Smithsonian Magazine

Smithsonian magazine is a monthly magazine created for modern, well-rounded individuals with diverse interests. It chronicles the arts, history, sciences and popular culture of the times. Our photos, articles, videos and slideshows take a dynamic and interactive approach to exploring our changing world. Legal: http://www.si.edu/Termsofuse

Magazines

Followers

Flips

Queen Victoria
Watch Rare Footage of a Smiling, Sunglass-Wearing Queen Victoria
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
In her official portraits, Queen Victoria was stoic and imposing, the majestic head of a powerful empire. But a series of newly released images have …
Airlines
This Company Is Using Vintage Seaplanes in Their Quest to Become the First All-Electric Airline
smithsonianmag.com - Jason Daley
This summer, a Washington-based company will remove the motor of a iconic six-seat, single-propeller seaplane originally flown in 1947 and replace it …
History
Burial Mound Found on Kindergarten Playground Was Used for 2,000 Years
smithsonianmag.com - Jason Daley
The story of Le Tumulus des Sables burial mound starts out like a horror movie. In 2006, toddlers began tugging human bones out of their kindergarten …
Drones
Green Monkeys Borrow Their Cousins’ Eagle Warning Call When Drones Are Near
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
Some 40 years ago, scientists discovered that East African vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) produce distinct alarm calls when they encounter …
Dumfries
The Scottish Garden That Inspired Peter Pan’s ‘Neverland’ Opens for Visitors
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
When he was 13 years old, J.M. Barrie entered the Dumfries Academy in Scotland, where he became fast friends with a pair of brothers named Stuart and …
Malaysia’s Last Male Sumatran Rhinoceros Has Died
smithsonianmag.com - Meilan Solly
Tam, Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhino, died Monday, leaving just one sole survivor of the species—a female named Iman—living in the southeast …
History
These Photo Albums Offer a Rare Glimpse of 19th-Century Boston’s Black Community
smithsonianmag.com - Danna Lorch
With a quiet, unflinching confidence, Virginia L. Molyneaux Hewlett Douglass posed for the photographer, one slender hand rustling the pleats of her …
Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa Comes to Life in Computer-Generated ‘Living Portrait’
smithsonianmag.com - Jason Daley
The Harry Potter series got the world used to the idea of living portraits with its talking paintings and moving photographs. But last week, when an …
Anne Frank
Letters Anne Frank Wrote to her Grandmother Will Be Published for the First Time
smithsonianmag.com - Meilan Solly
A trove of letters addressed from Anne Frank to her paternal grandmother, Alice Frank-Stern, has been translated into English and will be published …
Fishing
Twice As Many Fishing Vessels Are Chasing Fewer Fish on the World’s Oceans
smithsonianmag.com - Jason Daley
In 1950, about 1.7 million fishing vessels of all shapes and sizes plied the world’s oceans, but just 20 percent of them had motors, limiting their …
Mammals
For the First Time, An Albino Panda Is Photographed in the Wild
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
It can be difficult to catch a glimpse of giant pandas in the wild. Less than 2,000 of the bears are known to exist in the forests of southwest …
Fungi
Scientists Discover Fungus That Collects Gold From Its Environment
smithsonianmag.com - Meilan Solly
A fluffy pink fungus with long, thread-like tendrils encrusted in gold particles could help prospectors mine the precious element, a team of …
Smithsonian
Lonnie Bunch to Become the Smithsonian’s 14th Secretary
smithsonianmag.com - Beth Py-Lieberman
The Smithsonian today named Lonnie G. Bunch as the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Bunch is the founding director of the National …
Innovation
Meet the Product Designer Who Made Mid-Century America Look Clean and Stylish
smithsonianmag.com - John Wall
Raymond Loewy, the legendary American product designer and businessman, isn’t familiar to consumers today, but in the latter half of the 20th century …
History
The Americans Who Saw Lady Liberty as a False Idol of Broken Promises
smithsonianmag.com - Angela Serratore
It was a crisp, clear fall day in New York City, and like many others, Lillie Devereaux Blake was eager to see the great French statue, donated by …
Tortoise
Chimps Seen Cracking Open Tortoise Shells—A First
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
Chimpanzees at the Loango National Park in Gabon have recently become habituated to human researchers—a gradual process that can take several years. …
Saskatchewan
After 130 Years, Canada Exonerates ‘Peacemaker’ Chief Convicted of Treason
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
In 1885, amid a period of strife between the Canadian government and some of the country’s indigenous peoples, the Cree leader Poundmaker was …
Botswana
Five Things to Know About Botswana’s Decision to Lift Ban on Hunting Elephants
smithsonianmag.com - Meilan Solly
Botswana, home to the world’s largest African elephant population, has lifted its five-year suspension of elephant hunting, attracting the ire of …
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Pennsylvania Honors Mister Rogers With First Annual Day of Kindness
smithsonianmag.com - Meilan Solly
The number 143 held great significance for Mister Rogers, the cardigan-clad guardian of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Not only was it the weight …
SpaceX
SpaceX Launched 60 Internet-Beaming Satellites Into Orbit
smithsonianmag.com - Amy Thompson
SpaceX is one step closer to achieving its goal of bringing internet to the masses. On Thursday evening, the company’s fifth Falcon 9 launch of the …
Innovation
This 1950s Heart-Lung Machine Revolutionized Cardiac Surgery
smithsonianmag.com - Irwin Speizer
Stephen Joseph Brabeck was born in 1950 with a hole in his heart. To survive into adolescence would have been considered exceptionally fortunate at …
Science
A Total Solar Eclipse 100 Years Ago Proved Einstein’s General Relativity
smithsonianmag.com - Elizabeth Landau
As the morning sky darkened over western Oregon, Richard Berry’s three alpacas retreated into their barn. The dimming daylight and small crowd that …
Chilly Rooms May Cool Women’s Productivity
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
In offices around the world, men and women are locked in what has become known as the “battle of thermostat.” Temperature systems in many modern …
Bacteria
Civil War Plant Remedies Actually Fought Off Infections, Study Finds
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
During the Civil War, Union forces set up a blockade of Confederate ports to prevent cotton exports from getting out of the South and military …
Cathedrals
Engineer Says Notre Dame Is Vulnerable to High Winds
smithsonianmag.com - Jason Daley
After the catastrophic fire that gutted Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last month, it seemed like the iconic Gothic structure was safely on the path …
Biological Species
Australia Has Several New Dragon Lizard Species—And One May Already Be Extinct
smithsonianmag.com - Jason Daley
At just three inches long and weighing about as much as a quarter, Australia’s grassland earless dragon is not quite as fierce as a fictional …
Extinction
Ortolans, Songbirds Enjoyed as French Delicacy, Are Being Eaten Into Extinction
smithsonianmag.com - Meilan Solly
To prepare the French delicacy ortolan bunting, one must capture the tiny songbird as it attempts to migrate south for the winter, force feed it much …
Georgia Southern
More Than One Million Ticks Make Up This Cringe-Worthy Collection in Georgia
smithsonianmag.com - Jennifer Nalewicki
For most people, being surrounded by ticks is the stuff of nightmares, but at the U.S. National Tick Collection, an influx of arachnids is the norm. …
Michelangelo
Art Historian Says He Has Identified the Earliest Known Michelangelo Drawing
smithsonianmag.com - Meilan Solly
Days before his death in 1564, Michelangelo torched the majority of his extant drawings and papers in two separate bonfires. This wasn’t the first …
Beer
A Belgian Abbey Is Using Centuries-Old Recipes to Revive Its Brewery
smithsonianmag.com - Brigit Katz
In the 1790s, French revolutionaries on an anti-Catholic rampage destroyed an abbey in the Belgian town of Grimbergen. The site was ultimately …