The Daredevil of Niagara Falls (2011)

Charles Blondin understood the appeal of the morbid to the masses, and reveled when gamblers took bets on whether he would plunge to a watery death | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

NASA Names Most Distant Object Ever Explored ‘Arrokoth,’ Powhatan Word for Sky

The space rock's initial nickname, Ultima Thule, drew criticism for its ties to Nazi ideology | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Equal Rights Amendment Is 97 Years Old and Still Not Part of the Constitution. Here’s Why

A brief history of the long battle to pass what would now be the 28th Amendment | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Haunting 'Ghost Forest' Resurrected in New York City

Artist Maya Lin hopes to call attention to one of the dire effects of climate change with an installation in Madison Square Park | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

By Studying Mouth Bacteria, Scientists Hope to Learn the Secrets of Microbiomes

Communities of bacteria and other microbes in the human mouth can help researchers learn how these groups of organisms affect human health | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Why the Tomato was feared in Europe for over 200 years

How the fruit got a bad rap from the beginning | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

One Hundred Years Ago, Einstein's Theory of General Relativity Baffled the Press

Few people claimed to fully understand it, but the esoteric theory still managed to spark the public's imagination | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Device Has Been Measuring the Ocean’s Plankton Since the 1930s

Largely unchanged since it was invented, the Continuous Plankton Recorder collects plankton as it is towed behind a ship | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

One-Ton Boulder Returned to Arizona National Forest Following Brazen Theft

The thief (or thieves) likely used heavy machinery to commit the crime | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Jack London in the Wild

In 1897, the California native went to the frozen North looking for gold. What he found instead was the great American novel | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Babies May Understand Counting Before They Fully Understand Numbers

By tempting an adorable pool of subjects with toys, a new study found that infants associate counting with quantities | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

When F. Scott Fitzgerald Judged Gatsby by Its Cover

A surprising examination of the original book jacket art to The Great Gatsby | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Space Farmers Could Grow Crops in Lunar and Martian Soil, Study Suggests

With a little added organic matter, dusty lunar and Martian soil simulants produced tomatoes, rye, radishes and other crops in the lab | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The effort to preserve a million wartime letters

A tragedy at home led one intrepid historian to find and catalog precious correspondence for future generations to study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

London's Largest Cache of Bronze Age Objects Is on View for the First Time

The Havering Hoard includes 100 pounds of artifacts recovered from an ancient enclosure ditch | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Untold Story of the Secret Mission to Seize Nazi Map Data

How a covert U.S. Army intelligence unit canvassed war-torn Europe, capturing intelligence with incalculable strategic value | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

How the Zamboni Changed the Game for Ice Rinks

Invented by rink owner Frank Zamboni, the ice-clearing machine celebrates its 70th anniversary this year | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Citizen Science Effort Seeks to Survey the Entire Great Barrier Reef

Only about 1,000 of 3,000 individual reefs have been documented, but the Great Reef Census hopes to fill in the gaps | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Pioneering Maps of Alexander von Humboldt

Beautiful and insightful, the illustrations of the German naturalist helped shape a new understanding of the world | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Cultural History of ‘The Addams Family’

As the spooky clan makes a new appearance on the big screen, a look back on the mystery of their longevity | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Feminist History of ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’

Trixie Friganza, an actress and suffragist, inspired the popular song of the seventh inning stretch | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Wizard of Schenectady

His contributions to mathematics and electrical engineering made him one of the most beloved and instantly recognizable men of his time. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Behind-the-Scenes Quest to Find Mister Rogers’s Signature Cardigans

The USPS, a $70 soup pot and whole lot of effort went into finding the perfect zip-up cardigan for Fred Rogers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Susan Kare Designed User-Friendly Icons for the First Macintosh

The graphic designer is receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Cooper Hewitt for her recognizable computer icons, typefaces and graphics | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Researchers “Translate” Bat Talk. Turns Out, They Argue–A Lot

A machine learning algorithm helped decode the squeaks Egyptian fruit bats make in their roost, revealing that they | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Holly Cow! Fattest Bear of Them All Claims Coveted Title

For #FatBearWeek2019, the furever fabulous 435 Holly reigns triumphant | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Venus Could Have Been Habitable for Billions of Years

New simulations show the planet could have maintained moderate temperatures and liquid water until 700 million years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Human Flesh Looks Like Beef, but the Taste Is More Elusive

It's like pork. Or maybe veal | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

In Citrus County, Florida, hundreds of the gentle giants winter in the warm waters of Crystal River | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

World's Largest Privately-Owned Giant Sequoia Grove Is for Sale

And a conservation group needs the public’s help acquiring the property | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Researchers Discover the Tallest Known Tree in the Amazon

Satellite images and a trek into the rainforest reveal a group of trees over 80 meters, or about 260 feet, and one as tall as 88.5 meters | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Did Francis Drake Land in California?

New research suggests that one of the state’s greatest historians had a hand in perpetrating an infamous hoax | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Lost Renaissance Masterpiece Found Hanging Above Woman’s Hot Plate Sells for $26.8 Million

Experts say the panel painting was created by Florentine artist Cimabue around 1280 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

When Young George Washington Started a War

A just-discovered eyewitness account provides startling new evidence about who fired the shot that sparked the French and Indian War | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Student Discovers Secret Acrostic in Milton’s 'Paradise Lost'

A Tufts University undergraduate spotted three interlocking instances of the word “FALL” in Book 9 of the epic poem | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Rise of the Zombie Mall

Hundreds of big retail centers have gone under, but the shop-til-you drop lifestyle isn't dead yet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Hundreds of big retail centers have gone under, but the shop-til-you drop lifestyle isn't dead yet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

A Salute to the Wheel (2009)

Always cited as the hallmark of man’s innovation, here is the real story behind the wheel – from its origins to its reinvention | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

The Gut Microbiome Could Speed Up the Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease

The microbes in the gastrointestinal tract influence the immune system and the brain, possibly playing a role in the development of Alzheimer’s | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

How to Tell a Bird's Age by Its Song

On Pipeline Road in Panama’s Soberania National Park, birdwatchers on high-end tours rack up two hundred bird species in a day and move on. But Corey Tarwater and Patrick Kelley have made it their life’s work to understand the daily melodramas of black-crowned antshrikes, first a … | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Bullwinkle Taught Kids Sophisticated Political Satire

Culture critic Beth Daniels argues the cartoon moose even allowed viewers to reckon with nuclear war | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Map Shows How a Location Has Changed over the Past 750M Years

The interactive tool enables users to home in on a specific location and visualize how it has evolved between the Cryogenian Period and the present | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

India Locates Lost Lunar Lander but Struggles to Reestablish Contact

The Vikram spacecraft went offline minutes before it was scheduled to touch down near the South Pole of the moon | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Contrary to the popular imagination, bearing arms on the frontier was a heavily regulated business | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression's Bookmobiles

During the Great Depression, a New Deal program brought books to Kentuckians living in remote areas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

During the Great Depression, a New Deal program brought books to Kentuckians living in remote areas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Mungo Man Finally Returns Home

At long last, the remains of Mungo Man are at rest after an agonizing clash between modern science and an ancient spirituality | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago

Japanese Settlement Found in Forests of British Columbia

More than 1,000 items have been unearthed there, among them rice bowls, sake bottles and Japanese ceramics | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 years ago