An artist’s illustration of the exoplanet HD 219134 b, a rocky world about 21 light-years from Earth. This scorching planet, which orbits extremely close to its host star, might have a partially molten surface and volcanoes.

Alien Life Could Look Nothing Like What We Expect. Here’s How Microbes Beyond Earth Might Live Without Liquid Water

Like the lead character of “Project Hail Mary,” some scientists are proposing ways that life might exist beyond a star’s “habitable zone,” often considered the gold standard of potential livability

McKenzie Prillaman

Outside the Colosseum's southern wall, newly constructed marble slabs indicate where tall columns once supported two arcades.

Smart News

At the Colosseum, New Marble Slabs Mark Where Towering Columns Stood Thousands of Years Ago

March 20, 2026 7:00 a.m.

Smart News

See the 2,500-Pound Bronze Bison as They Arrive at Their New, Permanent Place at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

March 20, 2026 1:12 p.m.

Humans May Have Transported Live Parrots Over the Andes Mountains Along Sophisticated Trade Routes Before the Rise of the Inca Empire

March 20, 2026 12:20 p.m.

Scientists Make a Major Breakthrough in Solving a Hair-Raising Mystery About Static Electricity

March 20, 2026 11:29 a.m.

European Hedgehogs’ Hearing Might Be Attuned to Ultrasonic Sounds. The Discovery Could Help Scientists Save the Declining Species

March 20, 2026 10:00 a.m.

At the Colosseum, New Marble Slabs Mark Where Towering Columns Stood Thousands of Years Ago

March 20, 2026 7:00 a.m.

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Microplastics pose a growing global concern as they infiltrate not just the environment but also humans and animals.

Innovation

This High School Student Invented a Filter That Eliminates 96 Percent of Microplastics From Drinking Water

March 20, 2026 1:30 p.m.

A koala bear perches high in a tree in Port Lincoln as tourists approach.

Travel

View Australia’s Wonderful Wildlife, Including Kangaroos, Koalas and Crocs, With These 15 Photographs

March 20, 2026 12:57 p.m.

Science

Alien Life Could Look Nothing Like What We Expect. Here’s How Microbes Beyond Earth Might Live Without Liquid Water

March 20, 2026 7:00 a.m.

British soldiers met at Lydia Darragh's house in Philadelphia, presenting the perfect opportunity for the Quaker woman to eavesdrop on their battle plans.

History

A Quaker Woman Eavesdropped on British Soldiers Plotting a Surprise Attack—and Surreptitiously Warned George Washington

March 19, 2026

Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama

Travel

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

March 18, 2026

Like Astrophage, the solar-radiation-eating microbes in Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary, some sea slugs can derive energy from sunlight.

Science

These Sea Slugs Can ‘Eat’ Sunlight—but They’re No Astrophage. Here’s How the ‘Project Hail Mary’ Antagonist Has a Real-Life Analogue in Earth’s Oceans

March 18, 2026

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March 2026

OPENER - The Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve, in eastern Chad, encompasses 19,300 square miles of a vast sandstone plateau.

Science Shifting Sands

Petroglyphs on sandstone at a national park in Chad bear witness to wildlife that once roamed the area before the continent’s water largely receded 6,000 years ago. Could it return?

OPENER - Xin Ying, principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company, wears a costume from the 1948 ballet Diversion of Angels. Graham designed the dress, inspired by a splash of color in a Wassily Kandinsky painting.

Arts & Culture Modern Moves

Her choreography told stories in new ways and her collaborations with costume and stage designers changed the aesthetic of the art. Now, her dance company marks its first century

History Voice of Deception

As “Vicky With Three Kisses,” she strategically sweet-talked and sang to German troops over the airwaves of Europe. But Agnes Bernauer didn’t mean anything she was saying

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Smart News

The Brilliant Blue Paint Covering This Lavish Room in Ancient Pompeii May Have Cost More Than Half the Annual Salary of a Roman Foot Soldier

Smart News

Historians Say They’ve Discovered a Long-Lost Page From the Archimedes Palimpsest, a Treasure Trove of Rare Ancient Mathematical Treatises

Smart News

These Mesmerizing Cave Paintings Were Discovered in 1901. Now, Archaeologists Finally Know When Some of Them Were Created

Smart News

This Diver Stumbled Upon a Centuries-Old Sword Beneath the Mediterranean Sea. Years Later, He Found Another One Nearby

Smart News

A Czech Man Used This Stone in His Barn’s Foundations. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold

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Coastal Cities of Europe

Explore the history, culture and natural wonders of the continent's most celebrated ports

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Featured Stories

Travel

Can Venice’s Iconic Crab Dish Survive Climate Change?

Crabs not yet at the molting stage are thrown back into the Venice lagoon.

History

Go Behind the Scenes at an Iconic Irish Library as Staff Move 700,000 Historical Treasures Into Storage

A bust of Plato in the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin

Travel

See Greece in All Its Gorgeous Glory

Brightly colored homes line the caldera in Santorini, a contrast to much of the blue-and-white motif.

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Photo of the Day

A coastal brown bear on the mud flats inspects the fruits of its labour. With an incredible sense of smell, the bears locate the razor clams buried in the mud below and with powerful front paws and claws, dig the clams out of the mud. The bears then exhibit incredible dexterity, in delicately prying open the shells with their claws to access its nutritious contents. They even balance the open shells on top of a paw, like a dinner plate.

Hands Down

By Deborah Russell

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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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History

An equestrian portrait of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas

The Real Count of Monte Cristo Was Alexandre Dumas’ Father, a Trailblazing Black General

Ahead of the March 22 premiere of a new TV adaptation, learn about the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the French Army officer who inspired the beloved novel

March 17, 2026

A Native Soldier Allied With the British Killed a Young White Woman in 1777. Propaganda Transformed Her Into a Martyr of the American Revolution

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Tudor Courtiers Exchanged Portrait Miniatures as Love Tokens. Centuries Later, New Research Is Unlocking the Secrets of These Intimate Artworks

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Science

Alien Life Could Look Nothing Like What We Expect. Here’s How Microbes Beyond Earth Might Live Without Liquid Water

Like the lead character of “Project Hail Mary,” some scientists are proposing ways that life might exist beyond a star’s “habitable zone,” often considered the gold standard of potential livability

March 20, 2026 7:00 a.m.