Can Snakes Recognize Themselves? One Species Has Passed a Modified 'Mirror Test' Based on Smell

Eastern garter snakes might recognize their own scents, suggesting the reptiles are more cognitively complex than thought, according to a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

George Carlin A.I. Imitation Case Reaches Settlement

The late comedian's estate brought a lawsuit against two podcast hosts who used an A.I. voice generator to deliver a fake stand-up routine | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Trove of Viking Combs Sheds Light on English Town's Medieval History

The hair care items are part of a sprawling collection of artifacts found in Ipswich between 1974 and 1994, which are now the subject of a new book | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

NASA Will Create a New Time Zone for the Moon, Called Coordinated Lunar Time

With dozens of lunar missions on the horizon, a standard time-keeping system for the moon will assist with precise navigation, docking and landing | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

This Museum Lets Visitors Talk to A.I. Copies of World War II Veterans

Eighteen Americans who participated in the war effort each answered up to 1,000 questions on camera to create their interactive video likenesses | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

New York Inmates Sue to Watch the Total Solar Eclipse

The state's corrections department has ordered all prisons to lock down on the day of the eclipse, leaving inmates stuck inside. Six men are suing the state, saying viewing the event has religious significance | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Six New York Inmates Successfully Sue to Watch the Total Solar Eclipse

The state's prison agency settled a lawsuit with the incarcerated men, allowing them to watch the eclipse on religious grounds. But for now, the rest of New York's correctional facilities will remain locked down on April 8 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

The Long History of Art Inspired by Solar Eclipses

For centuries, curious artists have been trying to make sense of the celestial event | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Claude Monet's 'Moulin de Limetz' Could Fetch $25 Million at Auction

The 1888 work depicts a grain mill on the River Epte near the artist's home in Giverny, France | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

How David Attenborough Went From Delighting at the Natural World to Pleading for Its Future

The environmental icon’s latest series, “Mammals,” showcases the threats humanity has created for our relatives | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

The Eclipse Chaser Who Led an Expedition Behind Enemy Lines During the Revolutionary War

In 1780, astronomer Samuel Williams journeyed to British-controlled territory to view a total solar eclipse | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Readers Respond to the March 2024 Issue

Your feedback on art fakes, Tiffany lamps and World War II recovery missions | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Falling Object That Crashed Into Florida Home May Be Debris From the International Space Station

Nobody was hurt by the mysterious, two-pound object, but experts speculate it may be a piece of batteries ejected from the station in 2021 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Archaeologists Find Ancient Statue of Apollo That Probably Adorned a Magnificent Fountain

The marble bust sheds new light on the layered history of a 2,000-year-old Greek city | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Listen Live to the Total Solar Eclipse, Transformed Into a Real-Time Musical Composition

A composer based at San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum will use data coming from the eclipsed sun to create an out-of-this-world “sonification” on April 8 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

More Than Half of U.S. Landfills May Be Methane 'Super-Emitters,' Study Finds

Aerial observations of hundreds of large landfills across 18 states found they are leaking 40 percent more methane than is reported to the EPA | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Endangered Woodpeckers Find a New Home on a Military Training Ground

The red-cockaded woodpecker has lost nearly all of its habitat in the southeastern United States, but an Air Force range in Florida is part of an emerging initiative to relocate besieged species on protected land | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

In His Garage, an Untrained Artist Created a Work of Sublime Divinity

How deep faith created one of the loveliest—and most curious—sacred objects in the Smithsonian collections | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Andy Warhol 'Mao' Print Vanishes From a California College's Vault

The 1972 artwork, which the school had never publicly displayed, is worth an estimated $50,000 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Stressed About Taxes? Blame the Ancient Egyptians

The civilization developed the world’s first known tax system around 3000 B.C.E. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

How Ben Franklin Invented the Library as We Know It

Books were rare and expensive in colonial America, but the founding father had an idea | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

First Human Case of Bird Flu in Texas Confirmed, Following Infections in Cattle—Here's What to Know

This marks only the second time in U.S. history that a human has contracted the H5N1 strain of avian influenza | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

The Art World Is Reevaluating Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat's Controversial Partnership

"Untitled," a highlight of the duo's collaboration in the 1980s, could fetch $18 million at auction | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Song Lyrics Have Become Angrier, Simpler and More Repetitive, Scientists Find

An analysis of more than 12,000 rap, pop, country, rock and R&B songs from the past 50 years shows more emotional and straightforward lyrics | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

A Young Sailor's Remains Have Been Identified Eight Decades After He Died at Pearl Harbor

David Walker was a 19-year-old mess attendant aboard the USS "California" when Japan launched its surprise attack | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Florida Fish Are Mysteriously Dying After 'Spinning and Whirling,' and Scientists Can't Explain It

The abnormal behavior has raised special concerns about the endangered smalltooth sawfish, an odd-looking ray with chainsaw-like teeth, as 28 of them have died | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Why We Love Eclipses

Two perspectives on the astronomical phenomenon that has fascinated humans for as long as we’ve been watching the skies | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

An American-Made Sake Movement Is Underway

In the last decade, a truly homegrown effort has bubbled up in the United States | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Researchers Use Old Newspaper Reports to Identify 137-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Michigan

The steamship "Milwaukee" sank in a heavy fog off the coast of Holland, Michigan, after colliding with another vessel | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Dive Into the Exotic World of Nudibranchs, the Spectacular Slugs of the Sea

Psychedelic hedgehogs, purple pineapples, living strawberries—these tiny creatures show off their big personalities off the Australian coast | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

The Notorious Pirate King Who Vanished With the Riches of a Mughal Treasure Ship

In the late 17th century, Henry Avery—the subject of the first global manhunt—bribed his way into the Bahamas | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

This Artist Turned to Painting Animals in a Turbulent Historical Moment

The German Expressionist painter Franz Marc found a subject worth celebrating in the early 20th century | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Climbing Malawi’s Island in the Sky

A steep, lush massif—the country's highest peak at 10,000 feet—beckons adventurers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

This Handheld Device Allows Blind People to Experience the Solar Eclipse With Their Ears

The technology, which translates the intensity of sunlight into a range of sounds, was designed to make eclipses more accessible to visually impaired people | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Archaeologists Find 'Remarkable' Roman Villa Full of Coins, Jewelry and 'Curse Tablets'

Discovered at a housing development in England, the complex's buildings may be nearly 2,000 years old | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Archaeologists in Pompeii Find Ancient Construction Site, Undisturbed Since Vesuvius' Eruption

The discovery is cluing researchers into the techniques used to build Rome’s most remarkable structures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Black-Capped Chickadees Are Masters of Memory—and Scientists Are Finding Out Why

The small birds use brain “barcodes” to remember where they stash food, according to new research | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Archaeologists Uncover Medieval Castle Hidden Beneath a French Hotel

Excavations revealed a moat, pipes, jewelry, coins and other artifacts amidst the structure's ruins | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Nevada’s Living and Abandoned Ghost Towns

These Five Former Boomtowns Invite You To Step Into the State’s Mining History | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

How Singapore Became an Unexpected Stronghold for a Critically Endangered Bird

Despite being the smallest country in Southeast Asia, the city-state is now home to the largest population of the straw-headed bulbul | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

In the Face of Prejudice, the ‘Black Swans’ Took the Ballet World by Storm

A new book shows how pioneering ballerinas captivated audiences and broke racial barriers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

The Club of Cape-Wearing Activists Who Helped Elect Lincoln—and Spark the Civil War

The untold story of the Wide Awakes, the young Americans who took up the torch for their antislavery cause and stirred the nation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 7 months ago

Floating Board From 'Titanic' Sells for Over $700,000

The infamous prop has long been the source of heated debate: Did Jack really have to die? | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 8 months ago

Microplastics Are Contaminating Ancient Archaeological Sites

New research suggests plastic particles may pose a threat to the preservation of historic remains | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 8 months ago

Rare Eyewitness Sketch of American Revolutionaries Found Hanging in a Collector's Bedroom

The drawing, which the owner recently donated to a museum, depicts the North Carolina Brigade passing through Philadelphia in 1777 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 8 months ago

Two New Species of Killer Whale Should Be Recognized, Study Says

A couple of eastern North Pacific populations of orcas have qualities that set them apart, according to researchers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 8 months ago

See The Face of Emperor Wu, a Sixth-Century Chinese Ruler Brought to Life with DNA Analysis

Genetic analysis of DNA from his skeleton offers not only a first glimpse at his face, but also insight into his mysterious death | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 8 months ago

Five Programs Paving the Way for Gender Equality Worldwide

Around the globe, teams of women are taking on traditionally male-dominated roles | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 8 months ago