CURRENT ISSUE
March 2010
Features
![Construction around old mosque Kashgar](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/4QAzb0cAGuMVXIJ4bnjANwjhBzc=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/construction-around-old-mosque-Kashgar-631.jpg)
Wrecking History
A 1,000-year-old city in northwest China, Kashgar was a vital stop on the ancient Silk Road. Why is the government now demolishing its oldest neighborhoods, home to the fiercely, independent Uighur people?
![Ardipithecus ramidus life appearance and bones](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/B852ynTGbgvX7hLwGGvCsxuH7oM=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Ardipithecus-ramidus-life-appearance-bones-631.jpg)
Our Earliest Ancestors
How did ape-like creatures evolve into members of the human family? Research on fossil remains including 4.4-million-year-old "Ardi," is leading to new insights into our origins
![Pho Spice Garden buffet](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/OSdqHk8iVXaH1fxqmxGU7O33lMg=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Pho-served-Spice-Garden-buffet-631.jpg)
Ultimate Pho
With more and more Americans sampling Vietnam's savory soup, a noted food critic and an esteemed maestro track down Hanoi's best
![Dolley Madison rescue of George Washington portrait](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/3s6f2tUjDEDA83pFb7vKvuTDuLU=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Dolley-Madison-directing-rescue-of-George-Washington-portrait-631.jpg)
Dolley Madison Saves the Day
In August 1814, with invading British soldiers only a few hours away, the first lady took command of the White House to save the young nation's treasures
![Paul Jennings descendants](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/vLRXnbMdsfsshPDL-6db_rJmXoM=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Paul-Jennings-descendants-White-House-631.jpg)
Witness to History
The first memoir by a White House slave recreates the events of August 23, 1814
![whale-bones-Barrow-Alaska-631.jpg](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/LcW8wePXh4PztwytctmBY11MLpQ=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/whale-bones-Barrow-Alaska-631.jpg)
Welcome to Barrow, Alaska, Ground Zero for Climate Change
Scientists converge on the northernmost city in the United States to study global warming's dramatic consequences
![Rescued horses](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/pB9BdDzWEWZ9FZGfNWB3TR27d7w=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/rescued-horses-studs-challenging-harem-stallions-in-fog-631.jpg)
The Mustang Mystique
Descended from animals that escaped the Spanish conquistadors almost 500 years ago, wild horses roam the West. But are they running out of room?
![Lockport New York](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/Da8_1_t4e_H8K_WsVg6QKNqxXa4=/400x300/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/Lockport-New-York-Erie-Canal-631.jpg)
Going Home Again
The celebrated novelist returns to the upstate New York town where so much of her was formed
Departments
Wild Things: Life as We Know It
Pollinating crickets, the longest migration, puffed up toads and more...
The Vigil
Shelby Lee Adams' 1990 photograph of Appalachian life captured a poignant tradition
Sculpting Evolution
A series of statues brings us face to face with our early ancestors
Beyond Bones
A rare cache of hominid fossils offers a window on Neanderthal culture
Q and A: Rick Potts
The Smithsonian anthropologist turned heads in scientific circles when he proposed that climate change was the driving force in human evolution
Leagues of Their Own
From underwater hockey to chess boxing, some hybrid sports aren't yet ready for prime time