This Ancient Roman Statue Embodies the 'Perfect' Man. But Was It Stolen?

Italy wants a Roman replica of "Doryphoros" in the Minneapolis Institute of Art returned | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

1996 Dunblane Massacre Pushed the U.K. To Enact Stricter Gun Laws

A devastating attack at a Scottish primary school sparked national outcry—and a successful campaign for gun reform | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

A Makeshift Raft Speaks to the Risks Cubans Took to Escape Their Homeland

In the mid-1990s, tens of thousands left in boats or handcrafted floats facing treacherous waters in search of a better life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Lost Cities of the Amazon Discovered From the Air

Mapping technology cut through the canopy to detect sprawling urban structures in Bolivia that suggest sophisticated cultures once existed | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

U.S. Customs Agents Find Rare Moth Last Spotted in 1912

Larvae and pupae found in seed pods at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last fall hatched into Salma brachyscopalis Hampson moths | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Italian Art Police Recovered a Long-Lost Titian. But Is It Really the Renaissance Master's Work?

The recently confiscated painting is worth an estimated $7 million | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Wandering Salamanders Skydive From Some of the World's Tallest Trees

The amphibians stretch their limbs and tails to glide in a smooth style | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Who Was Pinocchio's Mysterious Blue-Haired Fairy?

Author Carlo Collodi may have drawn inspiration from one—or a few—female figures in his life | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

There’s No Place Like Home—but What’s the Right Place for Dorothy's Dress From 'The Wizard of Oz'?

Donated to the head of Catholic University’s drama department in 1973, the garment's ownership is now at the center of a legal dispute | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

This 12,000-Year-Old Wyoming Quarry Could Be North America's Oldest Mine

The state's archaeologists believe people quarried red ocher at Powars II starting 12,840 years ago | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

How Ukrainian and Russian Immigrants View the War From Afar

To residents of Southern California with ties to the Eastern European nations, the conflict feels close to home | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Escape From the Gilded Cage

Even if her husband was a murderer, a woman in a bad marriage once had few options. Unless she fled to South Dakota | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Readers Respond to the April/May 2022 Issue

Your thoughts on Italian villages, the legend of the music tree and the politics of wind power | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why the Smithsonian Adopted a New Policy on Ethical Collecting

For more than a century, museum artifacts were acquired in ways we no longer find acceptable. How can we repair the damage? | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Past, Present and Future of Using Ketamine to Treat Depression

The drug's initial successes have upended what many neuroscientists know about the brain and mental illness | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Real Story of Pinocchio Tells No Lies

Forget what you know from the cartoon. The 19th-century story, now in a new translation, was a rallying cry for universal education and Italian nationhood | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Holocaust-Era Comic That Brought Americans Into the Nazi Gas Chambers

In early 1945, a six-panel comic in a U.S. pamphlet offered a visceral depiction of the Third Reich's killing machine | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Boeing's Starliner Reaches the International Space Station

After two and a half years of issues, the spacecraft's successful arrival is an important next step in NASA's commercial crew program | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Scientists Recreate Cleopatra's Favorite Perfume

Reconstructing the scentscapes of bygone civilizations is anything but simple | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Dolphins May Use Coral and Sponges as Skin Care Items

The mammals rub on invertebrates, possibly to contact substances that might work like antibacterial creams | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

The Mouse That Squeaked Its Way Into Scientific History

Forget Dolly the Sheep. The birth of a mouse named Cumulina 25 years ago launched a genetic revolution | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

What 4,500-Year-Old Poop Teaches Us About the People Who Built Stonehenge

Fossilized feces found near the Neolothic monument suggests its builders chowed down on undercooked animal organs | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Global Cultures Have Always Worshipped—and Feared—Women

A new explores two sides of female divinity | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Shirley Temple Black's Remarkable Second Act as a Diplomat

An unpublished memoir reveals how the world’s most famous child actress became a star of the environmental movement | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

An Exclusive Preview of the New World War I Memorial

One sculptor and his team of artists take on the epic project of conveying the century-old conflict through a massive bronze installation | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

Why Does Moby-Dick Sometimes Have a Hyphen? (2015)

The hunt for the true story behind Melville's hyphen is as mysterious as the famous white whale | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 1 year ago

River Dolphins Spotted in Rare Playful Interaction With a Beni Anaconda

Researchers suspect that the dolphins were playing with the boa, but many questions about the behavior remain | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Homes Are Collapsing on Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Two unoccupied houses fell into the Atlantic Ocean on North Carolina’s Outer Banks this week | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Here’s What the Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way Looks Like

A team of scientists from around the world collaborated to get a visual peek of the supermassive object | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Scientists Now Know Why Sunscreen Harms Corals

A new study shows that, when exposed to sunlight, anemones turn a chemical found in sunscreen into a toxin | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Remembering the Unsung Egyptians Who Helped Discover King Tut's Tomb

A exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of the archaeological find by spotlighting the overlooked workers who made it possible | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

A New Statue of Jesus Is the World's Tallest—for Now

"Christ the Protector" is taller than Rio de Janeiro's most famous monument | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

How a Failed Assassination Attempt Pushed George Wallace to Reconsider His Segregationist Views

Fifty years ago, a fame-seeker shot the polarizing politician five times, paralyzing him from the waist down | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Ancient Rock Art Depicting Divine Procession Discovered in Secret Chamber Beneath Turkish House

It may have been created as a way for Neo-Assyrian officials to curry favor with local residents | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

The Population of Vaquita Porpoises Has Dwindled to Ten, but a Rebound Isn't Out of the Question

If protected from illegal fishing, scientists say the critically endangered species has enough genetic diversity to recover | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Some Saber-Toothed Cats May Not Have Been as Menacing as Previously Imagined

New research suggests that at least one species kept its dagger-shaped teeth inside, not outside, its closed mouth | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

What Do Hitmakers Have That One-Hit Wonders Don't

A new study finds that artists who had creative portfolios before an initial hit were more likely to continue creating hits | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Subjected to Painful Experiments and Forgotten, Enslaved 'Mothers of Gynecology' Are Honored With New Monument

The statues acknowledge the suffering of bondswomen overshadowed by the white doctor who operated on them without their consent | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Have Scientists Designed the Perfect Chocolate?

Part of a burgeoning field of 'edible metamaterials,' Dutch physicists found that 3-D printed spiral-shaped candies give the ideal eating experience | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Archaeologists Unearth 3,000-Year-Old Giant Statues in Sardinian Necropolis

The seven-foot statues have expressionless faces—and a mysterious history | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Ancient Roman Sculpture Likely Looted During WWII Turns Up at Texas Goodwill

Experts are debating who the bust portrays, but they agree on one thing—a thrift store is an unusual spot to find a millennia-old statue | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Porcine Virus May Have Led to the Death of First-Ever Pig Heart Transplant Patient

Doctors say this infection will likely be preventable in future pig heart transplants | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Treasure Hunter Unearths 2.38-Carat 'Frankenstone' Diamond

Adam Hardin discovered the impressive brown gem at an Arkansas state park | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Liquid Metal Could Transform Soft Electronics

Bend it. Stretch it. Use it to conduct electricity. Researchers are exploring a range of applications that harness gallium's unusual properties | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Inside the Effort to Expand Virtual Reality Treatments for Mental Health

Medical professionals are embracing the technology to help patients deal with PTSD, anxiety disorders and more | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Why Humans Sleep Less Than Their Primate Relatives

Ancient humans may have evolved to slumber efficiently—and in a crowd | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

Six New Miniature Frog Species Discovered in Mexico

The amphibians are found under leaf litter and hatch fully grown | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago

This Tiny Yellow Robot Spies on Antarctica's Emperor Penguins

The vehicle dubbed ECHO slowly rolls up to the birds without stressing them and may allow researchers to monitor their ecosystem more closely | Continue reading


@smithsonianmag.com | 2 years ago