Ancient DNA Reveals the First Known Neanderthal Family

The lived with a small community in a Siberian cave some 54,000 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Powerful Gamma-Ray Blast Was the 'Brightest of All Time'

Astronomers are "in awe" of the high-energy explosion, probably caused by a giant star's death | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

These Descendants Never Forgot the Story of the Last American Slave Ship

A new Netflix documentary follows the families of the "Clotilda" captives as they grapple with how their past informs their future | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Is There a Market for Edible Cactus in the United States?

Often treated as a weed, the versatile prickly pear cactus could be the next big specialty crop | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Meet Anna May Wong, the First Asian American on U.S. Currency

The trailblazing actress overcame discrimination to become a global star | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Boy Dies From a Brain-Eating Amoeba After Exposure at Lake Mead

This is the third fatal case in the U.S. this year | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Wartime Speeches Tell the Story of Ukraine

The Ukrainian president will publish a collection of 16 handpicked addresses later this year | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Marvel at James Webb's Stunning New Portrait of the Pillars of Creation

The haunting, finger-like shapes are part of the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region located some 6,500 light-years away | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Transplanted Livers Can Survive Past 100

These organs that live for more than a century could raise the age of potential donors, perhaps shortening waits for the life-saving procedure | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

L.A.'s Cougars Were Driven to Extremes by Wildfire

With less suitable habitat, the big cats traveled further and crossed dangerous roads more often | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Shark Skin-Inspired Materials Have a Long Way to Go Before They Work Like the Real Thing

The predator's distinctive texture is the envy of engineers trying to maximize hydrodynamics | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Forgotten Sisters Who Pioneered the Historical Novel

Jane and Anna Maria Porter ruled Britain's literary scene—until male imitators wrote them out of the story | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Group of Scientists That Keeps Lenin’s 90-Year-Old Corpse Fresh

90 years later, Vladimir Lenin’s body is still maintained by a Russian lab | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Queen Releases Newly Discovered Song With Vocals From Freddie Mercury

Once believed to be lost, the track comes from a 1988 recording session | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A World War II Shipwreck Is Leaking Toxic Chemicals Into the North Sea

Researchers discovered nickel, copper, arsenic, explosives and chemicals found in fossil fuels at the site | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Nigeria Is Facing Its Worst Flooding in a Decade

The disaster has killed 603 people and displaced more than one million residents | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

See the Stunning Lobby Cards Keeping Silent Movies Alive

Thanks to a collector, thousands of lobby cards from the silent film era will soon be digitized | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Giant Ostrich-Like Dinosaurs Once Roamed North America

Rare finds in Mississippi paint a picture of these creatures’ lost world | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This 6,000-Pound Sunfish Is the Largest Bony Fish on Record

Fishermen and boaters spotted the colossal creature floating near the Azores islands last December | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Medieval Power Struggle That Inspired HBO's 'House of the Dragon'

The "Game of Thrones" spinoff takes its cue from the Anarchy, a civil war that saw Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois vying for the English crown | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Water woes threaten America’s second largest reservoir—but leave new vistas in their wake | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Human Remains May Have Revealed the Site of a Medieval Friary

Archaeologists uncovered nearly 300 skeletons and other artifacts from beneath an old Welsh department store | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Radioactive Waste Found on Missouri Elementary School Grounds

The contaminants can be traced back to World War II's Manhattan Project | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

See How California Artists Process Wildfires Through Their Work

A new exhibition showcases art that seeks to make sense of destruction | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Neanderthals and Modern Humans May Have Shared Ideas for Tools

Modeling research provides a “good starting point” for finding where these species overlapped | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Guantánamo Detainees Ask Biden to Let Them Keep Their Art

An open letter calls for the reversal of a ruling giving the government ownership of work made in the prison | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Beautiful Italian Region Will Reimburse Your Train Ticket

Hoping to boost tourism, the Friuli Venezia Giulia region is offering to pay for travelers' train fares and museum passes | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Texas School Renovations Reveal a Teenager’s 1950s Purse Frozen in Time

Filled with photos, notes about crushes and a handkerchief, the late Beverly Williams' pink clutch is like a time capsule | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How Does Breathing Affect Your Brain?

Neuroscientist are piecing together how the rhythm of respiration influences everything from cognition to emotion | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Animal Populations Faced a ‘Very Sharp Decline’ Since 1970

World Wildlife Fund researchers say vertebrate populations decreased by 69 percent, on average | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Climate Activists Throw Soup on Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ to Protest Fossil Fuels

The demonstration is the latest in a string of nonviolent protests that involve tampering with famous works of art | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Stunning Images Reveal the Complex Beauty of Life Under a Microscope

Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography contest winners captured a gecko hand, breast tissue cells and dozens of other minuscule moments | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Six Endangered Gray Wolves Were Poisoned in Washington

Conservation groups are offering more than $51,000 for information on the killings | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

See the Stunning 1,600-Year-Old Mosaic Unearthed in Syria

Archaeologists found the artwork beneath a building in Rastan | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Mosquito Larvae Launch Their Heads to Capture Prey

Advances in technology allowed researchers to film these cannibalistic insects hunting for the first time | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Ancient Maya Salt Makers Worked From Home, Too

Archaeologists in Belize have found 1,500-year-old salt kitchens attached to workers' homes | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What a Spanish Shipwreck Reveals About the Final Years of the Slave Trade

Forty-one of the 561 enslaved Africans on board the "Guerrero" died when the illegal slave ship sank off the Florida Keys in 1827 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Are Andy Warhol's Silkscreens of Prince a Copyright Violation?

The Supreme Court hears a case that could redefine the limits of fair use and creative expression | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Alaska Couple Finds Massive Mammoth Bone After Storm

Typhoon Merbok’s flooding and winds revealed the complete femur, lying in the mud | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Wreck of Shackleton's 'Endurance' May 'Decay Out of Existence'

The recently discovered vessel is vulnerable on the seafloor, but raising it from the depths comes with unique challenges | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Tehran's Fountains Turn Blood Red in Anonymous Protest Art

Iranians are using art to challenge the government's "morality police" and violent crackdowns following the death of Mahsa Amini | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Rare ‘Mummified Dinosaur’ Formed in an Unexpected Way

The prehistoric reptile's skin may have been preserved by scavengers, research suggests | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

When the Muppets Moved to Moscow

A new book details the tangled tale of "Ulitsa Sezam," a "Sesame Street" spinoff that aired until visions of Russia's democratic future faltered | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Incredible Technology That Made Humanity's Moon Dreams a Reality

A new, completely reimagined exhibition goes beyond the Cold War narrative to explore the full story of lunar landings | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This 18-Year-Old Recreated the ‘Entire Universe’ in Minecraft

From the video game's blocks, he built galaxies, a nebula, a black hole and the solar system | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Biden Declares His First National Monument at Colorado's Camp Hale

Once home to the Ute Tribes, the site later became a military training base for the skiing soldiers who fought in World War II | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A Graduate Student’s Research Could Help Stop the Spread of Invasive Seaweed in Hawai'i

For the first time, using cryopreservation to freeze sea urchin embryos may help restore coral reefs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Meet Ai-Da, the First Robot to Speak Before U.K. Parliament

The robot answered questions about technology, art and consciousness | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago