Move Over, Genghis Khan. Many Other Men Left Huge Genetic Legacies

A 2015 study showed that ten other men have a lot of descendants. The paper is just one of several genetic studies revealing the secrets of descent | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Why Are Some People Seemingly Immune to Covid-19? Scientists May Now Have an Answer

Researchers tracked the immune responses of 16 people intentionally exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and pinpointed a gene that seems to help resist the virus before it can take hold | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Parkour Group Damages Building in the Historic Italian City of Matera

Team Phat posted a video showing one of its members breaking a stone protruding from a wall | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

How This Self-Taught Guitarist Became a Music Legend

For decades, Libba Cotten was one of the most distinctive folk musicians in America | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Pablo Escobar’s Abandoned Hippos Are Wreaking Havoc in the Colombian Jungle

Decades ago, the drug baron smuggled the beasts into South America for his private menagerie. They’ve been multiplying ever since. Now officials are taking extreme measures to counter the problem | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Watch Blood-Sucking Leeches Leap From Leaves and Soar Through the Air

New videos may help settle scientists' long-standing debate over whether leeches can jump | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

World's Oldest Deep-Sea Shipwreck Discovered a Mile Beneath the Mediterranean Sea

Archaeologists recovered two amphorae from the 3,300-year-old wreck site, which sheds new light on ancient maritime navigation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

See 12 Captivating Bird Images From the Audubon Photography Awards

In its 15th year, the contest showcases diverse avian species, their fascinating behaviors and the habitats needed to keep them alive | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Mysterious Monolith Appears Outside of Las Vegas

The reflective metal structure was found on a hiking trail in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

An Ancient Beach Buried by Mount Vesuvius' Eruption Is Now Open to the Public

In the seaside resort town of Herculaneum, the beach is the final resting place of more than 330 residents who tried to flee | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

How the First Black Barbie Was Born

A new documentary tells the story of Black Barbie, and why she has meant so much to so many | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

This Rubens Masterpiece Was Significantly Altered by Another Artist

Important details in "The Judgement of Paris" appear to have been changed several decades after the artist's death | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

See 15 Stunning Scenes of Summer

These highlights from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest will remind you of everything you love about the season | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

How a New Line of Expedition Ships Is Turning the Tides on Polar Seas

High-tech features are making treacherous ocean passages feel tame | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

The Real Story Behind 'The Bikeriders' and the Danny Lyon Photography Book That Inspired It

A new film dramatizes the story of a motorcycle club chronicled by Lyon in the 1960s, offering a tribute to the outlaw spirit | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

When Do Stingrays Strike?

A California researcher and his team simulate stepping on round rays to learn more about their behavior | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Climate Activists Spray Stonehenge With Orange Paint

Protesters with Just Stop Oil are demanding that the British government phase out fossil fuels by 2030 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Dinosaur With Giant, Loki-Like Horns Has the 'Craziest, Coolest' Headgear—and Could Be a New Species

The discovery sheds light on the evolution of a surprisingly diverse group of horned dinosaurs in the western United States | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

This Man Brewed Beer Using 3,000-Year-Old Yeast and a Recipe From an Ancient Egyptian Papyrus

Utah homebrewer Dylan McDonnell created his 'Sinai Sour' in his backyard | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

These Badges Shed New Light on the Enslaved Workers Who Built Charleston

The Smithsonian has acquired a collection of 146 slave badges from between 1800 and 1865 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Why the Nordic Countries Emerged as a Haven for 20th-Century African American Expatriates

An exhibition in Seattle spotlights the Black artists and performers who called Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden home between the 1930s and the 1980s | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

A 'Major Lunar Standstill' Is Happening This Year—and Friday's Full Moon Offers 'Dramatic' View

From now through much of next year, the moon will periodically rise and set at its most extreme points, thanks to a rare celestial phenomenon that only occurs every 18.6 years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Will the Bistro Save France's Rural Villages?

Because these social hubs are the glue holding communities together, a growing movement seeks to protect them on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

This Revolutionary New Observatory Will Locate Threatening Asteroids and Millions of Galaxies

Beginning next year, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will use the world’s largest digital camera to give us a whole new view of the universe | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

How Do You Rest in a Culture of Overwork?

A showcase of Black artists displays the restorative power of relaxation, and defines what it means to reclaim time | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke Should Be Considered 'Major Disasters' by FEMA Amid Climate Crisis, Advocates Say

Despite killing more people in the U.S. each year than hurricanes, floods or tornadoes, heat waves aren’t currently eligible for emergency funding from the disaster relief agency | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Oldest Wine Ever Found in Liquid Form Unearthed in 2,000-Year-Old Tomb

Researchers have concluded that the fluid preserved inside an ancient funerary urn is a white sherry-like wine | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Surgeon General Calls for Placing Warning Labels on Social Media Platforms

Vivek H. Murthy views social media as a contributor the mental health crisis in young people, and he suggests tobacco-style warnings on the apps | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Meet Kevin, the World's Tallest Dog

The Great Dane measures over three feet tall—about the same size as an average 3-year-old child | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Archaeologists Recover 900 Artifacts From Ming Dynasty Shipwrecks in South China Sea

The trove of objects—including pottery, porcelain, shells and coins—was found roughly a mile below the surface | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

The Paris Games' Mascot, the Olympic Phryge, Boasts a Little-Known Revolutionary Past

The Phrygian cap, also known as the liberty cap, emerged as a potent symbol in 18th-century America and France | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Time is Running Out for the Hudson Bay Polar Bears

The southern and western subpopulations are on track to disappear as sea ice becomes too thin amid rising global temperatures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

There’s a Better Way to Teach the California Gold Rush

A new lesson plan centers Native American perspectives on the violence of Western expansion | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Preserved Fruit From the 18th Century Found at George Washington's Estate

During a renovation project, archaeologists uncovered intact bottles containing preserved cherries and berries that are more than 250 years old | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

How a Real Photo of a Flamingo Snuck Into—and Won—an A.I. Art Competition

The photographer entered the image into a contest's artificial intelligence category to "prove that human-made content has not lost its relevance" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Rare White Bison Calf Born at Yellowstone National Park

A photographer spotted the calf on June 4. White buffalo are sacred to some Native American tribes, and the birth has been called a "blessing and a warning" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

After Months of Glitches and Gradual Fixes, Voyager 1 Is Fully Operational Once Again

Currently 15 billion miles away from Earth, one of NASA’s longest-tenured spacecraft is back from the brink after a technical failure last year put its future in question | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

A Twice-Looted Titian Masterpiece Once Discovered at a Bus Stop Hits the Auction Block

The painting, "The Rest on the Flight into Egypt," could sell for as much as $30 million | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Mars Was Hit With a Solar Storm Days After Earth's Aurora Light Show, NASA Says

Studying this event could hold lessons for scientists about how to protect astronauts from radiation on future trips to the Red Planet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

These Dutch Newlyweds Had Their Portraits Painted Nearly 400 Years Ago. But Who Were They?

A curator has finally figured out the identity of the couple painted by Frans Hals around 1637 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Can Technology Help Us More Accurately Diagnose Mental Illnesses?

A new wave of tools promises to offer quicker, more objective assessments to help patients and clinicians | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Railbiking Is Catching On Across the Nation—Here's Where to Try It Yourself

Sit back, relax and pedal your way along historic railroad tracks | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Rare 'Absolutely Tiny' Plant, Not Seen for More Than a Century, Found in Vermont

The last time a botanist recorded a sighting of false mermaid-weed in the state was in 1916 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Ancient DNA Illuminates the History of Malaria, One of the World's Deadliest Diseases

Researchers extracted parasitic DNA from preserved teeth and bones, revealing how malaria spread across the globe in a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

In This Ancient Workshop, Greeks Crushed Snail Glands To Make the Purple Dye Worn By Royalty

Archaeologists discovered remnants of the small factory on an island in Greece | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

A Giant Interstellar Cloud May Have Once Enveloped Earth, Potentially Causing Ice Ages

Astronomers suggest this cold, dense cloud compressed our sun's protective field between two and three million years ago, leaving the Earth exposed to cosmic material | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Ernest Shackleton's Last Ship, Quest, Discovered Off the Coast of Canada

The famed explorer died of a heart attack aboard the ship near South Georgia Island in 1922, and it sank in the north Atlantic Ocean in 1962 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago

Is This the First Recorded Footage of a Colossal Squid Living Freely?

The only sightings of the animals so far have come from corpses or creatures dragged up from the depths | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 months ago