Smithsonian Magazine

From Hunting Hounds to Modernist Muses, Dachshunds Have Done It All. See the World’s First Art Exhibition Dedicated Exclusively to the Sausage Dog

A new exhibition in Germany traces how the low-slung breed captured the imaginations of artistic heavyweights like Pablo ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Greece Has Its Own Pompeii, and the Ruins Tell a Captivating Story of a Sophisticated, Seafaring Bronze Age Society

The Thera volcano, on modern-day Santorini, buried Akrotiri in ash in the 17th or 16th century B.C.E. The eruption was one of the largest in recorded history Aileen Weintraub | Freelance writer The ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Do Spiders Dream? These Arachnids Twitch, Curl Their Legs and Move Their Eyes When Asleep, Hinting at a Complex Brain State

A species of jumping spider appears to enter a deep sleep phase that resembles rapid eye movement (REM) in humans, the stage ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Are ‘Gripping,’ ‘Brilliant’ Book Blurbs on Their Way Out?

Some authors say that reading piles of books just to write blurbs for friends and colleagues is an overly time-consuming process that adds little value. Monap via Getty Images “If you can read this ...
Smithsonian Magazine

How an Irish Backroad Tradition Is Rolling Into Small-Town America

With roots in County Armagh and County Cork, the sport of road bowling is finding new life stateside, both as a fun pastime ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Where’s the bottom of the gunboat Philadelphia?

Why is the gunboat Philadelphia flat-bottomed? A look at how America’s oldest surviving warship was built, and what ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Melting Ice in the Italian Dolomites Exposes Hundreds of World War I Munitions, Vestiges of the Vertiginous ‘White War’

Following low snowfall and record-breaking summer heat, the Italian Army is hunting for unexploded shells and bombs. "When ...