Smithsonian Magazine

Scientists Say They’ve Found Preserved Dinosaur Blood in a 115-Million-Year-Old Fossil, but Not Everyone Is Convinced

Soft tissues like blood generally break down relatively quickly after death. Environmental factors can also produce red blood ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Forensic Analysis of Frozen Inca Mummies Reveals That Sacrificed Children Were Plied With Coca Leaves, Corn Beer and Ayahuasca Compounds Before Death

Five centuries after children were sacrificed on volcanic peaks in the Andes, chemical clues preserved in their hair and ...
Smithsonian Magazine

See the World’s Tallest Day of the Dead Skeleton, Made From Steel, Fiberglass, Papier-Mâché and 70,000 Marigolds

Standing a little more than 109 feet tall—roughly the height of an 11-story building—the colorful "La Catrina" figure in ...
Smithsonian Magazine

The Four-Color Theorem Has Haunted Mathematicians for Decades. It Just Got a Rare New Proof, but Some Still Long for a Simpler Solution

The famous problem asks whether a map can be filled in with only four colors such that the same color never borders itself. It has been solved with the help of computers, but some experts suggest an ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists in Scotland Discovered the Skeleton of a Roman-Era Man Who Was Decapitated Nearly 2,000 Years Ago. Now, You Can See What He Might Have Looked Like During His ...

A digital facial reconstruction of the man, whose head was severed after his death, will soon go on view in Edinburgh. It depicts an individual in his early 50s, with graying hair and brown eyes ...