Meteorite Strikes Are the Primary Creator of the Moon's Thin Atmosphere, Study Finds

Researchers examined lunar soil samples collected during the Apollo missions to determine which weathering processes contribute most to replenishing the moon's atmosphere | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

The Mystery of the Bronze Age Ax Heads Mailed Anonymously to an Irish Museum Has Been Solved

A farmer stumbled upon the 4,000-year-old artifacts while working in his field in central Ireland | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

She's the Oldest Common Loon in the World. She Just Had Her 42nd Chick

Fe, who is at least 38 years old, initially rose to fame as one half of the "resident power couple" at Michigan's Seney National Wildlife Refuge | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

The Valiant Effort to Restore the Caribbean's Sea Urchins

The very hungry, spiky custodians gobble up the algae that smother coral reefs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

See 15 Photos of Real-Life Cowboys and Cowgirls Wrangling Cattle and Riding Bucking Broncos

Giddyap and get a look at these stunning selections from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Automakers Are Making New Steels for Stronger and Lighter Cars

Novel materials are hitting assembly lines with just the right properties to build cars that are both safer and more fuel-efficient | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Banksy Unveils Two New Animal Murals in Two Days

One piece features a goat perched on a ledge, while the other shows two elephants in windows | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Poetry Was an Official Olympic Event for Nearly 40 Years. What Happened?

Pierre de Coubertin hoped the modern Games would encourage the ancient Greek notion of harmony between "muscle and mind" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Scientists Find Water Molecules in Lunar Rock Sample for the First Time

The samples from China's Chang'e 5 mission shed light on lunar resources that could be vital to future missions and habitations | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Archaeologists Stumble Upon Ancient Pot of Gold Coins in Turkey

Researchers think the hoard, which dates to the fifth century B.C.E., may have been buried during a time of upheaval | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Ancient Egyptians May Have Used Hydraulic Lift to Build Pyramid

Researchers propose that a system of water could have lifted heavy stones to the height necessary to construct the Step Pyramid | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

This 16-Foot-Tall Pigeon Sculpture Is Coming to New York City's High Line

Artist Iván Argote hopes the artwork, titled "Dinosaur," will inspire "attraction, seduction and fear" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

This Innovative Device Allows South American Paleontologists to Share Fossils With the World

PaleoScan offers scientists at far-flung institutions a less expensive way to digitize their collections and preserve at-risk specimens of fish, turtles, pterosaurs and more | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Swimming in Schools May Help Fish Save Energy in Turbulent Waters

A new study suggests schooling fish use up to 79 percent less energy in rough conditions than fish that swim alone | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

17th-Century Home Unearthed in Colonial Williamsburg

Crews were constructing a new archaeology center when they stumbled upon the historic structure's foundations and accompanying artifacts | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

When Vultures Nearly Disappeared in India, Half a Million People Died, Too, Study Finds

By being nature's clean-up crew, the often maligned birds help prevent the spread of diseases, according to a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Hidden Underground Magma Pools Fueled Iceland's Volcanic Eruptions, Study Suggests

A subterranean plumbing system of magma beneath the island’s Reykjanes Peninsula may have helped set off the recent series of eruptions that could last for centuries | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

A Statue of Johnny Cash Is Coming to the U.S. Capitol

Standing alongside civil rights leader Daisy Bates, the singer-songwriter will represent the state of Arkansas in Statuary Hall | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

How to Watch the Perseids, the 'Best Meteor Shower of the Year'

The annual celestial event is one of the year's most anticipated, and it will peak from August 11 to 12 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

'We Have a Rattlesnake Problem': Wildland Firefighters in the West Must Also Face a Slithering, Venomous Foe

Nearly 100 large fires are burning in the United States right now, including some in rattlesnake territory | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Can the Noise in Sports Arenas Be Turned Into Electricity?

Seventeen-year-old Gyeongyun Lily Min is hopeful it can someday, after testing the concept on a scale model of an NBA stadium | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

The Black Fugitive Who Inspired 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and Helped End Slavery in the U.S.

New research sheds light on John Andrew Jackson, who sought help from Harriet Beecher Stowe during his escape from bondage | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Olympians Finally Got to Swim in the Seine River

After months of uncertainty, the women's and men's triathlon events kicked off with a dip in the long-polluted waterway that runs through the heart of Paris | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Mars Rover Finds Three Possible Signs of Ancient Life on a Single Rock

Scientists were cautiously optimistic about Perseverance's discovery, though they indicated further research is needed before drawing definitive conclusions | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Ancient Rome's Appian Way Is Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The 500-mile-long stone highway is Italy's 60th property to receive the designation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Alzheimer's Blood Test Outperforms Standard Diagnostics in New Study

The blood test accurately diagnosed Alzheimer's around 90 percent of the time, compared to 73 percent for specialists and 61 percent for primary care physicians | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

These Backpack-Wearing Dogs Have an Important Job to Do

The pups are dispersing seeds at an urban nature reserve—just like their wild wolf ancestors used to do before being hunted to extinction | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Two Rare Jurassic Skulls Could Help Unlock the Secrets of Mammals' Evolutionary Success

Fossils reveal a prehistoric, mouse-like creature matured slower and lived longer than similar mammals of today | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Why Are the Olympic Surfing Events Being Held in Tahiti?

The tiny village of Teahupo’o, known for its monstrous, barrel-shaped waves, will host 48 athletes from 21 countries during the Summer Games | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

No, Dinosaurs Did Not Trudge Through Thick Rainforests

The first jungles dense with flowering plants only formed after an asteroid impact wiped out the giant creatures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Divers Discover Mesmerizing Roman Mosaic Beneath the Sea

Found near Naples, the marble slabs once adorned a villa in a city known as the Las Vegas of the Roman Empire | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 months ago

Watch Andy Warhol's Eight-Hour Film About the Empire State Building on the Skyscraper's 80th Floor

Released in 1964, the divisive experimental film is being screened in honor of its 60th anniversary | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Taco-Shaped Creature Had a 'Major Edge' in Evolution—and 30 Pairs of Spiny Legs

This shrimp-like arthropod was among the first to have a mandible, and it used a complex feeding mechanism during the Cambrian explosion, according to a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Why Is the Paris Olympics Running Track Purple?

The track incorporates recycled mussel and clam shells in a bid to help make the Summer Games the most sustainable yet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Nashville Museum Returns Hundreds of Pre-Columbian Artifacts to Mexico

The items also went on display in an exhibition that detailed the repatriation process | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Scientists Discover 'Dark Oxygen' on the Ocean Floor Generated—Surprisingly—by Lumps of Metal

Researchers found that electric currents from polymetallic nodules are behind this alchemy—the same minerals that deep-sea miners are targeting | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

See 15 Picturesque Views of Paris

France’s charming capital city welcomes the 2024 Summer Olympic Games | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

How Do Animals Change Their Social Habits as They Age?

In patterns that may sound familiar, long-term studies reveal what elderly deer, sheep and macaques are up to in their twilight years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

The Smell of Human Stress Leads Dogs to Make More Pessimistic Decisions, Study Suggests

Canines that smelled the sweat of anxious people were less likely to approach a bowl that might have contained food, indicating humans' emotions can affect dogs' behavior | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Watch 100,000 Dominoes Topple to the Ground in a Dazzling Eight-Minute Display

Artist Lily Hevesh spent ten days creating the elaborate installation at the National Building Museum | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

NASA's Curiosity Rover Accidentally Discovers Sulfur Crystals on Mars

The rover’s wheel cracked open a rock and revealed pure elemental sulfur, which researchers have never seen on the Red Planet before | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Tommie Smith’s Raised Fist at the 1968 Olympics Inspired a Massive Golden Sculpture That Signifies the Art of His Protest

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, an installation by artist Glenn Kaino made in collaboration with Smith reclaims the Olympian’s iconic gesture | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Six Innovative Ways Humans Have Kept Cool Throughout History

From sleeping porches to coastal escapes, these tips and tricks helped people deal with extreme heat before the advent of air-conditioning | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Watch a Yellowstone Hot Spring Explode Into a Boiling Column of Mud, Water and Rock

Hydrothermal explosions typically occur every year in the popular national park, but rarely in areas so heavily trafficked by visitors | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

This History Buff Found a Scrap of George Washington's Tent at Goodwill

The fragment, which was part of Washington's dining marquee during the Revolutionary War, is now on display at a museum in Philadelphia | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Ruins of Centuries-Old Palace That Housed Dozens of Popes Discovered in Rome

Before the papacy relocated in the 1300s, first to Avignon and then to the Vatican, pontiffs lived at the Lateran Palace | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

The 'World's Loneliest Plant' Could Soon Find a Mate With a Little Help From A.I.

The only known wild Wood's cycad was discovered in 1895, and it has since been cloned into many male trees. Now, researchers are scouring a forest in South Africa for an elusive female specimen | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Shipwreck Found in Lake Michigan 130 Years After Sinking With Captain's 'Intelligent and Faithful' Dog Onboard

The captain said he would "rather lose any sum of money than to have the brute perish as he did" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago