You Can Own a Rare Nuclear Bunker Built in England in the 1950s

The underground hideout, which will go to auction this month, was designed to shelter three people for two weeks in the event of an attack | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

These Tiny Fish Will Assess Themselves in a Mirror Before Taking on a Foe

New findings suggest bluestreak cleaner wrasse understand how their body size stacks up against a rival | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Volunteer Discovers 1,000-Year-Old Ring on the Last Day of an Excavation in Scotland

The artifact likely belonged to the Picts, who occupied a large settlement in what is now the town of Burghead | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Man Discovers 900-Year-Old Stone Carving Beneath His House in Germany

The rare picture stone may depict Otto of Bamberg, the bishop who helped spread Christianity throughout the region | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

A Bloody Battle Depicted in 'Braveheart' Dealt a Devastating Blow to the English on This Day in 1297

At the Battle of Stirling Bridge, William Wallace defeated the superior armies of Edward I, cementing his status as one of Scotland's most iconic heroes | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Watch Eels Make a Great Escape From a Fish's Stomach After Being Swallowed Alive

For the first time, scientists witnessed Japanese eels free themselves from the stomach of a predatory fish in X-ray video footage | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

How to Spot NASA's Solar Sail Demonstration Streaking Through the Night Sky

Amateur astronomers can use NASA's mobile app to find the ACS3 for themselves—a reflective satellite that could appear as bright as the star Sirius | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Darth Vader Didn't Come Alive Until James Earl Jones Gave Him a Voice

The prolific American actor, who died on September 9, recorded his dialogue for the first "Star Wars" film in less than three hours | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

The National Museum of American History Collects Mariska Hargitay's Costume From 'Law & Order: SVU'

The Smithsonian museum accepted a detective suit and badge worn by the actress' character, Olivia Benson, on the long-running procedural | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

The National Museum of American History Collects Mariska Hargitay's Costume From 'Law and Order: SVU'

The Smithsonian museum accepted a detective suit and badge worn by the actress' character, Olivia Benson, on the long-running procedural | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

The Painting That Inspired the Term 'Impressionism' Debuts in America

Monet's "Impression, Sunrise" anchors an exhibition commemorating the birth of the artistic movement 150 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

A Massive Effort Is Underway to Rid the Baltic Sea of Sunken Bombs

The ocean became a dumping ground for weapons after Allied forces defeated the Nazis. Now a team of robots and divers is making the waters safer | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Why a Japanese Shogun Brutally Executed 55 Catholics on This Day in 1622, Driving the Country's Christians Underground

During the Great Genna Martyrdom, missionaries and laypeople alike were burned alive or beheaded. The violence coincided with Japan’s push to expel all foreign influences | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Boeing's Starliner Lands Successfully, but Without Its Astronauts on Board

The troubled spacecraft conducted a “bull's-eye landing,” but NASA officials still say they made the right decision to leave its astronauts on the ISS out of an abundance of caution | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Boston Museum Returns Looted 2,700-Year-Old Necklace to Turkey

The gold and carnelian artifact is nearly identical to other jewelry found at an archaeological site in western Turkey | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

See New Detailed Photos of Mercury From a Spacecraft's Closest Flyby Yet

BepiColombo, a joint European-Japanese mission, completed its fourth close pass of the innermost planet last week, and it will enter Mercury’s orbit in 2026 to learn more about its mysteries | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Phoenix Shatters Heat Record With 100 Consecutive Days Above 100 Degrees

Forecasts show no relief from the extreme heat over the next few weeks, which promises to extend the streak far beyond the previous high of 76 days set in 1993 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

You Can Stay at the Club Where the Beatles Played Some of Their Earliest Gigs

One-time Beatle Pete Best and his brother have turned the legendary Casbah Coffee Club into an Airbnb | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

An Ancient Asteroid Smashed Into Jupiter's Moon Ganymede and Tipped It Over, Study Finds

The cataclysmic impactor was 20 times the size of the rock that wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Money Is Art in an Exhibition at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum

"Money Talks" features currency from around the world spanning thousands of years—from ancient coins and historic banknotes to contemporary NFTs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Robots Are Coming to the Kitchen. What Does This Mean for Everyday Life?

Can automated restaurants still be community and cultural spaces, or will they become feeding stations for humans? These and other questions loom as new food tech reaches the market | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Readers Respond to the July/August 2024 Issue

Your feedback on escaped hippos, coastal defenses and ancient cultures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

When a Trailblazing Suffragist and a Crusading Prosecutor Teamed Up to Expose an Election Conspiracy

An unlikely duo exposed political corruption in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1914—and set a new precedent for fair voting across the country | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

A Century Ago, a Mob Brutally Attacked an American Diplomat in Persia. His Death Shaped U.S.-Iran Relations for Decades

The July 1924 killing of Robert Imbrie fueled the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and set the stage for both a CIA-backed 1953 coup and the 1979 Iran hostage crisis | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

The Celtic Origins of Trick-or-Treating

The spine-tingling roots of a mischievous Halloween tradition | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

An Asteroid Hit Earth's Atmosphere Today—Here's Why Astronomers Say That's a Good Thing

Asteroid 2024 RW1 was discovered early this morning, marking the ninth time in history that humans have detected an approaching space rock before its impact | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Workers Uncover an Underground Chamber Sealed for More Than a Century Near the National Mall

The dry cistern was discovered by construction crews working on the Smithsonian Castle’s renovation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Scientists Solve a 'Murder Mystery' After a Pregnant, Tagged Shark Got Eaten

It's rare for apex predators to become prey, but researchers suggest they've documented the first known case of a porbeagle shark getting consumed by another animal | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

A Viking-Era Vessel Found in Scotland a Decade Ago Turns Out to Be From Asia

Experts used X-ray technology to link the artifact—part of the famous Galloway Hoard—to an Iranian silver mine | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Missing for Four Decades, This Unusual Double Portrait of Rubens and van Dyck Has Finally Resurfaced

The 17th-century painting, stolen in a 1979 heist, turned up at an auction in France in 2020. It recently returned home to Chatsworth House in England | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Nine Mythical Places Archaeologists Think May Have Actually Existed

Historical evidence is helping to pinpoint the exact locations of fabled sites, from King Arthur’s castle to Solomon’s Temple | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

These Colorful Drawings Defy Expectations of Shaker Art

Colorful, intricate drawings on view at the American Folk Art Museum are anything but simple | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Why Did Dinosaurs Have Horns? It May Not Have Been Simply for Defense

Triceratops and its relatives may have evolved the structures for fighting, impressing mates, and more | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

The Stratocaster Became Rock Music’s Most Iconic Guitar 70 Years Ago

The plucky design behind the legendary instrument that forever changed the look of rock 'n' roll | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

How Black Americans in the South Boldly Defied Jim Crow to Build Business Empires of Their Own

The Great Migration transformed the nation—but millions of African Americans never left their Southern communities. Their unlikely success makes their stories all the more remarkable | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

New Photographs Reveal Decay of the Titanic and Collapse of Its Iconic Railing

An expedition this summer documented signs of deterioration on the wreck, but it also rediscovered the Diana of Versailles statue, the centerpiece of the ship’s first-class lounge | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Miners Unearth a Mummified Woolly Rhino in Siberia, With an Intact Horn and Soft Tissue

The rare discovery will help scientists find out more about the prehistoric animal’s development, diet and living conditions | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Archaeologists in Iceland Can't Agree Which Animal This Mysterious Viking-Era Toy Depicts

The tenth-century stone figurine, alternatively identified as a pig, a bear or a dog, sheds light on the lives of long-ago Norse children | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

This Decorated Samurai Sword Found in Rubble Beneath Berlin May Have Been a Diplomatic Gift

The short blade’s hilt was made in Edo Japan, and its journey to a German cellar destroyed during World War II is a mystery | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

This Massive New Guidebook Will Forever Change the Way You Look at Trees

Written by Smithsonian botanist W. John Kress, the book details more than 300 North American tree species in words, maps and photographs—and why we shouldn't take them for granted | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Remarkable Documents Lay Bare New York’s History of Slavery

A newly digitized set of records reveal the plight and bravery of enslaved people in the North | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Experts Discover 1,700 Ancient Viruses in a Tibetan Glacier

Studying how the viruses, which do not infect humans, adapted to previous major temperature shifts could hold clues to how modern viruses will react to the current climate change | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

General MacArthur's Dramatic WWII Comeback Began in Australia. Trace His Journey From the Outback to the Queensland Coast

After a harrowing escape from the Philippines, the prickly American famously vowed "I shall return" from a remote train station before marshaling Allied forces to victory | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

To Trick the Nazis, This Master of Deception Invented Fake Fleets and Armies

During World War II, British officer Dudley Clarke led A Force, a Cairo-based military unit that fed false information to the Germans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

A Dolphin Keeps Biting People in Japan. Researchers Think It's Just Lonely

A series of dolphin attacks in Wakasa Bay is believed to be the doing of a lone male bottlenose dolphin looking for friends or a mate—but finding only humans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

London Unveils Design for the City's First Memorial to Victims of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The towering bronze sculpture by Khaleb Brooks will be installed at West India Quay in 2026 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Scientists Identify the Gene Behind Thorny Roses and Other Prickly Plants

A recent study could pave the way to cultivating various thornless plants, making them easier to grow and potentially more widely available | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago

Workers Find Mysterious Letter Hidden Inside a Concrete Column at London's National Gallery

John Sainsbury hoped the note would be found when the "unnecessary columns" were finally demolished | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 months ago