Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins on the Past and Future of Space Exploration

On the occasion of the lunar landing's 50th anniversary, we spoke to the former director of the National Air and Space Museum | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The snakes that ate Florida

Bounty hunters and biologists wade deep into the Everglades to wrestle with the invasion of giant pythons threatening the state's wetlands | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Sadie Roberts-Joseph, Slain Activist, Showed How Museums Can Raise Up Their Communities

Baton Rouge police described the museum founder, whose death has been ruled a homicide, as a 'tireless advocate of peace' | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Myth of Professional Beggars Spawned Today’s Enduring Stereotypes

In England and the United States, the fear of beggars gave rise to a number of justifications for why they shouldn't be helped | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Apollo 11 Rocket Will Be Projected onto the Washington Monument

The immersive experience will also feature a 17-minute show combining full-motion projection-mapping artwork and archival footage | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See (2013)

How a ruse to keep German pilots confused gave the Vitamin-A-rich vegetable too much credit | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Lewis Lapham’s Antidote to the Age of Buzzfeed

With his erudite Quarterly, the legendary Harper’s editor aims for an antidote to digital-age ignorance | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Frick Revives 18th-Century Frescoes Destroyed During World War II

A new exhibition unites preparatory paintings, drawings and photographs of Tiepolo’s Palazzo Archinto frescoes | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Could Machine Learning Be the Key to Earthquake Prediction?

Predicting earthquakes might be impossible, but some experts wonder if tools that can analyze enormous amounts of data could crack the seismic code | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Ann Montgomery, Lead Engineer at NASA, on Managing the Apollo Equipment

Montgomery worked closely with the Apollo astronauts to train them to use handheld tools and equipment on the moon | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Escalators changed our sense of space

Sure, the 19th-century invention transformed shopping. But it also revolutionized how we think about the built environment | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Warhol’s Prince Image Doesn’t Violate Copyright, Judge Rules

Photographer Lynn Goldsmith will be appealing the fair use verdict that found the artist transformed the underlying photograph into something new | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

2k-year-old scrolls buried by Vesuvius deciphered using subatomic physics

A revolutionary American scientist is using subatomic physics to decipher 2,000-year-old texts from the early days of Western civilization | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Drop in US life expectancy trend not seen since 1918 influenza epidemic

Drop represents longest sustained decline in expected lifespan since the tumultuous period of 1915 to 1918 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off from All Human Contact (2013)

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Minnesota Will Pay Residents to Grow Bee-Friendly Lawns

Leaving lawns untreated and allowing flowering plants to grow can help support the endangered rusty patched bumblebee | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Melvil Dewey’s Name Stripped from Top Library Award

An American Library Association resolution points to Dewey's history of discriminatory and predatory behavior | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Ancient Teeth Reveal the Roots of Mankind

From diet to evolution, prehistoric chompers tell archaeologists a surprising amount about our ancestors | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Bar Code

Inventor Joe Woodland drew the first bar code in sand in Miami Beach, decades before technology could bring his vision to life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Flies in hospitals are full of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

A study of seven hospitals in the U.K. found the bacteria in 90 percent of flies, though they are unlikley to spread the infections | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Worst Shark Attack in History (2013)

In 1945, a U.S. naval ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine, but the ship's sinking was just the beginning of the sailors' nightmare | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

‘Vis-O-Matic’ Was the 1950s Version of Online Shopping

A Canadian department store tried to revolutionize buying when it opened a shop with booths and screens for ordering merchandise | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Black Like Me, 50 Years Later

John Howard Griffin gave readers an unflinching view of the Jim Crow South. How has his book held up? | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Cat's Attitude Is Closely Linked to Its Breed, Survey Shows

Nearly half of breed behavioral differences can be attributed to hereditary factors | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Joy Harjo, First Native American Writer to Be Named U.S. Poet Laureate, Reappointed for Second Term

Harjo, a member of the Muskogee Creek Nation, says the appointment "honors the place of Native people in this country, the place of Native people’s poetry" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Sperm Whale's Deadly Call

Scientists have discovered that the massive mammal uses elaborate buzzes, clicks and squeaks that spell doom for the animal's prey | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

A Woman Who Revealed the Missing Link Between Viruses and Cancer

Today, vaccinating against cervical cancer is routine. But before Sarah Stewart, scientists dismissed the idea of a cancer-preventing vaccine as ludicrous | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Patents Behind Toy Story’s Beloved Characters

The Pixar series is full of classic toys, from the Slinky Dog to the Speak & Spell, that sprung from the minds of clever inventors | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Why are some feathers blue? (2012)

New research into a long-puzzling feature of avian life shows there's more to color than meets the eye | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

How the Gut Microbiome Could Provide a New Tool to Treat Autism

A growing body of evidence suggests the behavioral symptoms of autism spectrum disorder could be linked to bacteria in the gut | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Our Eyes Are Always Darting Around, So How Come Our Vision Isn’t Blurry?

Our brains manage to construct stable images even as our eyes keep jerking around. Here’s what we know about how that happens. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Found: A Bees’ Nest Built Entirely of Plastic Waste

It could be a sign of bees’ adaptability to a changing environment—but the habit might also be causing them harm | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

German Circus Uses Stunning Holograms Instead of Live Animal Performers

Circus Roncalli is preserving the tradition of animal acts while eliminating concerns of animal cruelty | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

How Do Fossils Form?

Learn from the Smithsonian’s curator of vertebrate paleontology Anna K. Behrensmeyer, a pioneer in the study of how organic remains become fossils | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Americans may be ingesting up to 120k microplastic particles every year

A new study found that we consume between 74,000 and 121,000 plastic particles annually—and that’s likely an underestimate | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Decoding the Mathematical Secrets of Plants’ Stunning Leaf Patterns

A Japanese shrub’s unique foliage arrangement leads botanists to rethink plant growth models | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Product Designer Who Made Mid-Century America Look Clean and Stylish

From refrigerators to cars to Air Force One, Raymond Loewy's distinctive | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Decoding the Mathematical Secrets of Plants’ Stunning Leaf Patterns

A Japanese shrub’s unique foliage arrangement leads botanists to rethink plant growth models | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

What You Didn’t Know About the Apollo 11 Mission

From JFK's real motives to the Soviets' secret plot to land on the Moon at the same time, a new behind-the-scenes view of an unlikely triumph 50 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

NOAA Is Investigating 70 Gray Whale Deaths Along the West Coast

The whales seem to have died from starvation and washed up on shore from California to Alaska | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Dinos of ‘Deep Time’

Of the 700 specimens that roam the Smithsonian’s new Hall of Fossils, these six standout dinosaurs make a big impression | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Twice as Many Fishing Vessels Are Chasing Fewer Fish on the World’s Oceans

Since 1950, the number of boats has gone from 1.7 million to 3.7 million, even though fish stocks have crumbled | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Lost Manuscript Contains Searing Eyewitness Account of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

An Oklahoma lawyer details the attack by hundreds of whites on the thriving black neighborhood where hundreds died 95 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Record-Breaking Heat in Alaska Wreaks Havoc on Communities and Ecosystems

Abnormally high temperatures have led to unsafe travel conditions, uncertain ecological futures and even multiple deaths | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

The Avocado Should Have Gone the Way of the Dodo

Its large pit and fleshy deliciousness are all a result of its status as an evolutionary anachronism | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter

In the letter, Hamilton warns the Marquis de Lafayette about the ‘menace’ of a British fleet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

‘Mona Lisa’ Comes to Life in Computer-Generated ‘Living Portrait’

A new artificial intelligence system can create realistic animations from a single static image | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago

Scientists Discover Fungus That Collects Gold from Its Environment

The Australian fungus could help miners find the next generation of underground gold deposits | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 years ago