Smithsonian Magazine

Smithsonian Magazine takes you on a journey through history, science, world culture and technology with breathtaking images from around the world.

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Smithsonian Magazine

Knowledge of All Kinds • WITH ASTONISHING NEW DISCOVERIES IN THE COSMOS AND PIVOTAL RESEARCH MUCH CLOSER TO HOME, SMITHSONIAN SCIENCE PROVES INDISPENSABLE

Show Time • The humble origins and complex future of cowboy competition

Saddle Celebrities • ROPERS, WRANGLERS AND RIDERS WHO HELPED MAKE THE SPORT A SENSATION

VIDA DIARIA • A mid-century modernist and native son elevated ordinary Cuban life

Fueling the Future • Back in the 19th century, coal was America’s newfangled fuel source—and it faced the same resistance as wind and solar today

Where Americans Get Their Energy • All told, 80 percent of domestic electricity production comes from natural gas, coal and nuclear fission. But renewable wind and solar power are gaining ground

The Real Deal • The founding document of Liberia went missing for nearly 200 years. Then a Maryland historian began his search

IMPERFECT UNION • The most-mocked painting ever commissioned by the U.S. government shows democracy at its most realistic

The Cutting Edge • Roughly two million years ago, simple stone tools like this one sparked a revolution in the way humans lived

Don’t Be Puzzled • YOU CAN FIND 11 ANSWERS IN THESE PAGES

The Forest and the Taboo • Smithsonian accompanies famed American biologist Patricia Wright as she explores an astonishing forbidden wilderness in Madagascar

THE LONG HAUL • America’s fascination with trains is fast-tracked in this photographer’s study of passing freight

RUSSIA’S ATTACK ON HISTORY • HOW UKRAINIANS RACED TO PROTECT A HUGE 300 - YEAR - OLD RELIGIOUS ICON DURING RUSSIA’S ONGOING INVASION

South TO THE Promised Land • Before the Civil War, numerous enslaved people made the treacherous journey to Mexico in a bold quest for freedom that historians are now unearthing

High Expectations • A mountain range in the Pacific Northwest is a last bastion for a unique canine

JEWEL OF THE OZARKS • An unabashed tribute to the wild Arkansas waterway that became the nation’s first national river 50 years ago

Solving THE Ocean • IN WORLD WAR II, VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC DEPENDED ON STRATEGY, BRAVERY AND MILITARY MIGHT. IT ALSO DEPENDED ON A BRILLIANT MARINE SCIENTIST NAMED MARY SEARS

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