Smithsonian Magazine

Why Was This 2,000-Year-Old Sling Bullet Inscribed With the Word ‘Learn’?

The artifact is the first sling bullet of its kind unearthed at the ancient city of Hippos, though archaeologists have found ...
Smithsonian Magazine

A Clump of Human Brain Cells on a Computer Chip Learned to Play the Nostalgic Video Game ‘Doom’

A few years ago, Cortical Labs announced that it had trained about 800,000 cells cultured on a computer chip to play “Pong,” ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These Never-Before-Seen Photos Show Astronaut Neil Armstrong Relaxed and Smiling After He Almost Died in the Gemini 8 Emergency

Few members of the media were at the unexpected arrival site. Military police officer Ron McQueeney was one of the few ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Nine Black College Students Were Arrested in 1961 for Reading at a Segregated Public Library. Their Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Have Long Been Ov…

Known as the Tougaloo Nine, the demonstrators staged a sit-in that helped the NAACP push for the desegregation of public ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Two Green ‘Fireballs’ Streaked Across the West Coast Sky, Some of the Latest in a String of Dazzling Meteors Above the U.S.

A green fireball meteor flew above central California on the night of March 22. AllSky7 / Peter Jenniskens and Jim Albers On ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Music Takes Center Stage This Month at the National Museum of American History

Here’s what’s happening this month at the museum… Amy Kehs EXHIBITIONS NOW ON VIEW Melania Trump’s Inaugural Gown 2025 ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Scientists Identify the World’s First Known Dog, Which Pushes Back the Animals’ Genetic Record by About 5,000 Years

Two new ancient DNA studies suggest that domesticated dogs were widespread in western Eurasia more than 14,000 years ago ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Popular Lore Claims That William Howard Taft Got Stuck in a Bathtub. New Research Sheds Light on the Legend’s Forgotten Origins

A long-overlooked 1929 account contains the earliest known reference to the anecdote, suggesting that the 27th president ...
Smithsonian Magazine

See 15 Images of Wondrous West Africa From the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Journey to Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso and many more nations through this gallery of the people, culture and wildlife of the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Does This Skeleton Found Beneath a Dutch Church Belong to D’Artagnan, the Man Who Inspired ‘The Three Musketeers’?

Workers discovered the skeleton during recent repair work at the church in Maastricht. D'Artagnan died during the siege of ...
Smithsonian Magazine

In a First, the World’s Most Expensive and Volatile Substance—Antimatter—Traveled by Truck

The work paves the way for longer-distance transport of the rare material so scientists can study it at other facilities ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists Identify Traces of Children’s Fingerprints Still Visible on Clay Beads Created 15,000 Years Ago

Discovered in present-day Israel, the beads suggest that Natufian groups used clay for symbolic purposes many years earlier ...