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July 2006

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Features

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Back To The Future

One of Washington's most exuberant monuments—the old Patent Office Building —gets the renovation it deserves

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Grand Reopening: Speaking of Art

Two museums return home and invite visitors to engage in "conversations"

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Building An Arc

Despite poachers, insurgents and political upheaval, India and Nepal's bold approach to saving wildlife in the Terai Arc just may succeed

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A Mystery Fit For A Pharaoh

The first tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings since King Tut's is raising new questions for archaeologists about ancient Egypt's burial practices

The View From the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos

Finding a Home in the Cosmos

In a new book written with his wife, Nancy Abrams, cosmologist Joel Primack argues that the universe was meant for us. Sort of

Wild in the Yukon

A Danish photographer goes the extra mile to document wildlife in one of North America's most remote areas, now coveted by mining and oil companies

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Berried Treasure

Why is horticulturalist Harry Jan Swartz so determined to grow an exotic strawberry beloved by Jane Austen?

The Sun Also Rises

Pamplona: No Bull

Forget Hemingway's bovine madness: this charming medieval town hosts the most misunderstood public party in the world - the festival of Sam Fermin

Departments

Indelible Images

Last Hurrah

Everyone wanted to see the Babe the day they retired his number; photographer Nat Fein saw the story.

Leigh Montville
My Kind of Town

A City Called Heaven

America's best-known oral historian tells his own story.

Studs Terkel
Presence of Mind

What's Eating America

Corn is one of the plant kingdom's biggest successes. That's not necessarily good for the United States

Michael Pollan
From the Secretary

Patent Pending

After a glorious renovation the old Patent Office Building opens its doors anew

The Object at Hand

Camelot

In the mid-1800s, "ships of the desert" reported for duty in the Southwest

Q&A

Q&A: Cheryl Henson

Cheryl Henson, Henson's daughter and a muppet designer, spoke with Smithsonian's Jennifer Drapkin

Jennifer Drapkin
What's Up

What's Up

"Zobop," Folklife, and Sea Lions

Alison McLean and Jennifer Drapkin
From the Editor

Let There Be Light

From dark and cavernous to room for everybody

Wild Things

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Monkey talk, reptilian altruism, anemone stings, aquatic crabs, and Thyrohyrax

Smithsonian magazine
Interview

Joe Robinson, Vacation Advocate, Santa Monica, Calif.

His prescription for overworked Americans: chill

Jennifer Drapkin