Smithsonian Magazine

For the First Time, Scientists Trapped an Elusive Antimatter Particle—and Contained It for Months. It Could Allow Them to Test an Enduring Physics Theory

The standard model of particle physics works really well, but it can't explain why the universe exists. Something is missing, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These Big, Fierce Birds Found Love in Australia—and Laid the First Southern Cassowary Eggs at the Adelaide Zoo in 34 Years

Zoo staffers don’t know whether the bright green eggs are viable and will ultimately hatch into chicks. However, the eggs ...
Smithsonian Magazine

‘Wildwood’ Is the Longest Stop-Motion Animated Film Ever. Each Frame of the Movie Is a Marvel of Handcrafted World Building

Deborah Cook, costumer designer at stop-motion animation studio Laika, discusses creating tiny costumes for puppets in a ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Astronomers Detect the Oldest Known Fast Radio Burst, Spewed From an Ancient Galaxy Just Three Billion Years After the Big Bang

The universe formed 13.8 billion years ago, so this far-traveled burst of radio waves can help scientists learn more about ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Ivan the Terrible Wanted to Marry Elizabeth I. How Did England’s ‘Virgin Queen’ Reject the Russian Czar Without Souring Trade Relations?

A new book details the Russian ruler's failed courtship of the Tudor queen, who famously remained unmarried during her nearly ...
Smithsonian Magazine

In a Hoard of 5,500 Viking Age Coins, Archaeologists in Norway Found One So Rare That They Already Consider It a ‘National Treasure’

Fewer than 20 coins minted under Norwegian King Olaf II Haraldsson have ever been found. "We can almost imagine Olaf himself ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Jazz Giants, a Yorktown Flag and Hmong New Year at American History in November

See “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness” before it closes at the end of the year, catch a John Sayles film talk, or a ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Immerse Yourself in the Cosmos at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Planetarium, Recently Restored to Its Former Glory in Florida

Completed in 1958, the domed building is located on the campus of Florida Southern College, home to 13 Wright-designed ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These 15 Photos Perfectly Capture the Beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona, Arizona

The images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest archives will have you packing your bags for the mountains of the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Sophie Shorland

Sophie Shorland has a PhD in early modern English literature and is a former research fellow at the University of Warwick. She was a semi-finalist in the BBC's New Generation Thinkers competition, and ...
Smithsonian Magazine

A Team of Astronomers Thinks They Have Identified the Exact Night Sky That Inspired Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night.’ Not Everyone Is Convinced

Very few night skies seen from the south of France during the summer of 1889 would match the scene on van Gogh's canvas. A ...
Smithsonian Magazine

The Canadian Artist Jean Paul Riopelle Was ‘Completely Absorbed by the Act of Painting.’ His Abstract Works Finally Have Their Own Home in a Quebec Museum

Home to the world’s largest public collection of his artworks, a new pavilion at Quebec's Musée National des Beaux-Arts ...