The Latest Breaking News from The Smithsonian Institution

There’s one question I get every time I give a talk. I’m a curator of political history at the Smithsonian Institution, and when I discuss the deep history of political division in our country, someone in the audience always asserts that we can’t possibly compare past divisions to the present,…

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the flagship Chandra X-ray observatory, NASA has released 25 never-before-seen images of iconic astronomical objects.

The Smithsonian Institution says two new giant pandas are returning to Washington’s National Zoo from China by the end of the year

Like Christmas trees, Santa and reindeer, the poinsettia has long been a ubiquitous symbol of the holiday season in the U.S. and Europe

If people know the name Joel Roberts Poinsett today, it is likely because of the red and green poinsettia plant.

Dogs have been in the Americas for more than 10,000 years. They were already domesticated when they came from Eurasia with the first people to reach North America. In the coastal parts of present-day Washington state and southwestern British Columbia, archaeologists have found dog remains dating back as far as…

“We would like to have the pandas back,” Lonnie Bunch III, who leads the Smithsonian Institution, told the House Administration Committee.

Researchers have compared the DNA of 27 Black people who lived at the Catoctin furnace between 1774 and 1850, finding a link between these enslaved Americans and nearly 42,000 living relatives.

From Krakatoa to the Tonga blast, here are some of the biggest volcanic eruptions in recorded history.