Smithsonian Magazine

Readers Respond to the Summer 2026 Issue

Your feedback on our special America at 250 issue, including stories about Margaret Fuller, Sequoyah and Woodrow Wilson ...
Smithsonian Magazine

To Defeat the Royal Navy During the American Revolution, a Rebel Inventor Designed a Secret Weapon: a Bomb-Carrying Submarine

David Bushnell developed the "Turtle" submersible as a student at Yale University. The vessel's attack on a British flagship ...
Smithsonian Magazine

To Capture the Beauty and Wonder of Flight, These Celebrated Artists Created Spectacular Visions of Astronauts, Aviators, Rocket Launches and the Moon

At the National Air and Space Museum, a recently opened gallery space features artworks by Norman Rockwell, Alma Thomas, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These 20 Breathtaking Bird Images From the Audubon Photography Awards Capture the Wonder of the Winged World

The winners of the 17th annual contest reveal the beauty of birds, the splendor of their migratory journeys and the risks ...
Smithsonian Magazine

In 1680, Pueblo Natives in the Southwest Launched the First Successful, Although Short-Lived, American Revolution

After enduring more than a century of suppression, the Indigenous tribes of modern-day New Mexico united to expel the Spanish ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Blue Crabs Have Taken Over the Adriatic Sea. To Fight Them Off, Italian Researchers Just Released Thousands of Baby Octopuses

Although prized in the United States, the crustaceans have been decimating ecosystems and the fishing industry in Italy. Experts hope that an army of natural predators—common octopuses—can help contai ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists Discover a 4,000-Year-Old Tomb With a False Door at Egypt’s Ancient Saqqara Necropolis

In addition to the tomb, which once belonged to a high-ranking official, excavations revealed a network of burial shafts that still held human remains and funerary objects ...