Smithsonian Magazine

CARE Packages Provided a Lifeline for World War II Survivors. Here’s How the Group Turned Leftover Army Rations Into an 80-Year Legacy

The organization began as the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, and it became a way for those in need to ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Where Did Stonehenge’s Mysterious, Six-Ton Altar Stone Really Come From? Geologists Rule Out the Scottish Hypothesis as the Search Deepens

A comprehensive investigation of the sandstone megalith’s "geological fingerprint" suggests it did not originate in northeast ...
Smithsonian Magazine

This Wooden Wardrobe in Pompeii Remained Sealed for Nearly 2,000 Years. Archaeologists Just Opened It for the First Time

The ancient cabinet held a pair of tweezers, a perfume bottle, an incense burner and ceramic vessels. But the most impressive ...
Smithsonian Magazine

The Story Behind Gene Kranz's Vest

Listen to a short lecture given by curator Margaret Weitekamp on Gene Kranz career with NASA and how his vest ended up at the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These Moths Use Their Genitals to Fend Off Bats—but Not in the Way You Think. They Emit Ultrasound to Scramble the Predators’ Sonar

New research suggests male hawkmoths have three distinct anti-bat, ultrasound-producing systems. These may have evolved ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Strange Gas in Mars’ Atmosphere Hints the Red Planet Is Still Volcanically Active—and Points to Places to Search for Alien Life

Cracks along a giant Martian volcano, possibly above a magma chamber, might be spewing magmatic gases into the atmosphere, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

The Arctic Polar Vortex Is Collapsing Earlier in the Season Than Ever Documented—but We Don’t Know How It’ll Affect Global Weather

A previous polar vortex disruption contributed to the Great Texas Freeze in 2021. This time, the ongoing "super" El Niño ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Michelangelo Used These Custom, Multi-Headed Brushes While Painting ‘The Last Judgment’ to Replicate His Intricate Sculpting Techniques

While restoring the Sistine Chapel, researchers discovered wavy groupings of brushstrokes which indicated that the artist ...
Smithsonian Magazine

A Nazi Submarine Torpedoed a Merchant Ship Just Off the Coast of Maine in 1944. Divers Have Finally Located the Wreckage, 400 Feet Below the Surface

The SS "Cornwallis" was traveling between Barbados and Canada when it was sunk by a German U-boat that had delivered Nazi ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Once This Family of Wasps Evolved Into Frighteningly Efficient Parasites, There Was No Going Back

Scientists have long puzzled over the evolution and parasitic tendencies of Darwin wasps. New DNA research provides the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

America’s Newest UNESCO World Heritage Site Is a Swamp—and That’s Exactly Why You Should Go

Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is one of the world’s rarest surviving wetland ecosystems. Its new global ...
Smithsonian Magazine

China Announces a Plan to Put Astronauts on the Moon by 2030, Revealing Details of Four Upcoming Missions

The country intends to launch three uncrewed test missions followed by a human lunar landing within the next few years. NASA ...