Smithsonian Stories

Stories that spark curiosity from the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.

jars containing parasites
Smithsonian Story

Changing Climate and Parasites

Parasites are facing major extinctions, and museum natural history collections hold the key to research.
wall with notes for My Mommy is Beautiful
Smithsonian Story

Yoko Ono’s “My Mommy is Beautiful”

Hirshhorn visitors fill Yoko Ono’s work with intimacy and intensity.
treehopper
Smithsonian Story

The Beautiful and Bizarre Treehopper

Like mosquitoes, treehoppers and their close relatives, leafhoppers, spread diseases, sometimes deadly, to their hosts.
illustration of the 3 for 2010, 2013 and 2017
Smithsonian Story

Why Does the Sun Flip Its Magnetic Field Every 11 Years

Scientists may now be able to explain why the Sun’s magnetic field reverses every eleven years.
red wallet with photos
Smithsonian Story

Pedro Pan: A Children’s Exodus from Cuba

Learn the story of the thousands of unaccompanied children who were sent from Cuba to Miami in the early 1960s.
flag postcard
Smithsonian Story

The Keeping of the Star-Spangled Banner: A Story of Emblematic Resilience

An elite team of wool experts, scientists, and conservators ensures the flag is "still there."
Scarlet tanager
Smithsonian Story

A Cup of Joe That’s Also Good for the Birds

Learn about Bird Friendly coffee, an initiative spearheaded by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
women surrounded by plastic trash
Smithsonian Story

Microplastics in Our Environment

Odile Madden, materials scientist with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, knows a lot about platics.
altar with the Virgin of Guadalupe
Smithsonian Story

A Lesson in “Rasquachismo” Art

Chicano aesthetics and the “sensibilities of the barrio” combine in artistic expression.
glowing diamond under UV light.
Smithsonian Story

Foxfire Diamond Has an Eerie Glow

At 187 carats, it’s the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered in North America.
Babe Ruth and wife with child
Smithsonian Story

Seven Babe Ruth Facts

Before the commercialization of sports superstars became commonplace, Ruth’s name and image fueled a marketing frenzy.
Monarch butterfly on flower
Smithsonian Story

Monarch Butterflies Make the Most of the Smithsonian’s Gardens

Conservation biologist Alfonso Alonso answers a few monarch-minded questions.
Traditional calaveras, or skulls, which are prominent on Día de los Muertos.
Smithsonian Story

5 Facts About Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead)

What do sugar skulls, marigolds, and monarch butterflies have in common? 
fossil of seed fern
Smithsonian Story

Connecting Ancient CO2 Records with the Future

Researchers used fossilized plants to reconstruct the ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide record. 
Spikey sea worm.
Smithsonian Story

Bizarre New Marine Worms Named

An extraordinary arrangement of bristles, wrinkles, and wart-like bumps cover newly described worms.
historic Bell
Smithsonian Story

Historic Freedom Bell to Ring

It rang this year for the first time since segregation, for a congregation that formed as our nation was founded
mule train in Grand Canyon
Smithsonian Story

Mules Still Deliver Mail in the Grand Canyon

Today in 1908, the Grand Canyon became a national monument. Here’s how its residents get their mail by mule.
mosquito
Smithsonian Story

Smithsonian’s Mosquito Collection Is Weapon in Battle Against Zika

As the Zika virus takes hold around the world, health officials are racing to find its cause and prevent its spread.
Muhammad Ali visiting the Smithsonian in a crowd
Smithsonian Story

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016)

Risk taker, sports figure and fearless social icon, Ali is ever alive in the hearts of those who know him as the greatest boxer of the 20th century
purple mite
Smithsonian Story

Mites Are Everywhere!

Get up close with seven of the Earth's 3–5 million mite species.
Adults encourage some very partisan children to don uniforms
Smithsonian Story

How 19th-Century Youth Shaped Democracy

Politicians campaigning for the youth vote isn’t anything new.
blue bird on a conifer.
Smithsonian Story

When Is a Blue Bird Not Blue?

Smithsonian asked Scott Sillett, a wildlife biologist at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
women in long hoop skirt dresses
Smithsonian Story

A Purple Accident and Its Vibrant Impact

Learn how an English chemist changed the world with the color purple.
green snake
Smithsonian Story

Note to St. Patrick: Please Keep the Snakes

Legend says St. Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland. Our National Zoo reptile expert wouldn't recommend it.

Pages