success to space exploration | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How to Watch the Radiant Geminid Meteor Shower

The spectacle, often one of the best showers of the year, will peak December 13 to 14 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Ten Best Science Books of 2022

From a detective story on the origins of Covid-19 to a narrative that imagines a fateful day for dinosaurs, these works affected us the most this year | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Woman’s Name and Doodles Found Hidden in 1,200-Year-Old Religious Manuscript

The name may point to an abbess who lived in Kent at a time when few women could read or write | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Orion Spacecraft Completes Final Moon Flyby

The capsule is scheduled to return to Earth on December 11 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Remains of Last Surviving Tasmanian Tiger Discovered in Museum Cabinet

Researchers found the lost body of the female thylacine after 85 years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

'Litanies,' Inspired by Notre-Dame Fire, Receives Prestigious Music Award

Julian Anderson’s 25-minute concerto won the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

These Are the 100 Greatest Films of All Time, According to 1,600 Critics

Chantal Akerman’s bleak drama "Jeanne Dielman" tops the prestigious Sight and Sound poll | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

New U.S. Law Will Boost Marijuana Research

The Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act will make it easier for researchers to access marijuana and study its therapeutic uses | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Discovery Channel's 'Shark Week' Is Packed With Misinformation and Junk Science

Scientists watched 202 episodes and found them filled with unreliable information and white male experts named 'Mike' | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Public Art Installation Opens in Solidarity With Iranian Protesters

"Eyes on Iran," located in a public park on Roosevelt Island, faces the United Nations across the water | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This 122-Foot-Long Dinosaur Will Barely Fit in London's Natural History Museum

The replica titanosaur, based on fossils discovered in 2012, goes on view in March | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scientists Just Discovered That Ants Make Milk

Adults and larvae consume a nutrient-rich fluid released by pupae | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

EPA Approves Denver’s $700 Million Plan to Remove Lead Pipes

Colorado's capital city will also get federal funding for the replacement project | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

U.S. Faces Bomb-Sniffing Dog Shortage

The pandemic has exacerbated an already short supply of specially-bred canines that detect explosives | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Parasites Make Grey Wolves More Likely to Become Pack Leaders

Research has shown that infected animals can engage in riskier behavior than their uninfected peers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Elon Musk Wants to Test Brain Implants in People

The device, which would sit in the skull, has not received regulatory approval for use in humans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Strange Surrealist Magic of Dora Maar

More than simply Picasso's muse, the French artist won renown for her striking paintings and photographs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Is Viva Magenta, Pantone's 'Brave' and 'Fearless' Color of the Year?

As 2023 approaches, the bold pinkish-red is supposed to reflect the global zeitgeist | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Decimated by Fungus, the Northern Long-Eared Bat Is Now Endangered

A disease called white-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats in North America | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Surprising Amount of Magma Is Under Yellowstone’s Supervolcano

New research suggests more melted rock lies beneath the Yellowstone Caldera—but it’s still not likely to erupt anytime soon | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Archaeologists Find 1,900-Year-Old Snacks in Sewers Beneath the Colosseum

Spectators at Rome’s ancient amphitheater enjoyed olives, figs, nuts and more | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Space Flash Detected in February Was a Black Hole Devouring an Unassuming Star

The bright light was the result of a rare cosmic occurrence known as a tidal disruption event | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago