Smithsonian Magazine

Major Oak, the 1,200-Year-Old Tree with Ties to the Robin Hood Legend, Is Presumed Dead After Failing to Produce Leaves

The legendary bandit who stole from the rich and gave to the poor is said to have used the massive tree as a hideout while ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Here’s How the Obama Presidential Center Is Different From Other Presidents’ Museums

More than a library and archives, the new Chicago institution is a place for the community to gather, talk and play together ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists Discover Evidence a Wooden Prototype for Stonehenge May Have Aligned With the Solstice 500 Years Before the Stone Circle

The remains of a wooden monument in southern England, three miles away from Stonehenge, may demonstrate Neolithic people's ...
Smithsonian Magazine

New Discovery That Hunter-Gatherer Children Died of Plague More Than Five Millennia Ago Sets Back the Date of the Earliest Outbreak

The skeletons of nomadic families unearthed in Siberia harbor "Yersinia pestis" bacteria, which challenges theories about ...
Smithsonian Magazine

This Photography Studio Captured the Beauty of Black Life in the South. Soon Its Archive, Once Hidden Away, Will Have a New Museum Home

The Hooks brothers documented life and joy in Memphis during the 20th century. Their images will be put on public view when ...
Smithsonian Magazine

In June 1775, the American Patriots Faced Off With the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Archaeologists Are Uncovering Evidence of the Fighting 251 Years Later

The earthen fortification created by the Americans was originally intended for Bunker Hill. But, for some unknown reason, the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These Devoted Dads Across the Animal Kingdom Will Warm Your Heart This Father’s Day

From foxes that bring home dinner to fish that keep watch over their young, male animals across several species take an ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Researchers Find a Mathematical Pattern Used in City Planning Hidden in the Leaves of a Common Houseplant

The major veins of Chinese money plant leaves form what's called a Voronoi diagram. It might be caused by a plant-growth ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Scientists Uncover New Clues About the Volcanic Origins of the Giant’s Causeway, an Iconic Geologic Structure in Northern Ireland

The UNESCO World Heritage Site, which features 40,000 near-perfect hexagonal columns, formed roughly 60 million years ago ...
Smithsonian Magazine

You Can Visit the World’s Largest Continuous Dinosaur Trackway, Now on Protected Public Land

Roughly 150 million years ago, a long-necked dinosaur tromped through present-day Colorado. At some point, the creature decided to change direction, making a wide, 270-degree turn as it walked. Today, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Astronomers Discovered a ‘Cosmic Fossil’ in the Making—the Most Chemically Primitive Galaxy Seen Yet—by Peering Back to the Edge of Time

The James Webb Space Telescope observed 13-billion-year-old light, using a closer galactic cluster like a magnifying glass.
Smithsonian Magazine

Why the Dutch Government Wants You to Stop Referring to the Netherlands as ‘Holland’

With the number of visitors projected to keep rising, the Netherlands tourist board has decided to shift its focus from promotion to crowd control. Jorge Royan via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0 ...