Articles

Yasuní National Park with the sun just under the horizon.

This Park in Ecuador is One of the Most Biodiverse Places on Earth

Yasuní National Park in the Amazon rainforest may have more species of life than anywhere else in the world

This second hatchling is even more notable for the emergency efforts that the animal keepers took to keep it alive.

UPDATE: Second Critically Endangered Tortoise Hatches from a Cracked Egg

To get the critically endangered Madagascar spider tortoises to breed successfully took both tenacity and a whole lot of luck

Did This Map Guide Columbus?

Researchers decipher a mystifying 15th-century document

Anthropocene

Scientists Discover Sudden Melting in the Antarctic

Warmer waters are eating away at protective ice shelves, letting glaciers flow into the sea

At the Mbad African Bead Museum in Detroit, Obscura Day visitors can see beads almost 400 years old.

Urban Explorations

This Obscura Day, Discover the Curiosities in Your Own Backyard

Creepy dolls, KGB secrets and unexpected pinball troves—media startup Atlas Obscura invites readers to explore their own hometowns on May 30

The "New Jerusalem" of Ethiopia

No one knows for certain why the Lalibela churches share many similarities with Judaism, but scholars propose a handful of holy theories

Nude dancer Micheline Bernardini models the first bikini in Paris, France.

How the Summer of Atomic Bomb Testing Turned the Bikini Into a Phenomenon

The scanty suit’s explosive start is intimately tied to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race

Java sparrows are both vocalists and percussionists.

New Research

These Sparrows Sing to the Beat of Their Own Drum

Java sparrows amp up their tunes with acoustic beak taps synchronized with chirps

From the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center

The Ill-Fated History of the Jet Pack

The space-age invention still takes our imaginations on our wild ride

The last of the data from the New Horizons flyby won’t arrive until late 2016.

One Man's Lifelong Pursuit of Pluto is About to Get Real

When the New Horizons spacecraft races by the quasi-planetary body, Alan Stern will have finally met his match

What Makes the "Lion Whisperer" Roar?

He's famous for getting dangerously close to his fearsome charges, but what can Kevin Richardson teach us about ethical conservation—and ourselves?

Why Do Humans Have Chins?

The most distinctive human feature might be that bony protrusion that made Jay Leno famous

Ask Smithsonian 2017

When Did Americans Lose Their British Accents And More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

The World's Largest Picture Frame?

The government of Dubai is taking this abstract structure to the next level

Native Dress Calgary Stampede(2010)

Scenes From the Calgary Stampede

Noted photographer Richard Phibbs has a new book that sends him back home on the range

Six years after the quake first struck, the city of L’Aquila is still rebuilding. The recovery is estimated to cost at least $16 billion.

The Shaky Science Behind Predicting Earthquakes

A powerful earthquake in Italy killed hundreds of people—and set in motion a legal battle and scientific debate that has kept seismologists on edge

Just a mile down one of the park’s most popular and accessible trails, hikers reap views of Dream Lake.

When Colorado Was (And in Many Ways Still Is) the Switzerland of America

A hundred years ago, city slickers looking for wild times in Rocky Mountain National Park invented a new kind of American vacation

Inside the Daily Lives of Iraq's Kurds

America's most important ally in the battle against ISIS is closer than ever to fulfilling their hope of founding a new nation

Why We'd Be Better Off if Napoleon Never Lost at Waterloo

On the bicentennial of the most famous battle in world history, a distinguished historian looks at what could have been

More than 3,000 lights adorned Ferris' wheel.

The Brief History of the Ferris Wheel

Originally the American answer to the Eiffel Tower, the summertime amusement became a hallmark of summer fun

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