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Science
Gimme Shelter
Best Friends Animal Society has a sprawling campus in the canyons of Utah, but its influence has grown to reach almost every shelter in the country
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You Can Buy President Jimmy Carter’s Paintings, Furniture, Mementos and a Love Letter to His Wife
Christie's selected the items with help from the president's daughter, Amy, for a special sale in celebration of the nation's 250th birthday
Smart News
Archaeologists Say They’ve Unearthed a Massive Medieval Cargo Ship That’s the Largest Vessel of Its Kind Ever Found
OpenAI Says ChatGPT Health Can Understand Users’ Medical Data and Provide Personalized Answers to Their Questions
See the Record-Breaking Bluefin Tuna the Size of a Grizzly Bear That Sold for $3.2 Million at a Tokyo Fish Market
Could Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA Be Hiding Inside One of His Renaissance Sketches?
This Bizarre Fish Has a Hole in Its Head. The Creature Might Use It Like a Drum to Rock Out
Latest Features
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History
The Lost City of the Silk Road
Researchers are uncovering what they think is the metropolis of Marsmanda, an iron-making city that could rewrite the history of the famed trade route
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History
A Grand New Design
A train wreck that caused the death of more than a dozen commuters near the turn of the 20th century was the impetus behind a monumental project that changed the urban landscape
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Special Report
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Coastal Cities of Europe
Explore the history, culture and natural wonders of the continent's most celebrated ports
Featured Stories
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Photo of the Day
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Podcast
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.
Latest Episodes
The ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ Sank Half a Century Ago. We’re Still Fascinated.
November 6, 2025 | 28 minutes
History
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Could Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA Be Hiding Inside One of His Renaissance Sketches?
Scientists have discovered male human DNA on a chalk drawing that may have been created by the famous artist and scientist. But they cannot definitively link the genetic material, nor the sketch, to Leonardo
Science
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It’s Almost ‘All Systems Go’ for Artemis 2 to Take the Next Giant Leap Toward Stepping on the Moon Again
Scheduled to launch in early 2026, NASA’s Artemis 2 is part of the bold 21st-century vision for returning astronauts to the lunar surface
Innovation
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Seven Fascinating Inventions Unveiled at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show
A smart wheelchair, an A.I.-powered tennis ball launcher, a mirror that reports on your health and more were on display at the annual Las Vegas trade show
Travel
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Can Venice’s Iconic Crab Dish Survive Climate Change?
For more than 300 years, Italians have fried soft-shell green crabs, called moeche. But the culinary tradition is under threat
Arts & Culture
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A Famed Street Photographer Chronicled What Christmas Looks Like Across America Over the Course of Decades
Lee Friedlander’s new book, “Christmas,” collects his work from all over the country on the topic of our sentimental and materialistic connection to the holiday
At the Smithsonian
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These 15 Stunning Microscopic Snowflake Images Helped Change the Way We See the World
Farmer Wilson Bentley was the first to photograph the tiny snow crystals individually, and his collection reveals that each has its own pattern