Who Will Design London's First Permanent HIV/AIDS Memorial?

Five artists have been shortlisted for the project, which will be located near the site of the U.K.'s first dedicated AIDS ward | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

How Painting Portraits of Freedom Fighters Became William H. Johnson’s Life’s Work

A new exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum brings together the Black Modernist painter’s most famous series for the first time in more than 75 years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

See the Messages NASA Will Send to Space on Its Upcoming Mission to Europa

A metal plate affixed to the Europa Clipper is engraved with a poem, tributes to scientists and waveforms representing the word "water" in 103 languages, among other drawings | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

The Real History Behind Apple TV+'s 'Manhunt' and the Search for Abraham Lincoln's Killer

A new series dramatizes Edwin Stanton's hunt for John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators in the aftermath of the president’s 1865 assassination | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 14 days ago

Spanish Police Shut Down a Crime Ring Accused of Selling Fake Banksy Artworks

The suspects allegedly recreated the famous street artist's work using spray paint and cardboard to rake in over $10,000 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Gabriel García Márquez's Sons Publish Novel the Author Wanted to Destroy

The famed novelist had instructed his family never to publish drafts of "Until August," written as he struggled with dementia during his final years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Modern Indian People Have a Wide Range of Neanderthal DNA, Study Finds

Genomes of Indian people today reveal links to a prehistoric migration and a group of Iranian farmers, as well as several new sequences from the Neanderthal genome | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

View This Year's 60 Stunning Finalists From the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

The photographs come from all corners of the world, capturing the beauty of everyday life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

U.S. Has 'No Evidence' of Alien Technology, New Pentagon Report Finds

A review of government investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena since 1945 found that "most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

How Ancient Civilizations Reacted to Eclipses

Communities may have thought the celestial events were messages from the gods, a reason to abandon a settlement or a cue to end a war | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Archaeologists Unearth the Long-Lost Top Half of an Enormous Ramses II Statue

A German researcher found the lower section of the Egyptian pharaoh's likeness nearly 100 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

A 1,000-Year-Old Viking Sword Emerges From an English River

Discovered by a magnet fisher, the weapon dates to between 850 and 975, during the Vikings' violent conquest of Britain | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 15 days ago

Don't Look Up: Cicadas Produce High-Speed Jets of Urine

The noisy, winged insects produce pee the same way that much larger animals do, according to a new study | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

'Strange' New Prehistoric Bird Discovered in China and Named for David Attenborough

The proto-bird lived some 120 million years ago and did not have teeth—a trait more similar to birds of today than to birds of its time—sharpening scientists' understanding of avian evolution | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

Why a 1-Cent Postage Stamp Could Sell for $5 Million

If predictions are accurate, the sale would be the highest ever for an American postage mark | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

You Could Run a 'Penguin Post Office' in Antarctica

Three new hires will spend five months living among gentoo penguins and sorting postcards at the world's southernmost post office | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

From the Inventor of Mass-Market Paper Bags to a Scientist Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Polio, Meet Five American Women Whose Remarkable Achievements Have Long Been Overlooked

The inaugural exhibition at the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum seeks to shine light on lesser-known historical figures | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

The Dirty Secret About How Our Hands Spread Disease

The human hand is an incredible tool—and a deadly threat | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

Pro-Palestinian Activists Damage Balfour Portrait at Cambridge University

The 1917 Balfour Declaration was a pivotal declaration of British support for a "national home for the Jewish people" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

This Russian Noblewoman, Beloved by Catherine the Great and Benjamin Franklin, Embodied the Age of Enlightenment

Princess Dashkova led research institutes, wrote plays and music, and embarked on a Grand Tour of 18th-century Europe | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 16 days ago

Asian Elephants Bury Their Dead, New Research Suggests

In India, five dead calves were found buried on their backs in irrigation ditches, with evidence that multiple herd members had participated in the burials | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

A Lost Gershwin Musical Has Been Found Nearly 100 Years After It Was Last Performed

A researcher found a box containing 800 pages from the composer's first musical, "La, La, Lucille" | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Mesoamericans May Have Drunk Tobacco During Rituals 1,000 Years Ago

New research reveals evidence of nicotine residue on vases unearthed in Guatemala | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

A History of Total Solar Eclipses Seen by Astronauts From Outer Space

Since the Gemini 12 mission in 1966, a handful of people have seen these stunning celestial events from orbit—or watched the moon’s shadow pass over Earth | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

With New Holocaust Museum, the Netherlands Reckons With Its Past

The venue, which opens this week, memorializes the Dutch Jews who suffered at the hands of the Nazis | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 17 days ago

Scientists Grow Elephant Stem Cells in Key Step Toward Woolly Mammoth 'De-Extinction'

The team's lofty goal of "resurrection" is still far from reality, but scientists say the advancement in understanding cells could help with elephant conservation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

Found in a Polish Forest, This Dagger Belonged to an Elite Warrior 4,000 Years Ago

A metal detectorist came across the copper artifact while searching for objects from World War I and World War II | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

Fossil Hunter Discovers Gigantic Crab in New Zealand—a New, Extinct Species

The massive creature is 8.8 million years old, and its modern descendants in Australia can grow to be the weight of a human toddler | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

You Can Spend the Night in the Secret Library Tucked Inside St. Paul's Cathedral

Airbnb is offering two guests the chance to sleep amongst 22,000 books in an area normally off-limits to visitors | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

Hundreds of Thousands of Salmon Die After Release in Northern California's Klamath River

The juvenile Chinook salmon likely died from pressure changes as they swam through an old tunnel in the Iron Gate Dam, slated to be removed this year as part of a massive demolition project | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

This High Schooler Invented an A.I.-Powered Trap That Zaps Invasive Lanternflies

Using solar power, machine learning and her family’s patio umbrella, 18-year-old Selina Zhang created a synthetic tree that lures the destructive species | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

Goodwill Listed This Rare Gold Lego Piece for $14.95. It Sold for $18,101

Lego created just 30 of the 14-karat gold Kanohi Hau masks for a giveaway in 2001 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

See Incredible Insects Up Close With These Creepy-Crawly Photos

Bug out with 15 shots of insects and arachnids of all shapes and sizes from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

See Incredible Insects Up Close With These Creepy-Crawly Photos

Bug out with 15 shots of insects and arachnids of all shapes and sizes from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

How the Atomic Bomb Set Brothers Robert and Frank Oppenheimer on Diverging Paths

For one of them, the story ended with a mission to bring science to the public | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

The Moroccan Sultan Who Protected His Country's Jews During World War II

Mohammed V defied the collaborationist Vichy regime, saving Morocco's 250,000 Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 20 days ago

Mr. Darcy's Famous Wet Shirt Sells for $25,000

Actor Colin Firth’s costume from the BBC's “Pride in Prejudice” doubled auction house estimates | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

Stone Tools Found in Ukraine May Be the First Evidence of Early Humans in Europe

The 1.4-million-year-old rocks may have belonged to Homo erectus, and they shed light on migrations of human ancestors, a new study suggests | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

Stone Tools Found in Ukraine May Be the Oldest Evidence of Early Humans in Europe

The 1.4-million-year-old rocks may have belonged to Homo erectus, and they shed light on migrations of human ancestors, a new study suggests | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

A Rare Gray Whale, Believed Extinct in the Atlantic for 200 Years, Has Been Spotted off New England

Scientists say a lack of Arctic sea ice due to climate change could have created a passageway for the mammal to travel from the Pacific Ocean | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

These French Cheeses Are at Risk of Extinction

A lack of microbial diversity could eventually spell the end of cheeses like Camembert | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

What It Takes to Complete the Ultimate Skywatching Endurance Challenge

The "Messier marathon" prompts space hobbyists to spot 110 celestial objects in one night, and the best time to try it is in March | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

Paris Is Preparing for the Summer Olympics With a New Exhibition at the Louvre

"Olympism" explores the history of the ancient Olympics and France’s influence on the modern games | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

The Forgotten Sisters Behind 'Happy Birthday to You'

Mildred and Patty Hill wrote the popular song's melody, but their contributions to American culture have long been overlooked | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

Before Beyonce and Taylor Swift Ran the World, There Was Joan Baez

Today’s artists—especially women—are sometimes criticized for speaking out, but for Baez, art and activism were indivisible | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 21 days ago

Scientists Reject Proposal to Define the Anthropocene, a Geological Age Marked by Human Activity

Experts had suggested a new epoch started in the mid-20th century, but the recent vote demonstrates how tough it is to pinpoint when humans' impact on the planet began | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 22 days ago

Very Rare Yellow-Billed Loon Visits the Las Vegas Strip, Hangs Out in the Bellagio Fountains

The out-of-place bird prompted the hotel to put its famed fountain show on hold before biologists captured and moved the bird—one of the country's ten rarest—to better habitat | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 22 days ago

This Banksy Mural Was Salvaged From the Wall of a London Office Building

Conservators have been working for a year to restore "Happy Choppers," which is going to auction on March 20 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 22 days ago