Sticks Discovered in Australian Cave Shed New Light on an Aboriginal Ritual Passed Down for 12,000 Years

Both Western analyses and traditional Aboriginal knowledge helped the research team learn about a cultural practice dating to the last ice age | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Napoleon's Elaborately Decorated Pistols Sell for $1.8 Million at Auction

The French government has declared the artifacts national treasures, which means they can only leave the country temporarily | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Gravitational Wave Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Analog Computer

A new study challenges a core assumption about the Antikythera mechanism, a 2,000-year-old device that inspired the latest "Indiana Jones" film | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

View 11 Breathtaking Images From the BigPicture Photography Competition

This 2024 showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Meet Vivian Maier, the Reclusive Nanny Who Secretly Became One of the Best Street Photographers of the 20th Century

The self-taught artist is getting her first museum exhibition in New York City, where she nurtured her nascent interest in photography | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Travel Through Barbieland at London's Design Museum

A new exhibition traces the evolution of one of the world's most famous dolls over six decades | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Did the Extinction of the Dinosaurs Pave the Way for Grapes?

Newly discovered fossils in South America hint at the evolution and proliferation of grapes around the world | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

General Motors to Pay $146 Million For Excess Emissions

Almost six million vehicles were emitting over 10 percent more carbon dioxide on average than compliance reports said they were | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

You Can Buy Four Drawings by a Young Queen Victoria

The sketches, which are heading to auction this week, showcase the teenage royal's devotion to the arts | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Here’s What We’ve Learned About Saturn Since Cassini Entered Its Orbit 20 Years Ago

The Cassini-Huygens mission increased our understanding of the planet’s rings and moons | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Taylor Swift Is in Her Museum Era

The singer's costumes and memorabilia are the subject of an upcoming exhibition at London's V&A Museum | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

How All-Female 'Juries of Matrons' Shaped Legal History

Courts called on these jurors to determine whether women sentenced to death were pregnant or faking it to avoid execution | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Aphra Behn, the First Englishwoman to Earn a Living With Her Writing, Is Finally Getting Her Due

A year-long event series aims to champion the pioneering 17th-century writer's legacy | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Indonesian Cave Painting Is Oldest-Known Visual Storytelling

The depiction of three human-like figures interacting with a pig dates to 51,200 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

See Ten Awe-Inspiring Images From the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest

Auroras, nebulas and stars take the spotlight in this space-themed competition, alongside shots of our own sun and moon | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Before the Dinosaurs, This Massive Salamander-Like Predator Ruled Earth’s Swamps

Fossils unearthed in present-day Namibia tell an intriguing story of tetrapod evolution | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

How the Rise of the Camera Launched a Fight to Protect Gilded Age Americans' Privacy

Early photographers sold their snapshots to advertisers, who reused the individuals' likenesses without their permission | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Eight Weird and Wonderful Museums in Paris

These quirky institutions tell the stories behind everything from sewers to perfume, medicine to magic | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

An Excavation in Wales Paints a Picture of Home Life 3,500 Years Ago

Archaeologists have enlisted volunteers to dig up the remains of a Bronze Age roundhouse found beneath a park | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Meet the Taxidermists Who Care for the Animals at Your Favorite Museums

Only a few U.S. museums still employ the specialists. The rest rely on a small group of highly skilled contractors | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Alaska's Juneau Icefield Is Melting at an 'Incredibly Worrying' 50,000 Gallons per Second, Researchers Find

Between 2010 and 2020, the icefield lost 1.4 cubic miles of ice each year, according to a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Carpenter Ants Perform Life-Saving Amputations to Treat Leg Injuries

A new study provides the first evidence of non-human animals performing amputations on others to improve their odds of survival | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Amateur Historians Unearth a Long-Lost Tudor Palace Visited by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I

Locals had long shared stories of Collyweston Palace. Then, excavations in England's Midlands revealed traces of the fabled estate | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

From Powwows to Smartphones, See the Past and Present of Indigenous Plains Life in Narrative Art

The National Museum of the American Indian showcases centuries-old narrative art traditions that a new generation of artists is embracing | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

How Deep-Sea Comb Jellies Hold Their Shape Under Crushing Pressure

The delicate sea creatures fall apart when brought to the surface but can survive miles deep in the ocean due to special cell wall structures, according to a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Theodore Roosevelt's Long-Lost Pocket Watch Surfaces at a Florida Auction House

Thieves stole the timepiece, a gift from the president's sister, from an unlocked display case in 1987 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Why Ernest Hemingway's Younger Brother Established a Floating Republic in the Caribbean

On July 4, 1964, Leicester Hemingway founded New Atlantis, a raft-turned-micronation intended to support marine life in the region | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

The Quest to Resurrect a Lost Ecosystem in Siberia

A father-and-son team of scientists are trying to revive ancient grasslands by reintroducing large grazers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

From China to the Mediterranean and More, Here's How Different Cultures Envision Dragons

In some parts of the world, the mythical creatures are monsters. In others, they’re more benign beings | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

The First Tango in Paris Made a Stir Worth Remembering

As breaking makes its debut at this summer’s Olympics, take a look back more than a century when another dance rocked the City of Lights | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Banksy Takes Credit For an Inflatable Migrant Raft That Floated Across a Glastonbury Crowd

The street artist's latest stunt is thought to be a criticism of the U.K.'s immigration policies | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Charlotte the 'Pregnant Virgin' Stingray Dies After Diagnosis of Reproductive Disease

The animal drew attention earlier this year for becoming pregnant despite having no male ray in her tank | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

NASA Will Pay SpaceX Up to $843 Million to Destroy the International Space Station

After the end of this decade, the company will guide the aging laboratory into the Pacific Ocean, where many retired spacecrafts have been deposited | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

How Researchers Solved the Mystery of This 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck

A new analysis of nuts, timber and other items found onboard the Kyrenia shipwreck is shedding new light on the vessel's timeline | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Trove of Tombs Sheds Light on How Ancient Egyptian Families Lived—and Died

The finds include mummies from many social classes, some of whom were buried alongside relatives after succumbing to disease | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

The Festival Where Scotland's Violent History Comes Back to Life

Every year in the rolling hills of the Scottish Borders, one of Europe’s largest equestrian events commemorates a lawless time that shaped the region’s identity | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Did Prehistoric Children Make Figurines Out of Clay?

Fingerprints and scratch marks found in artifacts in the Czech Republic suggest youngsters of the Upper Paleolithic used the soil like Play-Doh, according to a pending new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Tired of Diplomacy as Usual, This Congressman Flew Solo to Promote World Peace

Representative Peter F. Mack’s soaring diplomatic ambitions made aviation history as he traveled through Europe, South Asia, Japan and then across the vast Pacific Ocean | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Could a Robin and a Bluebird Have Babies? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Two Pandas Arrive at the San Diego Zoo, the First to Enter the U.S. in 21 Years

For months, the only pandas in the country had been in Atlanta. Next, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., are expected to also receive pandas this year | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

The Smithsonian Acquires the Earliest Known Photograph of an American First Lady

The National Portrait Gallery purchased an 1846 daguerreotype of Dolley Madison for $456,000 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Artist Marina Abramović Silences Glastonbury Crowd for Seven Minutes

The typically boisterous crowd went quiet for a collective peace protest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Earth's Inner Core May Be Slowing Its Spin, Another Study Suggests

New research adds evidence to the controversial idea that the hot, solid ball at the center of our planet has been reducing its speed for years as part of an oscillating cycle | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Leftover Ramen Broth Is Causing Problems on South Korea's Mount Halla

Visitors are dumping the salty liquid on the ground, and authorities are concerned about its impact on plants and animals | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

The Surprising History of Pad Thai

The national dish of Thailand is actually a fusion of Thai and Chinese food cultures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

How a Questionably Fashionable Shirt Bowled America Over

The gaudy top went from practical necessity to vintage treasure | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

Volcanic Ash Preserved Trilobite Fossils in Surprising Detail at 'Prehistoric Pompeii'

The specimens date to more than 500 million years ago and provide new insights into trilobite anatomy, revealing previously unseen features | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago

What the Change of a Disney Park Ride Reflects About How America Sees Itself

Splash Mountain, originally based on the film ‘Song of the South,’ has become Tiana’s Bayou Adventure | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 months ago