These 3,000-Year-Old Treasures Were Forged From Meteoritic Iron

New research reveals that two Bronze Age artifacts from the Treasure of Villena contain iron from a meteor that hit a million years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

A Female Stingray That Hasn't Had a Mate in Eight Years Is Mysteriously Pregnant. Is a Shark the Father?

Though the round stingray, named Charlotte, shares her aquarium tank with two male sharks, experts say it is impossible for a shark to impregnate a ray | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Eight Decades Ago, a Ship Vanished Into the Depths of Lake Superior. Why Did the Captain Remain Aboard?

The wreck of the S.S. Arlington has finally been found—but it provides no answers about Captain Frederick Burke's final moments | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Archaeologists Were 'Amazed' to Find That a 1,700-Year-Old Chicken Egg Still Has Liquid Inside

Discovered in England, the egg is thought to be the only one of its kind—and analysis of its contents could shed new light on its origins | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Scientists Detect Water on the Surface of Asteroids for the First Time Ever

Using data from a retired NASA mission, researchers identified unique signs of water molecules on two space rocks, unlocking new insight into how water may have arrived on Earth | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

A Lunar Lander Carrying Jeff Koons' Art Is Flying Toward the Moon

The spacecraft, which finally launched on February 15, is expected to touch down on February 22 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Readers Respond to the January/February 2024 Issue

Your feedback on John Coltrane, turtle conservation and George Washington's tent | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

How a 1924 Immigration Act Laid the Groundwork for Japanese American Incarceration

A Smithsonian curator and a historian discuss the links between the Johnson-Reed Act and Executive Order 9066, which rounded up 120,000 Japanese Americans in camps across the Western U.S. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Musée d'Orsay Breaks Attendance Records With Interactive Vincent van Gogh Exhibition

The show exploring the artist's final works featured an interactive recreation of the painter trained on hundreds of his letters | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

This Ancient Cave Art Passed Survival Information Across 130 Human Generations in Patagonia, Study Suggests

Dating to as early as 8,200 years ago, the paintings may have maintained collective memories during an extremely dry period in history | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Who Was Georgina Hogarth, Charles Dickens' 'Best and Truest Friend'?

Unpublished letters reveal new insights into the baffling relationship between the English novelist and his sister-in-law | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Did the People of Easter Island Invent a Writing System From Scratch?

Radiocarbon dating has found that a tablet inscribed with the mysterious rongorongo script predates European contact | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Great Apes Love to Tease, Poke and Pester, Suggesting the Urge to Annoy Is Millions of Years Old

The desire to get a rise out of others is a 13-million-year-old trait humans and great apes share with a common ancestor, new research suggests | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Could Volcanoes Power Our Planet? And More Questions From Our Readers

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


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

What Does a Solar Eclipse on Mars Look Like? New, Breathtaking Images, Caught by NASA's Perseverance Rover, Give Us an Idea

The robot recently observed each of the Red Planet’s moons passing across the sun in the Martian sky | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Fantastical Art Joins Hundreds of Blooming Orchids to Shed Light on Conservation Efforts

Smithsonian Gardens’ 28th annual orchid exhibition is underway at the Kogod Courtyard | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

To Make Tiffany & Co. a Household Name, the Luxury Brand's Founder Cashed in on the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Craze

Charles Lewis Tiffany purchased the surplus cable from the 1858 venture, turning it into souvenirs that forever linked his name to the short-lived telecommunications milestone | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

How the Dazzling Las Vegas Strip Rose Up From the Desert

The story behind the glitzy stretch of highway that became the destination for America’s most sublime—and most sordid—aspirations | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Pioneering Artist Angelica Kauffman Put Women at Center Stage

The history paintings of this great Neoclassical artist prove the wonderful benefits that inclusion can bring | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Ken Burns Turns His Lens to Leonardo da Vinci

An upcoming two-part documentary will be the filmmaker's first foray into a non-American subject matter | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

CDC Considers Dropping Five-Day Covid Isolation Guideline

While no official decision has been made, symptomatic patients might be able to stop isolating if they are fever-free for 24 hours and are beginning to feel better under the proposed change | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Climate Activists Stage Protest in Front of Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus'

Two men taped images of flooding in Tuscany to the Renaissance painting's protective glass | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

These Ancient Celts Were Buried With Their Animals

Some remains found in the 2,000-year-old graves were likely food offerings, but others may have been much-loved companions | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Experts Recreate Looming 43-Foot-Tall Statue of Constantine Using 3D Modeling

Although only fragments of the 1,700-year-old colossus remain, experts hope to paint a fuller picture for the public with a new installation at Rome's Capitoline Museums | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Celebrate Valentine’s Day With Heartwarming Snapshots of True Love

These 15 photos capture affection that goes beyond candy and flowers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

This Remotely Controlled Robot Will Conduct a Simulated Surgery on the International Space Station

Robot surgeons could treat astronauts on long space missions—but they could also be used on Earth in places where surgeons aren't present, such as rural areas or war zones | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Venus

Our sister planet’s cloudy exterior gave it an aura of mystery—until humanity developed the technology to probe past the veil | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

How This German Chocolate Shop Created a Sweet Way for Young Admirers to Pass Love Notes

For more than 150 years, Heidelberg locals and tourists have enjoyed the "Studentenkuss," or Student Kiss—a praline nougat on a waffle wafer covered in dark chocolate | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Where Did Butterflies Come From? This Scientist Is On the Case

Akito Kawahara has spent his life devoted to lepidoptera. Now he’s correcting the record on where they first evolved | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

These Women Were the Real Geniuses Behind the Iconic Tiffany Lamps

A chic light fixture reveals how female designers remade the Tiffany brand—and went largely uncredited for nearly a century | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Recovering the Lost Aviators of World War II

Inside the search for a plane shot down over the Pacific—and the new effort to bring its fallen heroes home | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Oregon Resident Catches Rare Case of Plague, Likely From Their Cat

The patient was treated during the earlier stages of disease, so the community faces little risk, according to health officials | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Metal Detectorist Finds a Rare 3,000-Year-Old Dress Fastener

The gold accessory is one of only seven artifacts of this kind discovered in England and Wales | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Stone Age Wall Discovered Beneath the Baltic Sea Helped Early Hunters Trap Reindeer

Made up of some 1,600 stones, the submerged “Blinkerwall” might be Europe's oldest known megastructure | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Romans Stored Hallucinogenic Seeds in a Vial Made From an Animal Bone

Ancient scholars wrote about the medicinal, poisonous and psychoactive properties of black henbane seeds | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

A.I. Learns Words From a Human Baby's Perspective, Using Headcam Footage

With only limited training, the model could correctly identify certain objects, suggesting some elements of learning language are not innate to humans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

At the Swiftposium, Scholars Gather to Analyze a Superstar's Astonishing Influence

The University of Melbourne welcomed academics from all over the world for its Taylor Swift conference | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

What We've Learned Through Sports Psychology Research

Scientists are probing the head games that influence athletic performance, from coaching to coping with pressure | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Inside the Biggest Art Fraud in History

A decades-long forgery scheme ensnared Canada’s most famous Indigenous artist, a rock musician turned sleuth and several top museums. Here's how investigators unraveled the incredible scam | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

What a Teacher's Letters Reveal About Robert Smalls, Who Stole a Confederate Ship to Secure His Freedom From Slavery

Harriet M. Buss' missives home detail the future congressman's candid views on race and the complicity of Confederate women | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

The Case for Destroying Old Forest Roads

Can demolishing abandoned dirt paths point the way to a more sustainable future? | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

New Olympic Medals Feature Fragments of the Eiffel Tower

This summer's Paris Olympic and Paralympic medals will be decorated with pieces of iron from the landmark | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

A 'Very Rare' Kind of Space Rock Fell in Germany—and Scientists Recovered the Pieces

Analyses revealed the asteroid was an “aubrite,” a classification that applies to only 80 of 70,000 previously found meteorite fragments | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Earth’s Migratory Animals Are in Peril, According to U.N. Report

The Convention on Migratory Species warns that many birds, mammals and fish face numerous threats, but they can be saved | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Locals Work to Save Mysterious Canadian Shipwreck Before It Disappears Into the Ocean

The 100-foot-long wreck, which likely dates to the 19th century, washed up off the coast of Cape Ray in January | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

See What Charles Darwin Kept in His 'Insanely Eclectic' Personal Library, Revealed for the First Time

On the English naturalist's 215th birthday, more than 9,000 titles from his expansive collection are now accessible online | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

The Oscars Are Adding a New Award for Casting

When it debuts in 2026, the casting award will be the Academy's first new category since 2001 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago

Air Pollution Makes Flowers Smell Less Appealing to Pollinators, Study Suggests

Nocturnal hawk moths are less likely to visit primroses in air polluted by nitrate radicals, which break down important wild fragrances, researchers find | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 9 months ago