Smithsonian Stories

Surf's up! A dive into the legacy of the "Big Kahuna," considered the father of modern surfing.

Fanzines have been an important part of the punk scene in D.C. since it first emerged in the second half of the 1970s.

Sports have always been political. Few items in the history collections make this point better than an 1882 banner honoring boxer John L. Sullivan.

The resemblance is uncanny....It may seem absurd now, but centuries ago manatees were mistaken for mermaids.

Captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, this image reveals the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87.

From concubine to empress: Cixi effectively ruled China for nearly 50 years.

Rubin is best known for finding evidence of dark matter.

Amphibian skin bacteria is more diverse in cold and variable environments according to global survey.

The epidemic of obesity-related diseases such as heart disease and type-2 diabetes may be a result of an advantageous process gone awry.

Saw-whet owls are barely the size of a human hand, with golden eyes, chocolate-brown feathers, and faces that have inspired some to call them “kittens with wings.” 

Best known as the “Mother of the Hubble Space Telescope, Roman was not a “hidden figure,” but rather a recognized leader in her field.

First study of humpback whale survivors of killer whale attacks in the Southeastern Pacific show may be on the rise.

Peinetas, such as the 19th-century peineta pictured here, came to symbolize a woman’s individuality and entrance into society.

A recent adaptation represents a dramatic shift in the diet of many native birds.

Pepón Osorio created “El Chandelier” for a performance that explored the life of a Puerto Rican woman living in New York.

Home to the iconic blue crab, the bay is also home to several species of shark.

A month after 9/11, a curator visited Ground Zero. This is what she saw.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History offers a critical science lesson for the 21st century.

Twins! Long-lost slippers turn out to be a match for the Smithsonian's pair.

The Smithsonian collections contain bird specimens that the real James Bond collected in the Caribbean.

The animal care specialists at the Smithsonian’s National have a few tricks up their sleeves to bring relief.

Every queen deserves a castle, and the ruler of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s naked mole-rat colony is no different.

Smithsonian scientists have joined NASA and others to do something incredible: launch a solar probe and have it enter the sun’s atmosphere without melting.

The journey will culminate in 2024 with its closest ever approach of 3.83 million miles.