CURRENT ISSUE

July-August 2013

Features

CSI: Italian Renaissance

Inside a lab in Pisa, forensics pathologist Gino Fornaciari and his team investigate 500-year-old cold cases

Tom Mueller

The Big Heart

Oil and culture are a powerful mixture in Houston, which has quietly become the most diverse city in America

Tony Perrottet

Behind the Mask

A new film revives the Lone Ranger. But is it the same old Tonto?

Jerry Adler

The Education of a Bomb Dog

A top training academy works double time to meet skyrocketing demand for canines with a nose for danger

Joshua Levine

Jackie Mitchell, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth

League of Her Own

Did 17-year-old Jackie Mitchell strike out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig? Yes. Well, maybe

Tony Horwitz

Mind Over Matter

Before the elusive Higgs boson could be discovered—a smashing success—it had to be imagined

Brian Greene

Departments

Contributors

Smithsonian magazine

Letters to the Editor

Discussion

Smithsonian magazine

From the Castle

A new gallery opening in September highlights some of the most famous stamps in American history

G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

Phenomena

Identity

Your identity can be stolen, but never truly duplicated

Two Faces, One Portrait

A collage artist creates surreal identities

Phenomena

Tabula Rasa

A new type of cell could lead to dramatic cures—and avoid ethical controversy

Virginia Hughes

Phenomena

Goodbye Kitty

In the aftermath of three national disasters, Japan is struggling to keep its cool.

Phenomena

Brain Teaser

After 150 years, a famous patient is finally identified

Michael Ruane

Phenomena

Talking Code

Artist Guillermo Bert is weaving together technology and tradition

Maggie Ryan Sandford

Around the Mall

Star Power

Tim McCoy’s astronomy course is helping to revive a lost Native American language

Around the Mall

Playlist

Foot-Stomping and Flutes

Around the Mall

Ask Smithsonian

Your questions answered by our experts

Smithsonian magazine

Books

The promise of synthetic biology. Plus: the summer of 1776, zombie science and chugging across Italy

Fast Forward

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