Backpack has a quiet presence on the river—and his size suggests his peaceful strategy is effective.

Meet This Year’s Chonky Champion of Fat Bear Week: Backpack, a Laid-Back 20-Year-Old Male Who’s a ‘Stoic Presence on the River’

The brown bear, who now weighs between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds after fattening up on salmon, earned his nickname as a cub. When he was little, he enjoyed riding on his mom's back as she swam across a river

Sarah Kuta

How did Europeans build enormous, complex cathedrals before they had complex mathematics?

At the Smithsonian

How Did Medieval Builders Construct Complex Cathedrals Before Advanced Mathematics? And More Questions From Our Readers

September/October 2026

Smart News

After a 12-Year Absence, Alexander Calder’s Mammoth Last Sculpture Finally Returns in Full to Capitol Hill

October 1, 2026 12:44 p.m.

Four Beluga Whales Died Weeks After Being Rescued From a Defunct Marine Park in Canada. Were the Animals Too Sick to Be Moved?

October 1, 2026 11:34 a.m.

In an Exciting but ‘Brutal’ Find, a 5,000-Year-Old Arrow Emerges From Norway’s Rapidly Melting Mountain Ice

October 1, 2026 10:39 a.m.

Meet This Year’s Chonky Champion of Fat Bear Week: Backpack, a Laid-Back 20-Year-Old Male Who’s a ‘Stoic Presence on the River’

October 1, 2026 9:00 a.m.

The First Female Pharaoh? An Old Photo of Ancient Hieroglyphics Highlights the Status of One of Egypt’s Earliest Queens, Researchers Say

October 1, 2026 8:00 a.m.

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Latest Features

A close-up view of a 1798 Gilbert Stuart portrait of Louis-Marie, Viscount de Noailles

History

The Marquis de Lafayette’s Brother-in-Law Participated in Three Revolutionary Wars, Supporting American Independence but Brutally Suppressing an Uprising by Enslaved Africans in Haiti

October 1, 2026 11:13 a.m.

With so many food products now touting added protein, consumers have been left wondering how much is really necessary.

Science

Is More Protein Always Better? Despite the Craze Around the Nutrient, Research-Backed Evidence About Its Benefits Is Complicated

September 30, 2026

All of the sites on the Shikoku Pilgrimage are associated with Kobo Daishi, a Japanese monk who lived during the ninth century and founded Shingon, a major school of Buddhism that focuses on the attainment of enlightenment during a practitioner’s lifetime.

Travel

Japan’s Smallest and Least-Populated Major Island Is a World of Pilgrimages, Delicious Food and Plenty of Forest Bathing

September 29, 2026

The Icebergs, Frederic Edwin Church, oil on canvas, 1861

At the Smithsonian

‘The Icebergs’ Is One of Frederic Edwin Church’s Most Spectacular Paintings. For Decades, No One Knew Where It Was

September 29, 2026

Work on Elizabeth I’s letters has focused on identifying the English queen’s “voice” within them. Yet they were often the products of collaboration between Elizabeth and her secretaries.

History

Who Wrote Elizabeth I’s Most Scathing Letters? New Research Suggests the Tudor Queen’s Male Secretaries Revised Her Correspondence to Emphasize Her Temper

September 28, 2026

On Scotland's uninhabited island of Staffa, Fingal’s Cave is formed from tall basalt columns created by ancient volcanic activity.

Travel

Seven Places in Europe That Legends Say Were Built by Giants, Devils or Dragons

September 25, 2026

Uncovering the past. Understanding the present. Informing the future.

Give a Gift Renew

September/October 2026

Travel The Marvelous Museums of Mexico City

The ancient capital has plenty of artwork and fossils, if that’s what you like. Or tour the writing rooms of a Nobel winner, the fortified home of an exiled Russian revolutionary and towers of skulls

OPENER - A giant Atlantic cockle lies open on the beach in Fort Myers, Florida, while a beachcomber searches for shells in the background.

Science Who Dwells in a Shell?

Before they become sandy souvenirs, the baubles in the bubbles of the shoreline serve as a veritable fortress for creatures like clams, mussels and conchs

Innovation Solving the Long Covid Puzzle

Long Covid saps the strength and vitality of patients, who have little recourse to fight it. A team of specialists—including an afflicted researcher working mostly from her bed—is looking for answers

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Smart News

Two Thousand Years Ago, Julius Caesar Conquered the Settlement That Eventually Became Paris. Archaeologists May Have Just Found It

Smart News

Meet the Adorable and Tiny Tilcayo, the First Brand-New Cat Species Identified in More Than a Century

Smart News

Scientists Invent a Digestible, Paper-Based Battery That Can Power Swallowed or Implanted Medical Devices

History

How Lizzie Borden Got Away With Murder

Smart News

Researchers in Turkey Have Unearthed an Ancient Fragment Inscribed With the World’s Oldest Peace Treaty

Special Report

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

A Smithsonian magazine special issue in celebration of the nation's 250th

View Full Report

Featured Stories

Arts & Culture

Georgia O’Keeffe Ignored Advice to Mimic Great European Masters. Her Goal Instead Was to Be a Great American Painter

O’Keeffe’s New Mexico studio Ghost Ranch. Opposite, a 1918 photo portrait by future husband Alfred Stieglitz.

History

Born in 1810, Margaret Fuller Was Labeled a Child Prodigy. She Later Used Her Intellect to Ask Important Questions About Women’s Role in America

A portrait of Fuller, inspired by her 1845 Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which argued for equality of the sexes. The book’s opening illustration featured mystical symbols of harmonizing opposites, including the Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail.

History

The American Revolution’s Overlooked Influence? Physics. How ‘Common Sense’ Spelled Out Astronomical Expectations for a New Nation

After Isaac Newton, above, revolutionized celestial mechanics, admirers such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Paine, left, saw in Newton’s natural laws a model for democratic self-government.

Photo of the Day

Against the towering dune’s golden edge, the ghostly trees of Deadvlei reach into eternity. Time has stripped them bare, yet they endure — silent witnesses to a vanished world. In this stillness, light and shadow dance across the desert floor, revealing beauty in desolation.

Silence of Deadvlei

By Antwan Janssen

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Smithsonian Podcast: There’s More to That

Smithsonian magazine covers history, science and culture in the way only it can — through a lens on the world that is insightful and grounded in richly reported stories. In There’s More to That, meet the magazine’s journalists and hear how they discover the forces behind the biggest issues of our time.

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Latest Episodes

The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana

April 23, 2026 | 34 minutes

A Photographer’s Glimpse Into the Dwindling World of the Cascade Red Fox

April 9, 2026 | 32 minutes

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams’ ‘Remember the Ladies’ Letter

March 26, 2026 | 31 minutes

Venomous Snakes Represent a Serious Public Health Problem. Scientists Are Biting Back With a Groundbreaking Antidote

March 12, 2026 | 28 minutes

History

Mysterious ‘Anomalies’ Have Been Detected Beyond King Tut’s Tomb. Could They Be Secret Passageways Leading to the Long-Lost Remains of Queen Nefertiti?

Geophysical surveys provide new evidence for a theory that the Egyptian pharaoh was interred in the outer rooms of an existing burial complex. Researchers are trying to get approval to investigate for themselves

September 25, 2026

Who Wrote Elizabeth I’s Most Scathing Letters? New Research Suggests the Tudor Queen’s Male Secretaries Revised Her Correspondence to Emphasize Her Temper

September 28, 2026

Hitler Had an Intense, Mysterious Relationship With His Half-Niece. New Research Suggests His Alibi for Her Murder Might Not Hold Up

September 25, 2026

More History

Science

Is More Protein Always Better? Despite the Craze Around the Nutrient, Research-Backed Evidence About Its Benefits Is Complicated

It can be difficult to see through the array of flashy, protein-packed products and determine whether you need more of it—and which foods to consume to get it. We asked health experts about the benefits and drawbacks of chasing protein

September 30, 2026

Archaeologists Are Reconstructing the ‘Invisible’ Technologies of the Stone Age, From Rope to Thread and Twine

September 21, 2026

Active Supermassive Black Holes May Be Engines of Star Formation, Not Just Destruction, Study Suggests

September 21, 2026

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Innovation

The story of the bedpan is about love and hate, germs and illness, dignity and shame, and, inherently, urine and feces.

The Humble History of the Bedpan

Over the past few centuries, inventors have tweaked the design of the receptacles here and there, but overall, not much has changed about the dependable medical supply

September 24, 2026