Smithsonian Magazine

Someone Donated These Mysterious Artifacts to a Thrift Shop. Experts Think They Might Date to Medieval Times

Later, a man who said he was an archaeologist stumbled across the treasures and flagged them to one of the thrift shop’s volunteers. The man, who has not been identified, recommended they get in touch ...
Smithsonian Magazine

A Massive Art Installation by the ‘Humans of New York’ Creator Has Taken Over Grand Central Terminal

For the first time ever, New York City’s Grand Central Terminal has been cleared of advertisements. In their place is Dear New York, a massive photographic art installation created by Brandon Stanton, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Watch These Shy, Adorable, Nocturnal Creatures Explore Their New Home After Being Reintroduced in Southwest England

Wildlife biologists recently released 19 pine martens into Exmoor National Park, where they've been locally extinct for more than a century ...
Smithsonian Magazine

This ‘Clock’ Could Warn of Hidden Stresses to Animals, Offering a Long-Sought Signal That a Population Is Nearing Collapse

The epigenetic clock measures biological age and could help scientists assess the health of polar bears, dolphins, baboons and other threatened creatures "while recovery is still possible" ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Three Scientists Receive Nobel Prize in Physics for Pioneering Work That Put Quantum Mechanics on a ‘Human Scale’

The trio’s research in the 1980s demonstrated a bizarre quantum phenomenon on a scale large enough to see and hold ...
Smithsonian Magazine

For the First Time Ever, You Can See Stunning, Centuries-Old Murals at England’s Oldest Hospital

The biblical scenes by William Hogarth are a highlight of the North Wing at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, which is now open for public tours ...
Smithsonian Magazine

On the Road in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

This article, originally titled "On the Road," is from the Fall 2025 issue of Air & Space Quarterly, the National Air and Space Museum's signature magazine that explores topics in aviation and space, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Rare ‘Pink Meanie’ Jellyfish Are Blooming Off the Coast of Texas

Scientists first spotted pink meanies in large numbers off the Florida Keys in 2000, as Ker Than reported for National Geographic in 2011. At the time, they thought the creatures were Drymonema ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Twelve Failed Constitutional Amendments That Could Have Reshaped American History

These proposals sought to change the United States' name, abolish the presidency and the vice presidency, and set a limit on personal fortunes, among other measures ...
Smithsonian Magazine

This 1837 Harvard Speech by Ralph Waldo Emerson Inspired a Generation of American Writers to Declare Their Independence From ‘the Courtly Muses of Europe’

On Thursday, August 31, 1837, shortly after noon, 215 members of Harvard University’s prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Society walked into the First Parish Meetinghouse not far from Harvard Yard in ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These Individuals Were Buried in Colombia Wearing ‘Death Masks.’ Researchers Just Digitally Removed the Skull Coverings to Reveal Their Faces for the First Time

See the portraits of a 6- or 7-year-old child, a woman in her 60s, and two young men who were buried in Colombia between the 13th and 18th centuries ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Scientists and Chefs Team Up to Make Yogurt From Ants

“Today’s yogurts are typically made with just two bacterial strains,” microbiologist Leonie Jahn, one of the paper’s authors, says in a statement. “If you look at traditional yogurt, you have much ...