“It’s a national treasure,” says Sara Brown Aicher, a retired U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist who spent 31 years at the refuge. “It is one of the last places like it.”

America’s Newest UNESCO World Heritage Site Is a Swamp—and That’s Exactly Why You Should Go

Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is one of the world’s rarest surviving wetland ecosystems. Its new global recognition reveals why protecting this landscape matters far beyond the American South

Sophia Michelen

Science

Hear, Hear to Long Ears: These 15 Furry Photos of Adorable Rabbits and Hares Will Have You Leaping for Leporidae

November 6, 2026

Smart News

Where Did Stonehenge’s Mysterious, Six-Ton Altar Stone Really Come From? Geologists Rule Out the Scottish Hypothesis as the Search Deepens

November 6, 2026 4:41 p.m.

This Wooden Wardrobe in Pompeii Remained Sealed for Nearly 2,000 Years. Archaeologists Just Opened It for the First Time

November 6, 2026 4:13 p.m.

For Centuries, Cave Visitors Walked Right by 280 Ice Age Engravings. The Newly Discovered Rock Art Is Rewriting Catalonia’s Prehistory

November 6, 2026 1:57 p.m.

Strange Gas in Mars’ Atmosphere Hints the Red Planet Is Still Volcanically Active—and Points to Places to Search for Alien Life

November 6, 2026 12:13 p.m.

These Moths Use Their Genitals to Fend Off Bats—but Not in the Way You Think. They Emit Ultrasound to Scramble the Predators’ Sonar

November 6, 2026 11:00 a.m.

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Latest Features

Children of a refugee family from East Germany crowd close to get a better view of the food in a CARE package they received soon after they arrived in West Berlin in 1956

At the Smithsonian

CARE Packages Provided a Lifeline for World War II Survivors. Here’s How the Group Turned Leftover Army Rations Into an 80-Year Legacy

November 6, 2026 12:30 p.m.

Protesters occupied the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's regional offices in San Francisco for 26 days in 1977.

History

The Real Story Behind the 504 Sit-In for Disability Rights, the Longest Peaceful Occupation of a Federal Building in American History

November 6, 2026

In Cretaceous Brazil, a prehistoric mammal the size of a cougar or a large dog left telltale tracks on sand dunes.

Science

Fossil Footprints in Brazil Hint at a Cougar-Size Mammal That Walked Among Dinosaurs. It’s Another Sign That Some Early Beasts Grew to Impressive Sizes After All

November 6, 2026

Science

Hear, Hear to Long Ears: These 15 Furry Photos of Adorable Rabbits and Hares Will Have You Leaping for Leporidae

November 6, 2026

Travel

America’s Newest UNESCO World Heritage Site Is a Swamp—and That’s Exactly Why You Should Go

November 5, 2026

The four-color theorem is simple to state: Given a contiguous map, is it possible to color each region with one of four colors such that no neighboring regions share a color?

Science

The Four-Color Theorem Has Haunted Mathematicians for Decades. It Just Got a Rare New Proof, but Some Still Long for a Simpler Solution

November 4, 2026

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November 2026

History The Mighty Metropolis of the Maya

Diane and Arlen Chase have spent a good portion of their lives uncovering the once-great city of Caracol. Their groundbreaking research is rewriting everything we thought we knew about the Maya

OPENER Thomas Jefferson Illustration by Chloe Niclas

At the Smithsonian Untangling an American Mystery

A lock of hair, advances in genetic science and a community of descendants all contributed to solving an American mystery

Arts & Culture The Skywatchers

Researchers study paintings and literature to uncover untold history of the works, sometimes finding themselves trying to discern celestial bodies from dust

Most Popular

Smart News

For Centuries, Cave Visitors Walked Right by 280 Ice Age Engravings. The Newly Discovered Rock Art Is Rewriting Catalonia’s Prehistory

Smart News

Archaeologists Found a 3,300-Year-Old Sword at the Bottom of a Volcanic Lake in Italy—and It’s Still Sharp

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Michelangelo Used These Custom, Multi-Headed Brushes While Painting ‘The Last Judgment’ to Replicate His Intricate Sculpting Techniques

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The Arctic Polar Vortex Is Collapsing Earlier in the Season Than Ever Documented—but We Don’t Know How It’ll Affect Global Weather

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This Wooden Wardrobe in Pompeii Remained Sealed for Nearly 2,000 Years. Archaeologists Just Opened It for the First Time

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

I was walking towards Mont Saint-Michel, looking for something different to photograph. Herds of sheep are not uncommon in the area, but this morning they were moving towards the Abbey kind of forming a line, when the last one stopped and looked back at me, as if posing for the picture.

The Sheep and the Abbey

By Luis Andre Sampaio

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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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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

The Real Story Behind the 504 Sit-In for Disability Rights, the Longest Peaceful Occupation of a Federal Building in American History

Organizers like Judy Heumann pressured officials to implement the first federal legislation protecting disabled Americans from civil rights violations. “Being Heumann,” a new film by director Siân Heder, dramatizes the 26-day demonstration

November 6, 2026

Archaeologists in Scotland Discovered the Skeleton of a Roman-Era Man Who Was Decapitated Nearly 2,000 Years Ago. Now, You Can See What He Might Have Looked Like During His Lifetime

November 3, 2026

Greece Has Its Own Pompeii, and the Ruins Tell a Captivating Story of a Sophisticated, Seafaring Bronze Age Society

November 3, 2026

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Science

Fossil Footprints in Brazil Hint at a Cougar-Size Mammal That Walked Among Dinosaurs. It’s Another Sign That Some Early Beasts Grew to Impressive Sizes After All

Don’t think of all Mesozoic mammals as meek and tiny—alongside the terrible lizards, some were giants in their own right

November 6, 2026

The Four-Color Theorem Has Haunted Mathematicians for Decades. It Just Got a Rare New Proof, but Some Still Long for a Simpler Solution

November 4, 2026

The World’s Newest Carnivorous Plant Is a Red Sundew That ‘Death Hugs’ Its Insect Prey. Its Survival Depends on a Rare and Disappearing Florida Habitat

October 29, 2026

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Innovation

The user, if pregnant, will feel raised bumps on both sides of the flat lollipop—a reaction to hCG, a hormone that the body produces during pregnancy.

This Lollipop Could Help Blind Women Independently Detect Pregnancy

Design student Sneha Rao is developing Tact, an edible pregnancy test that allows people with vision impairment to feel its results on their tongues

October 6, 2026

The Humble History of the Bedpan

September 24, 2026

This Brain Implant Allows People With Paralysis to Speak and Gesture at the Same Time Via a Mind-Controlled Virtual Avatar

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