The Timeless Draw of Decorating Cookies

Intricate designs painted by biscuit artist Ella Hawkins are part of a lengthy baking tradition | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Did Air Pollution Influence Famous Impressionist Painters?

Artists like Turner and Monet painted the smog they saw in London and Paris, a new study says | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Bird Flu Causes the Death of an 11-Year-Old in Cambodia

A father and daughter both contracted avian influenza, the first cases in the country since 2014 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Is This Wooden Artifact an Ancient Roman Phallus?

Thirty years ago, researchers thought that the 2,000-year-old object was a darning tool | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Andy Warhol Exhibition Opens in the Saudi Desert

Critics say the show helps bolster the regime's reputation—and obscure its human rights violations | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Amateur Fossil Hunter Discovers New Species of Giant Petrel in New Zealand

The now-extinct birds, which lived roughly three million years ago, likely used their hooked bills to feast on seal carcasses | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Destructive 'Super Pigs' From Canada Threaten the Northern U.S.

The animals root through crops, prey on native species, cause soil erosion and carry pathogens that can spread to humans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

A Window Opens on China’s Avant-Garde With This Explosion of Photographic Art

The Hirshhorn Museum displays dynamic works of Chinese self-expression | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The River That's Kept Alaska Guessing for More Than a Century

The Nenana Ice Classic, started in 1917, is a high-stakes guessing game over the date, hour and minute of the ice breakup on the Tanana River | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

David Hockney Is the Subject of His Own Immersive Experience

Using projections and voiceovers, "Bigger & Closer (Not Smaller & Further Away)" examines the renowned artist's career | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

See Rare Images of Early 20th-Century Antarctic Expeditions

For the first time, hundreds of photos, lantern slides and glass plate negatives are available to the public | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Scientists Discover an Emperor Penguin Colony From Poop Stains in Satellite Images

Researchers pinpointed the group of roughly 500 birds in West Antarctica | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

This Tiny Welsh Island Is Europe's First Dark Sky Sanctuary

Ynys Enlli joins just 16 other sites of its kind across the world | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

You Can Buy Hot Dog Fingers and Pet Rocks From 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

A24 is selling props and costumes from the Oscar-nominated film at an upcoming charity auction | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Webb Telescope Finds Evidence of Massive Galaxies That Defy Theories of the Early Universe

The six “universe breakers” appear much larger than what scientists thought was possible at that time | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Experience the Wonder of Migration at the National Zoo’s New Bird House

Following a six-year renovation, the revamped exhibition will open March 13 with three indoor aviaries | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The African Diplomats Who Protested Segregation in the U.S.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy publicly apologized after restaurants refused to serve Black representatives of newly independent nations | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Archery May Have Arrived in Europe Thousands of Years Earlier Than Thought

New archaeological research suggests Homo sapiens used bows and arrows 54,000 years ago in present-day France | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Smithsonian Will Temporarily House 77 Repatriated Artifacts Amid Unrest in Yemen

Until the items can be returned, the National Museum of Asian Art will keep them safe | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

High-Altitude Balloons Aren’t Just for Spying. Here’s How Scientists Use Them

Students, scientists and hobbyists are beginning to worry for their research as balloons are increasingly shot down | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Parisian Opera House That Inspired 'Phantom of the Opera' Becomes an Airbnb

For just one night, two travelers will spend the night in the Palais Garnier’s Box of Honor | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

French Court Orders Musée d’Orsay to Restitute Masterpieces Stolen During World War II

Descendants of art dealer Ambroise Vollard won a legal battle over works by Renoir, Cézanne and Gauguin | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Is This Elementary School Near Pittsburgh the Future of Education?

Ehrman Crest Elementary and Middle School is an innovative blend of children’s museum and classroom | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

These Tsunami Detectives Search for Ancient Disasters

The gigantic waves have been decimating coastlines since time immemorial. We ignore these prehistoric warnings at our own peril. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Looted Gold Jewelry Returns to Cambodia

Now back in Phnom Penh, the 77 items may have been worn by Angkorian royalty | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Shoes Carry Poop Bacteria Into NYC Buildings, Study Finds

With "absolutely astonishing" amounts of fecal bacteria on city sidewalks, an expert recommends removing shoes before entering homes | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Archaeologists Find Elite Residences at Mexico's Chichén Itzá

The housing complex is the first discovery of its kind in the ruined Maya city | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

A Long Low Tide Dries Up Venice’s Smaller Canals

A high-pressure anticyclone is driving the situation, making it difficult to get around the carless city | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

This Man Underwent Brain Surgery 3,500 Years Ago

Researchers discovered a punctured skull below the floor of a home in what is now Israel | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Can Green Hydrogen Help Power Latin America?

In anticipation of future demand, several projects are underway in the region to produce this clean energy source | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How Ukrainians Are Defending Their Cultural Heritage From Russian Destruction

The Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative and its partners are aiding in the fight to protect the country's history and to document attempts to erase it | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Patient Cured of HIV After Stem Cell Transplant, Researchers Say

He is at least the third person cured in this way, which would likely be too risky for patients who don’t also have cancer | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The First Fossil Finders in North America Were Enslaved and Indigenous People

Decades before paleontology’s formal establishment, Black and Native Americans discovered—and correctly identified—millennia-old fossils | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Rare 1908 Harley-Davidson Becomes Most Expensive Motorcycle Sold at Auction

The restored bike, which a collector discovered in a Wisconsin barn, still has many of its original parts | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Genetically Modified Trees Are Taking Root to Capture Carbon

A start-up created the plants to help combat the climate crisis, but they have so far only been tested in a lab setting | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Visitor Accidentally Shatters $42,000 Jeff Koons Sculpture at Art Fair

Collectors are now interested in buying the pieces of "Balloon Dog (Blue)" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

World's Oldest European Hedgehog Found by Citizen Scientists

The species faces several threats, but the 16-year-old mammal is “really good news for conservation” | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Hong Kong Is Giving Away 500,000 Free Plane Tickets

The government hopes to boost tourism in the wake of the pandemic and civil unrest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Scientists Are Injecting Alligator Genes Into Catfish

The technique could help prevent infections in the millions of pounds of farmed catfish raised for human consumption | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

A Brief History of Pancakes

From ancient Greece to Shrove Tuesday celebrations, the sweet or savory flat cakes have long been a culinary staple | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why Are Purple Martins Declining in the United States?

Mercury contamination in their Amazonian wintering grounds may play a role | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

What You Should Know About the Mardi Gras Indians

For more than a century, New Orleans' Black residents have donned Native-inspired attire to celebrate Carnival | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

What Is Paczki Day?

The Fat Tuesday tradition centered around eating fried, filled Polish pastries is celebrated across the Midwest, but especially in Chicago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Forgotten 1980s Battle to Preserve Africatown

A new book tells the definitive history of an Alabama community founded by survivors of the slave trade | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Machu Picchu Reopens Following Weeks of Civil Unrest

Authorities, protesters and businesses came to an agreement to ensure the site's safety | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Dead Fish and Chemical Smells Plague Ohio Community Two Weeks After Train Derailment

Health department officials will establish a clinic for residents experiencing symptoms | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Oldest Schoolhouse for Black Children Moves to Colonial Williamsburg

The school educated free and enslaved Black children between 1760 and 1774 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

World's Oldest Near-Complete Hebrew Bible Goes to Auction

The Codex Sassoon could break auction records, becoming the most valuable historical document ever sold | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago