Geologists Unravel the Mysteries of Australia's Rare Pink Diamonds

The dazzling, blush-colored gems likely emerged from Earth's mantle some 1.3 billion years ago, when a supercontinent named Nuna broke up, study suggests | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Australian Museum Will Return Prized 2,500-Year-Old Vase to Italy

The institution will also repatriate two additional looted items discovered during investigations | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Four Amazing Impacts of This A.I.-Powered Bird Migration Tracker

A reimagined tool called BirdCast is helping birders, scientists and even farmers | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Bob Ross' Very First On-Air Painting Is for Sale

Priced at nearly $10 million, "A Walk in the Woods" was the subject of the artist's 1983 television premiere | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Human Cells Display a Mathematical Pattern That Repeats in Nature and Language

New research suggests adult humans have between 28 trillion and 36 trillion cells, which follow a commonly seen distribution of size and mass | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

'The World’s UnFair,' a New Exhibition Calling for the Return of Indigenous Land, Comes to Queens

Located on an empty lot, the immersive art show has a simple message: "Give it back" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why the National Zoo Is Saying Goodbye to Its Giant Pandas

Staff remain hopeful that members of the threatened species will be back in Washington in the near future | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Manet's 'Olympia' Comes to America for the Very First Time

The painting scandalized 19th-century viewers and heralded the dawn of modern art | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Songbirds That Learn to Make New Sounds Are the Best Problem-Solvers

Birds—and humans—are vocal learners, meaning they can imitate new vocalizations and use them to communicate | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Girl Celebrating 7th Birthday Finds 2.95-Carat Diamond

Aspen Brown stumbled upon the pea-sized, golden-brown gem while visiting an Arizona park | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Stone Age Engravings of Animal Tracks Reveal New Details in Namibia

Indigenous tracking experts determined the species, sex, age group and leg of depicted animals in hundreds of carvings of footprints | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

UNESCO Adds Sites in Kyiv and Lviv to List of World Heritage in Danger

The agency has been trying to protect Ukraine's historic sites since the beginning of the war with Russia | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How an Ohio Cow Pasture Gave Rise to a Monument to Aviation History

The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, celebrates 100 years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How Pterosaurs Might Inform the Next Generation of Flight

After paleontologists cracked the secrets of the ancient flying reptiles, researchers are thinking about how to harness their methods | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Mysterious 3,800-Year-Old Canaanite Arch and Stairway Unearthed in Israel

Researchers don't know the purpose of the brick arch, which leads to a set of stairs descending deeper underground | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

X-Wing Model From Original 'Star Wars' Movie Found in a Garage

The 20-inch miniature is going to auction, where bidding starts at $200,000 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

MDMA Moves Closer to Approval for PTSD Treatment After New Clinical Trial

If endorsed by the FDA, the drug would become the first psychedelic approved for mental health treatment in the United States | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why the Pulitzer Prizes Are Expanding Eligibility to Non-U.S. Citizens

The prestigious awards will soon be open to permanent residents and those who call the U.S. their "longtime primary home" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Borscht Belt Was a Haven for Generations of Jewish Americans

A new exhibition examines the more than 1,000 resorts and hotels that dotted New York's Catskills Mountains and provided relaxation, dancing and laughs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Humans Have Exceeded Six of the Nine Boundaries Keeping Earth Habitable

Scientists find we are “well outside the safe operating space for humanity” in a new study meant to assess the health of our planet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How One Robber Baron's Gamble on Railroads Brought Down His Bank and Plunged the U.S. Into the First Great Depression

In 1873, greed, speculation and overinvestment in railroads sparked a financial crisis that sank the U.S. into more than five years of misery | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

NASA Report Finds No Evidence of Extraterrestrial Origin for UFO Sightings

However, no explanation can be ruled out, per the agency, which also appointed its first director of research into the subject | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

These 15 Photos Explore the Diversity and Rich Culture of Latino Americans

For Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through October 15, enjoy these highlights from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Found in an Attic, Princess Diana's Iconic 'Black Sheep' Sweater Sells for $1.1 Million

The red jumper’s design came to symbolize the princess' relationship with the royal family | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Smart Toilets and Licking Rocks: Ig Nobel Prizes Celebrate Strange Scientific Achievements

Winning research projects reanimated dead spiders and examined how anchovy sexual activity influences ocean mixing | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Divers Recover Remains of WWII Pilot, 80 Years After He Crashed in the Mediterranean

Underwater archeologists in Malta worked with the U.S. government to identify the airman, a 22-year-old from California | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

'Spectacular' Polar Ring Galaxies May Be More Common Than Thought, Study Suggests

Astronomers have found two candidates for this rare type of galaxy, surrounded by a halo of hydrogen gas—and they could provide insights about dark matter | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Where Can You Find the Oldest Cat Door on Earth?

The little opening for felines has a surprisingly long history | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Alleged Alien Corpses Displayed to Mexican Congress Did Not Convince Scientists

Self-described UFO expert Jaime Maussan, whose claims of extraterrestrials have been debunked in the past, said the specimens were "non-human" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Archaeologists Discover More Than 100 Ancient Drawings in a Spanish Cave

Many of the works, estimated to be at least 24,000 years old, employ a rare clay painting technique | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Lab-Grown Meat Can Be Kosher or Halal, According to Religious Authorities

The approvals bring cultivated meat one step closer to becoming a feasible alternative to traditional meat for a wider audience | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Stolen van Gogh Painting Worth Millions Returned in an Ikea Bag

Arthur Brand, the "Indiana Jones of the art world," negotiated the recovery of an 1884 canvas taken from a Dutch museum in March 2020 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

One of Europe’s Most Endangered Birds Is Bouncing Back

Twenty years of habitat restoration has helped the once critically endangered Azores bullfinch | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

When the Nazis Massacred Greek Civilians to Send a Warning to Those Who Resisted

Eighty years ago, German soldiers killed an estimated 500 Cretans in Viannos and Ierapetra in retaliation for an attack by local partisans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Leading Decongestant in Cold and Flu Medicines Doesn't Work, FDA Advisory Panel Says

Phenylephrine, a popular ingredient in over-the-counter remedies, is no better than a placebo, per the panel | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

When California and Florida Attracted Settlers With Promises of a Perfect Climate

Today, they rank at the top of lists of U.S. states most at risk from climate change | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

An Upcoming Opera Will Tell the Story of Ukraine's Kidnapped Children

Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, the work will be based on the accounts of mothers who traveled 3,000 miles to get their loved ones back | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

NASA Astronaut Sets Record for Longest Trip to Space by an American

When Frank Rubio returns from the International Space Station on September 27, he will have spent 371 consecutive days in space | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Following British Explorer Isabella Bird's Footsteps Through the Rockies, 150 Years Later

The intrepid Victorian-era author proved that a lady’s life could be in the mountains, and I am forever grateful for that | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why Germany's Wild Boars Are Radioactive

Fallout from nuclear tests conducted in the mid-20th century may contribute to the high levels of radiation seen in the animals today, a new study finds | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Ancient Mosques Damaged in Morocco Earthquake

A UNESCO representative says the country has suffered an "inestimable loss" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Amateur Metal Detectorist Makes 'Gold Find of the Century' in Norway

Erlend Bore unearthed a trove of 1,500-year-old gold jewelry—just months after he picked up the hobby | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Museum Drops Ban on Photographing Picasso's 'Guernica'

After enforcing the rule for three decades, officials say that lifting it will prevent overcrowding and attract younger audiences | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Do Other Animals Dream?

Researchers are finding signs of multiple phases of sleep all over the animal kingdom, including some that look very much like REM | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

What to Know About the New Covid-19 Vaccines, Now Recommended by CDC Advisers

Experts say the latest boosters are effective against emerging variants including EG.5.1 and BA.2.86 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Ernest Hemingway and His Wife Survived Two Plane Crashes Just One Day Apart

The novelist recounted the harrowing ordeal in a letter, which just sold for $237,055 at auction | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

This Exoplanet May Be a Distant Ocean World, James Webb Telescope Finds

The observatory detected evidence of methane and carbon dioxide—and tentatively observed a molecule that, on Earth, is only made by living things | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

See the Whimsical Trolls Taking Over the Pacific Northwest

Made with recycled materials, the large-scale sculptures are meant to encourage visitors to get out into nature | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago