This 17-Year-Old Scientist Is Making an Acetaminophen Alternative That Is Less Damaging to the Liver

Chloe Yehwon Lee’s research could change the painkiller, known by the brand name Tylenol, for the better, ultimately reducing emergency room visits and cases of liver failure | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 30 minutes ago

Grizzly Bears Are Emerging From Their Dens in Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Parks

Adult males are waking up from their winter hibernation—and they're on the hunt for food | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 hour ago

Ancient, Parasitic Wasp Used Its Rear End Like a Venus Flytrap to Catch Insects and Lay Its Eggs on Them, Study Suggests

Scientists say they’ve never seen anything like this “truly unique” species, which was found encased in amber | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 hours ago

How Do Space Programs Get Their Names? And More Questions From Our Readers

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


@smithsonianmag.com | 5 hours ago

A Swirl of Intrigue Surrounds Swedish Painter Hilma af Klint's Newfound Status as an Icon of Abstract Art

Long overlooked, the artist made pioneering works in the early 20th century. Today she’s a global star—but some scholars insist she should be sharing the spotlight | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 6 hours ago

Sea Lion Bites Surfer Amid One of the Worst Outbreaks of Domoic Acid Poisoning That California Wildlife Rescuers Can Remember

Sea lions, dolphins and birds are sick and dying because of a toxic algae bloom in Southern California—and animal care organizations are overwhelmed by the scale | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 hours ago

Check Out Neptune's Beautiful Auroras, Captured for the First Time by the James Webb Space Telescope

Scientists suspected the ice giant hosted auroras—and had already observed them on Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. But an observation of Neptune's lights remained elusive for decades | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 22 hours ago

South Korea’s Worst Ever Wildfires Ravage Ancient Buddhist Temples and Menace Historic Villages

One monk said his old temple was ‘reduced to heaps of ashes,’ as the fires continue to rage across the country | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 22 hours ago

Dinosaur With Two Massive, Sloth-Like Claws Is on 'Another Level' of Weird—Even Among Its Unusual Group of Relatives

Paleontologists discovered Duonychus tsogtbaatari from fossils uncovered in 2012. It was a giant, feathered creature adapted to grasp and feed on vegetation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

See the Spectacular Winners of Smithsonian Magazine's 22nd Annual Photography Contest

By toying with perspective, this year’s best photos capture the sublime—and the uncanny | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

The Salty, Sweet and Irresistible History of Baseball's Most Famous Snack

Candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize? That, and so much more, is what you get with a Cracker Jack | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

3,700-Year-Old Bronze Age Stone Circle Discovered in an English Forest

An amateur archaeologist recently encouraged researchers to take another look at the Farley Moor standing stone, which was once part of a bigger ceremonial site | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

The Moving Story of Bringing Baseball Back to Manzanar, Where Thousands of Japanese Americans Were Incarcerated During World War II

In honor of his mother and others imprisoned at the internment camp, baseball player Dan Kwong has restored a diamond in the California desert | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

The Daring 19th-Century Reformers Who Sought to End Prostitution by Offering Financial and Emotional Support to Urban Sex Workers

Led entirely by women, the American Female Moral Reform Society gave material aid to those in need and pushed for men to be held accountable for frequenting brothels | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

This Ancient Pyramid Found in the Judean Desert May Have Been a Ptolemaic Tax Collector's Station

The official structure, stuffed with significant coins and Greek papyri, was likely later transformed into someone’s grave | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

Treasure Trove of 800 'Exceptional' Iron Age Artifacts Discovered in England

The collection, which dates to the first century C.E., includes items ranging from elaborately decorated horse harnesses to ornate cauldrons | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

Saturn's Rings Have 'Disappeared' in an Optical Illusion. Here's Why We See This Temporary Vanishing Act

Every 13 to 15 years, Earth crosses through Saturn’s “ring plane,” making the gas giant’s most iconic feature become nearly invisible | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

See the Stunning Sapphire Ring Belonging to a Medieval Bishop That Just Sold at Auction

Found by a metal detectorist in England, the item features a sapphire surrounded by two emeralds and two stones that are either garnets or rubies | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

Listen to the First Known Recording of Shark Sounds, a 'Weird' Audio Clip Captured at a Marine Lab in New Zealand

Researchers detected short clicking noises from rig sharks during handling in the lab, though they're not sure why or how the sound is produced | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

A Peculiar, Short-Lived Office at the Smithsonian Once Explored Reports of Bizarre Natural Phenomena

From surprising squirrel migrations to islands popping up out of nowhere, the organization’s scientists tracked strange events as they happened | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 day ago

Expert Rediscovers Painting by Renaissance Master Lavinia Fontana, One of the First Professional Female Artists

The artwork had been hiding in plain sight in the archives of a provincial museum in France, where it will eventually go on permanent display | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Curiosity Rover Discovers Largest Organic Compounds Ever Found on Mars, a Possible Sign of Ancient Life

The molecules may be remnants of fatty acids, which form cell membranes in Earth’s organisms, though they might have formed through a non-biological process | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Advanced Imaging Reveals Crossed-Out Words in the Poems of Alfred Tennyson

The 19th-century English poet was a "prolific reviser" who tested out many variations of his work before publication. A new study sheds light on his creative process | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

How an 18th-Century Female Physicist Broke Boundaries and Inspired the Generations Who Followed

Cristina Roccati graduated from the University of Bologna when few other Italian women earned degrees, and she taught physics for decades | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Lower-Class Workers May Have Been Buried in Ancient Egyptian Pyramids Alongside Elites

When researchers examined skeletons buried in present-day Sudan, they found evidence that some had belonged to workers who performed hard labor | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Discover the 14,000 Ancient Roman Artifacts Just Donated to the London Museum

Among the items are sandals, pottery and Britain's largest collection of Roman writing tablets, bearing IOU notes and gossip in stunningly well-preserved wax | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Murphy, the Beloved Bald Eagle 'Foster Dad' Who Went Viral for Incubating a Rock, Has Died Following Storms in Missouri

The 33-year-old raptor had parented two orphaned chicks since gaining international attention for sitting on a rock in 2023 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

What Archaeologists Are Uncovering About the Buddha in His Legendary Nepali Hometown

The birthplace of the Buddha beckons worshipers from around the world, as well as researchers hoping to dig up new evidence about the revered spiritual leader | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Gutenberg Bible Reunited With Rare 15th-Century Devotional Print Once Tucked Inside Its Pages

Two centuries after they were separated, the print and the Bible are on display together at the Huntington Library in California | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Getting Annoyed at Your Noisy Neighbor? Spiders Are, Too. New Research Finds They'll Build Webs Differently in Loud Conditions

In lab experiments, spiders changed how they constructed their webs in noisy environments, and rural and urban spiders responded differently | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

These Are the 20 Happiest Countries in the World

Finland took the top spot in this year's World Happiness Report, while the United States dropped to its lowest ranking yet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 days ago

Flannery O'Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next 'Gone With the Wind'

This year marks the writer's 100th birthday. Through fiction anchored in her Southern background and Catholic faith, O'Connor revealed how candid confrontations with darkness lead to moments of reckoning | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

For Some Women With Serious Physical Ailments, Mental Illness Has Become a Scapegoat Diagnosis

Patients with difficult-to-diagnose conditions like endometriosis are often sent home with diagnoses like anxiety or bipolar disorder | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

See 15 Captivating Images From the British Wildlife Photography Awards, From a Majestic Shark to Hungry Pigeons

The winning photographs highlight the diversity of animal and plant life in Britain as well as the often hidden behaviors of wild creatures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

Scientists Detect 'Unexpected' Oxygen in the Most Distant Galaxy Ever Found, Defying Ideas About the Early Universe

The findings suggest galaxies formed much more quickly than astronomers assumed | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

This Dusty Painting Turned Out to Be Gustav Klimt's Long-Lost Portrait of an African Prince

Experts think the renowned Austrian Symbolist painted the artwork in 1897. An art gallery in Vienna has priced it at $16 million | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

New Study Reveals How Humans Cultivated Avocados Over Thousands of Years

Research in Honduras shows that humans began selecting for larger fruits with thicker rinds as early as 7,500 years ago—long before maize arrived in the region | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

Traffic Noise May Be Making These Bright Yellow Birds More Aggressive in the Galápagos Islands, Study Suggests

Male Galápagos yellow warblers appear to be shifting their behavior and adjusting their calls in response to the din of passing vehicles | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

This Painting of Lounging Lions Was Hanging in a Family's Living Room. It Turned Out to Be an Original Delacroix

Titled "Study of Reclining Lions," the previously unknown work by the renowned French Romantic painter has been owned by a family in France since the mid-1800s | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 3 days ago

Women Played a More Important Role in Producing Medieval Manuscripts Than Previously Thought

New research suggests that women were the scribes of at least 1.1 percent of manuscripts in the Latin West between 400 and 1500 C.E. | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 days ago

How Far Did Neolithic Britons Carry Stonehenge's Most Famous Boulder?

In a find that provides insights into the remarkable abilities of these ancient humans, new research studying the chemical footprint of the rock identified the source to be more than 400 miles away | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 days ago

Explore Rome's Hidden Underworld, Where a City Lurks Beneath a City

A journey into the vast subterranean grounds preserved under Rome—from ancient aqueducts and apartment buildings to pagan shrines | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 4 days ago

Watch an Octopus Hitch a Ride on a Shark—an Unusual Duo Dubbed the 'Sharktopus'

Researchers in New Zealand captured the odd pairing on video, but they still don’t know how to explain the behavior | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 6 days ago

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 | 6 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 | 6 days ago

See Fantastic Frogs in 15 Fun Photographs

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


@smithsonianmag.com | 6 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 | 6 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 | 6 days ago