Smithsonian Magazine

Ice Fishermen Catch Record-Breaking 244-Pound Atlantic Halibut After Hours-Long Struggle

Six men spent more than two hours tugging the massive flatfish from a frozen fjord in Quebec as part of a research project studying halibut populations in the region ...
Smithsonian Magazine

A Gray Wolf Visited Los Angeles County for the First Time in a Century, Marking a Major Milestone in the Species’ Recovery

A gray wolf has graced Los Angeles County with its presence for the first time in about a century. The visit marks a major milestone for the species, which had once been completely pushed out of the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

The U.S.’s Only Particle Collider Recreated Moments From the Early Universe. Now, It Has Closed—to Make Way for a New Instrument

For a mere moment after the Big Bang, no neutrons or protons are thought to have existed. These neutral and positively charged particles, respectively, make up the center of all atoms today. But ...
Smithsonian Magazine

An Asteroid Ended the Age of the Dinosaurs. But How Did Their Reign Begin? Mysterious Early Reptiles May Hold the Answer

We know the main reason that the age of the dinosaurs came to an end: an asteroid impact on the Yucatán Peninsula some 66 million years ago. But how the dinosaurs’ reign began is far less clear—and ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Your Daily Coffee Might Be Protecting Your Brain From Dementia, a New Study Suggests

In a decades-long observational study of nearly 132,000 people, individuals who drank two to three cups of coffee or one to ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists Say They’ve Identified Traces of a 2,000-Year-Old Love Note Still Etched Into a Wall in Ancient Pompeii

Advanced imaging technology has revealed 79 new pieces of graffiti on a wall in the city's theater district. Until now, these inscriptions had been too faint for the human eye to see ...
Smithsonian Magazine

How Did Animals Conquer the Deep Sea? Mussels and Clams Point to Two Different Strategies

Beds of Bathymodiolus mussels provide important habitat for other deep-sea critters, including sea stars, scaleworms and limpets. NOAA Ocean Exploration. The deep sea is the large ...
Smithsonian Magazine

A Catalyst for Culture in the Tucson Mall

Over a dozen artists from the sister cities of Tucson, Arizona, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, assembled for a cultural exchange in ...
Smithsonian Magazine

You Can Stay in Catherine Earnshaw’s Bright Pink Bedroom, Straight Out of the New ‘Wuthering Heights’ Movie

Airbnb is offering free three-night stays in the bedroom to three couples, who will also get lavish meals and a tour of ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Jewel Thieves Dropped This Crushed Crown as They Fled the Louvre. Now, the Historic Headdress Will Be Restored to Its Former Glory

The crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was found on the sidewalk after robbers made away with eight pieces of royal jewelry ...
Smithsonian Magazine

When Human Activity Dropped During Covid-19, Methane Emissions Surprisingly Spiked. Now, a Study Points to Two Reasons Why

In a paradox of air pollution, a decrease in man-made pollutants led to more methane in our atmosphere. And natural wetlands released more of the planet-warming gas at the same time ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Hope Returns to Panama’s Forests With the Rediscovery of Four Missing Frog Species

Smithsonian researcher Brian Gratwicke and colleagues describe how acoustic technology aided the remarkable rediscovery of four amphibian populations thought to have vanished from Panama’s mountain ...