These Photographs of Spirituality in America Will Speak to Your Soul

A new volume from the National Museum of the African American History and Culture explores religion in the Black community | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

A 5,000-Mile-Wide Mass of Seaweed Is Heading for Florida and Mexico

Known as sargassum, the algae can hurt tourism as it piles up on beaches and starts to rot | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

A Nostalgic Trip Awaits at the World's Largest Lunchbox Museum

Take a journey back to your elementary school cafeteria with a visit to the Georgia outpost | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

1,000-Year-Old Gold Earrings and Silver Coins Unearthed in the Netherlands

Lorenzo Ruijter, a Dutch treasure hunter, discovered the cache with his metal detector | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

DNA Buried in Sediment Helps Scientists Picture Past Ecosystems

Examining the evidence offers a way to look back at now damaged environments | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Man's Rare Tickborne Illness Was Caused by an Unexpected Bacteria

Until now, the bacteria from a lone star tick had not been reported to cause tickborne relapsing fever | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Coca-Cola Uses Famous Paintings By Warhol, Munch and More to Sell Soda

The company's new ad campaign, "Masterpiece," brings iconic artworks to life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Fans Worry They Won't Live Long Enough to See Richard Linklater's 'Merrily We Roll Along'

The director is shooting his adaptation of the Sondheim musical over 20 years | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Officials Delay Vote to Rename Colorado's Mount Evans

The mountain is named for John Evans, who oversaw the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Stone Flakes Made by Monkeys Raise Questions About Early Human Tools

The flakes accidentally produced by long-tailed macaques resemble those thought to have been made by early humans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Meet the Man Spending 100 Days Underwater for Science

Joseph Dituri aims to set a world record, conduct research and inspire students to conserve the oceans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How Artists' Day Jobs Shape Their Craft

A new exhibition examines the generative relationship between work and creativity | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Workers Stumble Upon Lost Courbet Painting in University Basement

After a years-long authentication process, “La Source du Lison” goes on display in Philadelphia | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

See the First Complete Map of an Insect's Brain

Over 12 years, scientists charted more than 3,000 neurons and the nearly 550,000 connections between them in a larval fruit fly | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Traute Lafrenz, Last Surviving Member of Anti-Nazi Resistance Group the White Rose, Dies at 103

During World War II, the rest of the movement's core members were executed for distributing leaflets critical of the Nazi regime | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

California's 'Zombie Forests' Are Cheating Death—but Maybe Not for Long

A fifth of conifer forests in the state’s Sierra Nevada mountains are stranded in unsuitably warm conditions | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

What Earth Would Have Really Looked Like in Adam Driver's '65'

If you were to travel back in time you’d find a mix of the familiar and strange on our planet | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

This Breakthrough Could Make Longer-Lasting Batteries and Better Power Grids—if It Works

A new superconductor could revolutionize energy, but doubts surround the researchers, who published a similar paper in 2020 that was later retracted | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Postal Service Unveils Forever Stamp Honoring Toni Morrison

A ceremony at Princeton celebrated the Nobel laureate whose words transformed American literature | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Toxic Red Tide Is Back in Florida—Here's What to Know

Caused by an overgrowth of algae, the blooms can be harmful to humans, pets and marine wildlife | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

David Chipperfield Wins Pritzker Prize, the Highest Honor in Architecture

The civic-minded architect is respectful of the past as he pushes his field forward | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out How Animals Follow a Scent to Its Source

Uncovering the varied strategies that animals employ could help engineers develop robots that accomplish similar tasks | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Thousands of Artists Reimagine Vermeer's 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'

A Dutch museum selected winning works by five artists—and one A.I. image generator | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Scientists Name New Fungus-Killing Compounds After Keanu Reeves

The bacteria are highly effective against a common plant pest and a pathogen that infects humans | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

This A.I. Used Brain Scans to Recreate Images People Saw

The technology, which was tested with four people, is still in its infancy but could one day help people communicate or decode dreams, researchers say | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Sideshow Magician Who Inspired Ray Bradbury—Then Vanished

Experts have been unable to verify the existence of Mr. Electrico, whose 1932 electric chair act supposedly affirmed the young author's interest in writing | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Smiling Sphinx Statue Unearthed in Egypt

Researchers suspect the Roman-era limestone figure may depict the emperor Claudius | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Bumblebees Learn to Open Puzzle Boxes From Each Other

New findings might suggest the insects have a capacity for culture, researchers say | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Indie Film Studio A24 Buys Off-Broadway Theater

The studio made its first foray into live performance with the purchase of the Cherry Lane Theater | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why Scientists Are Studying the Stray Dogs Living at Chernobyl

A new study is a first step toward understanding how radiation exposure might affect DNA | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

'The Great British Bake Off Musical' Comes to London's West End

A new stage adaptation aims to capture the heart of the beloved baking show | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Historic Treaty Protects Marine Life in the 'High Seas'

The United Nations agreement will help conserve 30 percent of the planet’s oceans by 2030 | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Adventurer Elise Wortley Recreates the Journeys of Famous Female Explorers

For historical accuracy, the 33-year-old Brit wears only the cotton dresses, yak wool coats and hobnail boots that her predecessors would have had | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How Lunar Cycles Guide the Spawning of Sea Creatures

Researchers are starting to understand the biological rhythms that sync worms and corals to phases of the moon | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why Newborn Chicks Love Objects That Defy Gravity

A clever new study shows the cute critters will often scuttle toward a video of a rising ball | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Ancient DNA Sheds Light on Europe's Hunter-Gatherers

Researchers looked at the genomes of several hundred people who lived before, during and after the last ice age | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

One Woman's Quest to Eat 244 Scones Across U.K. Is Now Complete

Over ten years, Sarah Merker has tried—and ranked—scones at National Trust sites in England, Wales and Northern Ireland | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How Vacationers on Antarctic Cruises Are Filling in Scientific Gaps

From ships and submarines, citizen scientists can access remote areas ripe for new discoveries. But does the research make up for the climate impact? | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Earliest Known Horseback Riders

New research indicates that humans were riding horses as early as 5,000 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Some Whales Use a Creaky 'Vocal Fry' Voice to Find Food

Like humans, toothed whales have three vocal registers: chest, falsetto and vocal fry | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

For 100 Years, the Alaska Railroad Has Been a Critical Artery Pumping Passengers and Freight Through the State

Along with celebrations, the centennial offers a chance to consider the effects the rail system has had on the state and its people | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Japanese American Artists Recall the Trauma of Wartime Incarceration

Smithsonian podcasts explore the legacy of Executive Order 9066 and the camera that almost didn’t make it to the Juno spacecraft launch | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Most Enigmatic Works in Art History

A new book highlights 100 artistic curiosities, from the nude "Mona Lisa" to portraits of a dog-headed saint | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How Edith Wilson Kept Herself—and Her Husband—in the White House

A new book about the first lady reveals how she and the ailing President Woodrow Wilson silenced their critics | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Judy Heumann, Mother of the Disability Rights Movement, Dies at 75

After becoming New York City's first teacher in a wheelchair, Heumann spent decades advocating for Americans with disabilities | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Kids Discover That EpiPens May Not Work in Space

After returning from space, the life-saving drug epinephrine had partially changed into poisonous benzoic acid | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Researchers Examine 3,500-Year-Old Brown Bear Preserved in Siberian Permafrost

Found in 2020, the animal was originally declared to be a cave bear from the Ice Age | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Dutch Artists Compete to Paint Like Vermeer in New Reality Show

The contestants are tasked with recreating six of the old master's lost works | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago