smithsonianmag.com

Journal

The Race for Hydrogen Fuel Has Taken These Scientists to the Arctic Seafloor. But Can They Unlock Its Secrets Before It's Too Late?

On challenging expeditions, researchers have collected deep-sea bacteria that naturally produce hydrogen, exploring and documenting an ancie

smithsonianmag.com 20.10.26 · 191👁

Journal

Archaeologists Searching for Evidence of a Norse Church in Greenland Have Found 'the Smoking Gun' Near Erik the Red's Settlement

The site was first identified as a possible church decades ago, but researchers did not confirm that hunch until they found human remains th

smithsonianmag.com 20.10.26 · 91👁

Journal

The Burning of This French City Hall Was a 'Catastrophe for Heritage,' Tragically Reminiscent of the Notre-Dame Fire

French authorities say that the Limoges city hall, built in the late 19th century and celebrated as an architectural gem, was the victim of

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 68👁

Journal

Scientists Don't Know How Mars Acquired Its Two Moons. Japan Just Launched a Historic Space Mission That Will Fetch Samples to Find Out

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's spacecraft is expected to reach the Martian system in August 2027 and return samples from the moon

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 86👁

Journal

When a 19th-Century Scottish Landowner Blocked a Public Footpath, Locals Rebelled. Now, Archaeologists Have Unearthed Parts of His Controversial Wall

The rebellion against "Harvie’s Dyke," a pair of stone walls erected in the 1820s, was a triumph for the workers and middle classes of Glasg

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 79👁

Journal

How a Bunch of Broke Teachers Created a Hot New Way to Vacation

Generation Z and millennials are choosing home swapping over hotels as chic clubs launch to embrace the trend

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 194👁

Journal

Earth's True North and South Poles Have Wandered Four Times Over the Past 320 Million Years, Study Suggests

The phenomenon, which involves the geographic poles, is distinct from when the magnetic poles move. The planet's solid crust and molten mant

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 86👁

Journal

How Colorado's Wildlife Mitigation Efforts—Including the Largest Animal Crossing Overpass in North America—Are Making Everyone Safer

Animals can now cross a dangerous stretch of Interstate 25 thanks to new infrastructure, including fences, underpasses and a massive overpas

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 89👁

Journal

A Farmer in Egypt Stumbled Upon a Pink Stone and Called the Authorities. They Found the Remains of Two Colossal Statues of Ramses II Beneath the Property

Archaeologists recovered the head of one statue that might have measured nearly 28 feet tall. It could point to a major building site commis

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 76👁

Journal

Can a Cruise Capture 12,000 Years of Norwegian Heritage? Hurtigruten Certainly Thinks So

From Viking routes and fishing villages to Arctic wonders and UNESCO-listed fjords, discover Norway’s living heritage along the coast that c

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 65👁

Journal

Six Ways the Charleston Area Brings American History to Life

Three and a half centuries on, the Lowcountry still thrives in its own history

smithsonianmag.com 19.10.26 · 71👁

Journal

Rembrandt Turned Ancient Myths Into 'Supremely Human' Works of Art. An Upcoming Exhibition Traces the Inspiration He Took From Antiquity

"Rembrandt and the Ancients" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will unpack an "underexplored but vital" part of the Dutch master's career, p

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 87👁

Journal

Legend Has It That This Roman Emperor Established a Camp in Wales. A Newly Discovered Fort May Offer Proof That It Really Existed

An archaeologist has uncovered an ancient fortification linked to Magnus Maximus, a fourth-century ruler who is immortalized in the medieval

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 77👁

Journal

Wildlife Experts Stunned to Find That Bird Flu Killed Jackie, the Beloved, Internet-Famous Bald Eagle

Jackie died in August after receiving weeks of intensive care at the Ojai Raptor Center in California. The necropsy results are surprising,

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 109👁

Journal

Madrid's Renewed and Expanded Sorolla Museum Lets the Paintings of the Spanish 'Master of Light' Re-emerge Into Public View

Dedicated to the works of Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, the museum is centered around his historic home and studio. The first phase of its year

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 94👁

Journal

In the New Movie 'Whalefall,' a Cetacean Swallows a Diver Whole. The Sperm Whale's Remarkable Anatomy and Feeding Habits Shape the Survival Thriller

The film, an adaptation of Daniel Kraus’ 2023 novel, tells the story of a young man with an extremely challenging task: make it out of a wha

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 89👁

Journal

Dam Removals Are Bringing Fish Back Across the Northeastern United States, Striking Down One Tiny Barrier at a Time

While the demolition of big dams in the West gets more attention, many of these often-obsolete obstructions are also coming out of northeast

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 145👁

Journal

Microplastics Have Been Linked With Myriad Human Health Problems. Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out How They Harm the Body

Lab experiments suggest that tiny bits of plastic can react with water inside us to produce highly reactive molecules. They can lead to dama

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 92👁

Journal

Small Dogs Tend to Live Longer Than Big Dogs. Scientists Say They Might Finally Know Why—and It Goes to the Molecular Level

Larger breeds like Great Danes seem to accumulate changes to chemical tags on their DNA more quickly than tinier breeds, such as chihuahuas.

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 106👁

Journal

This Ancient Animal Looked Like a Platypus-Otter Hybrid. It's Providing Clues About the Origins of Mammalian Suckling and Swallowing

The roughly two- to four-pound predator lived alongside dinosaurs some 165 million years ago. A fossil found in northern China shows the str

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 94👁

Journal

Arthur Conan Doyle Based Sherlock Holmes on a Real-Life Scottish Surgeon Who Used Deduction to Diagnose Patients and Investigate Crimes

A new book chronicles the exploits of Joseph Bell, an Edinburgh lecturer whose lessons sparked the creation of the world's most famous detec

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 103👁

Journal

A Monumental 18th-Century Portrait of a Young Polynesian Man—a 'Supreme Work of Art'—Visits the U.S. for the First Time

The massive "Portrait of Mai" depicts the first Pacific Islander to visit Britain, a young man who became a quasi-celebrity in the 1770s aft

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 77👁

Journal

These 15 Photos Showcase the Intensely Brilliant Colors of Coral Reefs and the Creatures That Live Among Them

These images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest highlight the importance of the marine ecosystems and the many species they help su

smithsonianmag.com 16.10.26 · 76👁

Journal

It's Official: Timekeepers Have Gotten Rid of the Leap Second—and Introduced the Leap Hour Instead

Since 1972, experts have added 27 seconds to Coordinated Universal Time to keep it aligned with Earth's rotation, but it has been an imperfe

smithsonianmag.com 15.10.26 · 101👁