The First Roman Aqueduct Ever Found in Slovakia Sports an Ancient Manufacturer’s Stamp and a Paw Print

Researchers found the channel on historic grounds near the country's capital, Bratislava | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

A Chicago-Sized Iceberg Broke Off From Antarctica, Revealing a Hidden Ecosystem Never Seen Before

When the A-84 iceberg calved in January, it unveiled a 209-square-mile swath of seafloor. Nearby scientists rushed to the scene for the “unprecedented” look below | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

See Fantastic Frogs in 15 Fun Photographs

Hop through these images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

Mysterious Dark Energy Might Be Weakening—and That Could Upend Predictions About the End of the Universe

Astronomers thought dark energy was a constant. But now, findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument provide even more evidence that it may be fluctuating | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

Archaeologists Discover Tomb of Unknown Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh

The king's mummy and sarcophagus are missing from the royal tomb, which is the second of its kind unearthed this year | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

Can Researchers Find Remedies for the Problems Created by High-Altitude Pregnancies?

In people not adapted to life at altitude, the sparse oxygen can impair fetal growth, causing issues that can last a lifetime | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

Can Parrot Brains Teach Us About Human Speech? Study Finds Budgies Have Language-Producing Regions That Resemble Our Own

The parakeets commonly kept as pets could offer fresh clues about vocal learning and potential treatments for speech disorders | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

America’s 250th Anniversary

To mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting the people, places and events that shaped the United States’ fight for independence from Great Britain | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

Discover Patrick Henry's Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary 'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death' Speech

Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the height of Henry's influence. But the politician also served in key roles in Virginia's state government after the American Revolution | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

This Flamin' Hot Cheeto Is Shaped Like a Pokémon Charizard. It Just Sold for Nearly $90,000 at Auction

The "Cheetozard" resembles an orange dragon-like figure from the popular Japanese franchise. Its seller had purchased it on eBay for $350 in 2019 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Voters Crown the 'World's Ugliest Animal' as New Zealand's Fish of the Year

The blobfish is specially adapted to life in the deep ocean, but it looks like a shapeless blob when brought to the surface. It beat out the other candidates with its "unconventional beauty" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Astronomers Find Four New Exoplanets Orbiting a Neighboring Star, the 'White Whale' of Planet Seekers

More than 60 years after the first debunked discovery of a planet orbiting Barnard’s Star, the closest single-star system to Earth, a pair of telescopes has revealed multiple rocky worlds around it | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Archaeologists Unearth the Torso of a Rare Buddha Statue—Nearly 100 Years After They Found Its Head

The two pieces of the 800-year-old sculpture were discovered roughly 160 feet away from each other at the Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Ancient Greek and Roman Statues Were Not Only Beautiful, but Also Smelled Nice, Too

New research suggests that sculptures were perfumed with sweet-smelling fragrances such as rose and beeswax | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Learn the Secret Histories of These Fascinating CIA Artifacts, From Pigeon Cameras to Cufflink Compasses

With the launch of its new website, the CIA Museum is bringing its sprawling collection of spy artifacts out of the shadows and into the public eye | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

The Swarm of People Intent on Saving Our Bees

An army of experts and citizen scientists devoted to documenting and protecting the country’s native bees is telling us a lot about the hidden lives of these insects | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

The Real Story Behind 'Wolf Hall' and the Fall of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's Most Controversial Adviser

Based on Hilary Mantel's novel "The Mirror & the Light," the last installment in the acclaimed television series chronicles the last four years of the statesman's life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

The First Big Data Drop From the Euclid Space Telescope Unlocks a 'Treasure Trove' of Insights on the Universe's Mysteries

The European Space Agency’s “dark universe detective” discovered millions of new galaxies and offers potential clues about dark matter | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

Paleontologists Stumble Across 15-Million-Year-Old Fish Fossils That Are So Well Preserved, Their Last Meals Are Intact

Discovered in Australia, the fossils represent a new species that lived during the Miocene epoch and highlight how iron-rich rock can protect specimens over time | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

You Can Spend a Night in the Last House Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Before His Death in 1959

The plans for the RiverRock house in northeastern Ohio were left on Wright's drawing board when he died. But whether the project counts as a true "Wright" is up for debate | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

4,000-Year-Old Clay Tablets Show Ancient Sumerians' Obsession With Government Bureaucracy

The artifacts were excavated from a city dating back to the third millennium B.C.E. by researchers from Iraq and the British Museum | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

Iguanas Floated a Whopping 5,000 Miles From North America to Fiji on Rafts of Plants in a Record-Setting Trip, Study Suggests

Since most iguana species live in the Americas, biologists have long debated how they could have arrived on the remote Pacific island in the first place | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

A Century Ago, Pioneering Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Showed Us What Stars Are Made Of

The trailblazing Harvard scientist, who documented the dominance of hydrogen and helium in stars, is still inspiring researchers today | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

Why Did Vincent van Gogh Paint 26 Portraits of a Postman and His Family While Staying in the South of France?

The artist met Joseph Roulin, a 47-year-old postal worker, in the late 1880s. The series of artworks will be reunited at upcoming exhibitions in Boston and Amsterdam | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

See These Newly Restored Massive Paintings Devoted to a Hindu God

The artworks, part of a new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, help shed light on a traditional religious practice | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

Australian Man Makes History by Living With a Titanium Heart for More Than 100 Days Before Receiving a Transplant

The man, who was in his 40s and suffering from severe heart failure, was also the first person to leave the hospital with a titanium heart. He is recovering well after getting a new, donor heart | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Historic Frank Lloyd Wright Home Added to List of Endangered Architecture in Chicago

The J.J. Walser Jr. House, one of five Wright-designed homes in the city, has fallen into disrepair, prompting calls for preservation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

After Nine Months in Space, the Starliner Astronauts Are Finally Coming Home. Here's How to Watch Live

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are making a 17-hour journey from the International Space Station and will splash down near Florida this evening | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Archaeologists Discover Mosaics of Two Fighting Cupids and a Mysterious Inscription at an Ancient Greek City Hall

New research is shedding light on the bouleuterion building that once stood in the ancient city of Teos, located in present-day Turkey | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

See Last Week's Stunning Eclipse From the Moon in Photos Captured by the Blue Ghost Lander, Now at the End of Its Mission

The spacecraft carried out the longest commercial operation on the moon to date—and also made history during its rare chance to document this celestial event | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Two Trailblazing Spacewalks in 1965 Opened the Door to Decades of Astronauts Pushing the Limits of Their Capabilities

Since those early steps, extravehicular activity has helped provide the solutions to many problems that astronauts face in space | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

The Art Institute of Chicago Is Returning a 12th-Century Buddha Sculpture to Nepal

Museum officials say they are voluntarily repatriating the object after learning that it had been stolen from Guita Bahi in the Kathmandu Valley | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Sea Levels Rose More Than Expected in 2024, According to a NASA Analysis

Ocean warming and thus thermal expansion played a major role in last year's increase | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Studying This Slow-Moving Alaskan Landslide May Help Avert Future Disaster

If the landslide at the Barry Arm fjord collapses, its falling ice and rock could generate a devastating 650-foot-high tsunami | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Cougar Cubs Spotted in Michigan for the First Time in More Than a Century

Two kittens, believed to be between 7 and 9 weeks old, were photographed by a motorist in the western Upper Peninsula | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

These Were the Most—and Least—Visited National Parks in 2024

America's national park sites saw a record number of visitors last year. Great Smoky Mountains, Zion and Grand Canyon national parks are perennial favorites among travelers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

Could This Prehistoric Burial Site Have Influenced the Construction of Stonehenge?

Researchers say that Flagstones, a large circular enclosure in southern England, dates to around 3200 B.C.E.—which means it predates Stonehenge by several hundred years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

James Webb Space Telescope Reveals That Most Galaxies Rotate Clockwise

This preferred direction of spin might be due to one of two reasons: either our entire universe exists in a black hole, or astronomers have been measuring the universe's expansion incorrectly | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

Restoration Reveals the Secrets of One of Winston Churchill's Most Beloved Paintings

Long thought to be a family heirloom, the artwork was actually gifted to the British prime minister in 1942 during the darkest days of World War II | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

Avian Flu Is Rapidly Spreading Across Antarctica

A new expedition offers insights on the deadly virus’ impact in the region | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

This Intrepid Team of Bee Lovers Are Doing Everything They Can to Save Rare Native Species From Extinction

Iridescent sweat bees, hairy-faced mining bees, tiny Perdita minima the size of a gnat. Thanks to swarms of apiary enthusiasts, native species are finally getting the buzz they deserve | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

How the Irish Pub Became One of the Emerald Isle's Greatest Exports

The Dublin-based Irish Pub Company has designed upwards of 2,000 pubs in more than 100 countries around the globe | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

A Hunter Was Out Looking for Deer in West Texas. He Found a Rare Mammoth Tusk Instead

Discovered in the drainage area of a creek bed, the tusk was initially thought to be "just an old stump" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 18 days ago

A City Fit for a Queen: Tracing Queen Charlotte’s Passions Through Charlotte, North Carolina

Uncover the enduring impact of Queen Charlotte's legacy on the city's historic heritage. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 19 days ago

Archaeologists Unearth 1,600-Year-Old Jewish Ritual Bath—the Oldest Ever Found in Europe

Located in Ostia Antica, the mikvah dates to the late fourth or early fifth century C.E. Researchers say it's the earliest discovery of its kind outside the Middle East | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

Check Out These Rare Images of Deimos, One of Mars' Mysterious Moons

The spacecraft Hera's photographs are some of the few visuals ever captured of the Martian moon's dark side | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

Researchers Unearth Oldest Known Human Facial Bones Ever Found in Western Europe

The upper jawbone and partial cheek bone represent a mysterious unknown species that lived in present-day Spain between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years ago, according to a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

How the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra Performs Music Using Carrots, Turnips, Radishes and Pumpkins

The band has now secured a world record for playing more than 340 concerts on instruments made from produce. After each concert, the band members serve soup to the audience | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago