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Smithsonian Magazine

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2026-09-08 · Smart escape

Kermit the Frog Was Just Trying to Put on a Variety Show. Fifty Years Later, the Muppets Are Some of the Biggest Stars in Television History

How did a chaotic variety show give its audience permission to be weird?

0:00 / 23:07 · Narrator Vindemiatrix

2026-09-05 · For the curious

Theodore Roosevelt Survived an Assassination Attempt Because a Speech Tucked Inside His Pocket Slowed the Bullet. He Insisted on Delivering His Remarks Anyway

Why would you edit the transcript of a speech you gave with a bullet in your chest?

0:00 / 12:15 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-09-02 · Smart escape

This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II

What happens to a goodbye letter when the man who wrote it actually comes home?

0:00 / 13:04 · Narrator Vindemiatrix

2026-08-30 · Behind the news

NASA-Funded Mission to Rescue a Falling Space Telescope Officially Ends in Failure

0:00 / 16:51 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-08-30 · Smart escape

Once the Solar System's Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here's Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small Icy Body

Why did losing its title make a tiny, frozen world so much easier to love?

0:00 / 13:53 · Narrator Vindemiatrix

2026-08-28 · Smart escape

An 11-Year-Old Boy in a Small Midwestern Town Just Became the Guinness World Record Holder for Being the Youngest Museum Curator

How does an eleven-year-old go from hunting fossils in his driveway to running a museum?

0:00 / 5:17 · Narrator Vindemiatrix

2026-08-27 · Behind the news

A Rare Comet Made History as the Third Known Interstellar Object to Fly Through Our Solar System. Studies Are Now Revealing the Mysterious Conditions in Which It Formed

How do you read the history of an ancient star system from a passing chunk of ice?

0:00 / 10:01 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-08-26 · Smart escape

The Global Web of Subsea Cables That Connects the World Can Now Detect Whales—Even When They're Silent

0:00 / 18:02 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-08-21 · Behind the news

Why Are Some Octopuses so Smart? The Answer Might Lie in a Never-Before-Seen Mutation That Helps Them Accurately Build Proteins

0:00 / 19:45 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-08-20 · For the curious

Yellowstone is Among the World's Best Places to See Wild Wolves. Here's the Story of the Animal Called Both 'Public Enemy' and Cultural Icon

Why is it so hard to look at a wild wolf and just see an animal?

0:00 / 24:31 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-08-18 · Future-gazing

Scientists Say They've Discovered 'Little Lab Zombies'—Seemingly Immortal Tissue Taken From Sea Cucumbers

If a severed body part survives on its own for years, is it actually alive?

0:00 / 5:49 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-08-16 · For the curious

This Unsung Black Developer Unlocked the Code to Turning a Video Game Console Into a Virtual Living Room Arcade

Who actually figured out how to put video games into cartridges you could swap at home?

0:00 / 6:00 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-08-15 · Behind the news

Traces of Two Extinct 'Ghost' Ancestors Were Found Hiding in Modern Human DNA, Hinting at Our Extremely Complex Family Tree

0:00 / 9:00 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-08-12 · Smart escape

This Newly Discovered Spider Builds a Unique Web That Catapults Ants Through the Air

Why would a spider spend hours building a spring-loaded catapult to catch just one kind of ant?

0:00 / 6:37 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-08-10 · Behind the news

A New Study Points to Two Origins of Life on Earth by Tracing Early Chemical Reactions in Single-Celled Organisms

0:00 / 20:37 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-08-07 · Behind the news

Long-Term Exposure to Road Traffic Noise Might Increase Your Risk of Developing Parkinson's Disease, New Research Suggests

0:00 / 15:22 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-08-07 · Future-gazing

Big Waves Meet Biodiversity: Why Surfing Paradises Could Offer a Key Opportunity for Marine Conservation

If a perfect wave is protected by law, what else survives in the water below?

0:00 / 13:15 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-08-05 · For the curious

A Brief History of Hold Music, From Early Patents to the Soundtrack of Customer-Service Purgatory

How did a teenager's dusty practice tape become the soundtrack for millions of hours of waiting?

0:00 / 13:03 · Narrator Algieba

2026-08-04 · Smart escape

The History of the Beach Read, From 19th-Century 'Moral Debasement' to BookTok

0:00 / 17:50 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-08-02 · Smart escape

When Germany Built a Flying Train 125 Years Ago, a City Coalesced Beneath It. It Has Moved Royalty, Commuters and Tourists—and One Elephant—Ever Since

How did a train suspended over a river end up creating the city beneath it?

0:00 / 13:14 · Narrator Gacrux

2026-07-30 · Future-gazing

How A.I. Will Reshape Radiology—Without Replacing Radiologists

How does a doctor learn to second-guess a machine that is almost always right?

0:00 / 10:55 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-07-29 · Behind the news

A.I. Disproves a Decades-Old Mathematical Idea, the 'Biggest Conjecture' That the Tech Has Played a Role in Yet

0:00 / 39:37 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-27 · For the curious

The Man Who Created a Written Language for the Cherokee Did It so Efficiently and Elegantly, His Peers Thought It Was Magic

How do you invent a written language when you have never learned to read?

0:00 / 6:13 · Narrator Algieba

2026-07-23 · Behind the news

For the First Time in 27 Years, a Man Set a New World Record for Fastest Mile. People Have Chased the Goal for Centuries

0:00 / 41:09 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-22 · Behind the news

Could Life Exist on This Nearby World? In a First, Astronomers Find an Atmosphere on an Earth-Like Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone

If a rocky world 49 light-years away has air and water, is life the only thing missing?

0:00 / 5:52 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-07-20 · Behind the news

One of the Quietest Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, Ella Baker Led by Encouraging Everyone to Get Involved

How did one woman help start a movement by visiting bars and pool halls?

0:00 / 7:09 · Narrator Gacrux

2026-07-16 · Future-gazing

How Do Pigeons Find Their Way Home? New Research Suggests the Birds' Remarkable Navigational Skills Come From Their Livers

Why would a pigeon need its liver to find the way home on a cloudy day?

0:00 / 6:01 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-07-15 · Behind the news

Artemis 1's Orion Spacecraft Withstood the Heat of Re-entry in a Critical Test for Humans' Return to the Moon. Now, NASA Will Loan the Historic Capsule to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

0:00 / 18:02 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-12 · Smart escape

An Ancient Sea Once Split North America Down the Middle. The Beautiful Multicolored Ammonite Shells From Its Waters Are so Perfectly Preserved That They Still Shimmer Today

0:00 / 18:53 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-11 · Future-gazing

Could We Mitigate Super El Niños by Artificially Changing the Climate? A New Study Indicates Yes

Could making the clouds a little brighter stop a super El Niño before it starts?

0:00 / 5:36 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-07-09 · Smart escape

Did This Duke Poison His Brother? A New DNA Analysis May Solve the Centuries-Old Medici Mystery

0:00 / 15:44 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-09 · For the curious

Alan Lomax Spent Years Traveling the Country to Record the Sounds of America. The Legacy of His Obsession Will Live Forever

How much of a country’s story survives only because someone was there to record its voices?

0:00 / 45:18 · Narrator Gacrux

2026-07-08 · For the curious

Everyone Wanted Alexander Graham Bell to Debut the Telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. He Almost Avoided It Entirely

0:00 / 31:25 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-07 · Smart escape

To Recreate One of the American Revolution's Most Famous Paintings, This Artist Painstakingly Crafted Miniature Wax Figures of the Nation's Founders

0:00 / 18:54 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-05 · For the curious

A Fossil From Antarctica Sat in a Drawer for 40 Years. It Turned Out to Be the First Dinosaur Bone Ever Found on the Continent

0:00 / 15:37 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-05 · Smart escape

Someone Stole a Banana Duct-Taped to the Wall of a French Museum. One of Its Duplicates Fetched More Than $6 Million at Auction

If a masterpiece is just a banana, what does a thief really walk away with?

0:00 / 5:21 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-07-03 · Behind the news

Scientists Have Deciphered the Surviving Fragments of a 2,000-Year-Old Philosophical Treatise Frozen in Time by Mount Vesuvius' Eruption

0:00 / 36:24 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-07-03 · Behind the news

Scientists Say They've Made Cells That Feed, Grow and Reproduce, Bringing Them One Step Closer to Building Life From Scratch

If a synthetic cell can eat and evolve, where does the chemistry end and life begin?

0:00 / 6:56 · Narrator Gacrux

2026-06-30 · Behind the news

In a Scientific First, Researchers Recovered Ancient DNA That Humans Left Behind on Rock Art and Cave Walls

0:00 / 9:10 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-06-29 · For the curious

How Tanjia, a Meat Stew Slow-Cooked in Bathhouses, Shaped Marrekesh's Social Life

How does the shared heat of a public bathhouse shape the social life of Marrakesh?

0:00 / 10:15 · Narrator Gacrux

2026-06-27 · Behind the news

This 'Practice-Changing' Gene Test Could Tell Doctors Which Patients with Breast Cancer Can Skip Chemo, Clinical Trial Suggests

0:00 / 14:00 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-06-26 · Behind the news

The World's First Nuclear Clocks Are Ticking, Opening a New Way to Investigate Dark Matter and Other Mysteries of Physics

How does the search for dark matter change when a clock is built from an atom's nucleus?

0:00 / 6:06 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-06-25 · Future-gazing

Can Printed 'Skin' Heal Burns and Prevent Scars?

If a machine can print the building blocks of skin, will the body forget how to scar?

0:00 / 10:45 · Narrator Charon

2026-06-23 · For the curious

Harriet Beecher Stowe Wrote a Work of Fiction That Seemed so Real That It Changed the History of the Country

Can a story built from shards of real life move a country more than facts alone?

0:00 / 12:21 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-06-20 · Behind the news

A Vietnam Veteran Collected Fossils for 66 Years. One, Mislabeled 'Baby Lamprey,' Made Paleontologists Reconsider How Vertebrates Moved From Water to Land

0:00 / 30:06 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-06-20 · Small delights

These Devoted Dads Across the Animal Kingdom Will Warm Your Heart This Father’s Day

How do the varied roles of animal fathers help their young survive in the wild?

0:00 / 9:44 · Narrator Rasalgethi

2026-06-19 · Behind the news

A Vietnam Veteran Collected Fossils for 66 Years. One, Mislabeled 'Baby Lamprey,' Made Paleontologists Reconsider How Vertebrates Moved From Water to Land

0:00 / 22:00 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-06-19 · Small delights

'Cute Little Guy': Scientists Discover a Tiny Blue Species of Octopus by the Galápagos Islands

How does a tiny blue octopus wait a decade in a jar before finally receiving a name?

0:00 / 5:12 · Narrator Gacrux

2026-06-17 · Smart escape

This Colorful Parrot Had Been Seen Only Once Over the Past Century. Birders Just Rediscovered It in an Unexplored Indonesian Forest

If a bird hasn't been heard for a hundred years, how do you know what to listen for?

0:00 / 7:58 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-06-11 · Behind the news

In the Early Days of Machine Learning, Massive Computers Said George Harrison Was a Woman. A.I. Has Come a Long Way

0:00 / 28:53 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix

2026-06-09 · For the curious

The Gin and Tonic is a Cocktail with a Storied History. Don't Overlook Scotland's Connection to the Classic

When we sip a gin and tonic, how much of its past is actually Scottish?

0:00 / 11:39 · Narrator Sulafat

2026-06-05 · For the curious

Scientists Made Sourdough Bread with Yeast Found on Ötzi the Iceman’s Mummified Body

Can yeast that survived 5,300 years on Ötzi the Iceman still make bread?

0:00 / 6:10 · Narrator Vindemiatrix

2026-06-03 · Behind the news

Did Human Ancestors Walk on Their Knuckles Like Today's Chimpanzees? New Research Adds More Evidence to the Debate

Before we stood tall, what did the bones in our wrists say about how we moved?

0:00 / 5:30 · Narrator Sulafat

Smithsonian Magazine

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