CURRENT ISSUE

April 2017

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine image Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine mobile image

Features

Moline, Illinois

Saved by the Bell

As it entered World War I, the United States was politically torn and financially challenged—until an icon from the American Revolution rode to the rescue

Kilauea at sunrise

Go With the Flow

Lava that spews from a volcano in Hawaii creates startling new ecosystems that grow into islands of evolution

Set in Stone

Life on the Edge

Step back in time half a billion years to a world of mysterious sea creatures that would have thrilled Darwin

Chandra Rangani

The Fig and the Wasp

In remote India, the biggest tree canopy on the planet is a spectacular lesson in the vital coexistence of living things

phone GPS

A Modern Odyssey

Fleeing violence in Iraq, two close friends embarked on an epic journey across Europe—and ended up worlds apart. Smithsonian documents the complex drama of Europe’s refugee crisis

Departments

Discussion

Reader responses to our March issue

The Editors
Phenomena

The Rise of Homer Sapiens

The lost Simpsons debut, 30 years ago

Phenomena

Flaunting It

Lauren Greenfield’s in-your-face pictures of the new status seekers

Phenomena

Misty Copeland

A principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre and co-curator of “Ballet Across America,” at the Kennedy Center this month

Phenomena

Raging Belle

In a new biopic, the demure poet Emily Dickinson lets ’er rip

Erin Blakemore, Illustration by Johanna Goodman
Phenomena

Born to Be Wild

A species of oryx, once eradicated in the wild, shows signs of revival

Phenomena

Fighting the Nazis With Fake News

A new documentary rediscovers a World War II campaign that was stranger than nonfiction

Unmasking the Mad Bomber

When James A. Brussel used psychiatry to think like a criminal, he pioneered the science of profiling

Ask Smithsonian

Your questions answered by our experts