The Wuhan lab at the center of suspicions about the pandemic’s onset was far more troubled than known, documents unearthed by a Senate team reveal. Tracing the evidence, Vanity Fair and ProPublica give the clearest view yet of a biocomplex in crisis.
Suzanne Wooten did the impossible and became the first candidate to defeat a sitting judge in Collin County. What followed is the unbelievable, epic tale of the craziest case in the history of jurisprudence.
Scientists are grasping for any example that could help anticipate the future of Covid, even a mysterious respiratory pandemic that spread in the late 19th century.
Birgit Thyssen-Bornemisza led a life of eccentric anonymity and shabby gentility. Then her money got cut off. Then she had a stroke.
The explorer’s grandfather travelled higher than anyone; his father went deeper. Now it was his turn to make a mark.
Scientist Gary Marcus argues that “deep learning” is not the only path to true artificial intelligence.
:extract_focal()/https%3A%2F%2Fpocket-syndicated-images.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farticles%2F8198%2F1665196085_GettyImages-1351657058.jpg)
Over the course of his chariot racing career, Gaius Appuleius Diocles won almost 60,000 lbs of gold. What did he do with it? Who knows.
And what it tells us about his creativity
Susie Goodall wanted to circumnavigate the globe in her sailboat without stopping. She didn’t bargain for what everyone else wanted.
Native people have lived in the Big Bend region for thousands of years. Who should claim their remains?
They shut down patient care and put lives at risk. Would the pandemic finally slow them down?
An obscure software system synchronizes the network’s clocks. Who will keep it running?
Behold choanoflagellates, tiny creatures that can be one body and many bodies all at once.
A collector thought he had bought a painting by the celebrated British artist. How far would he go to prove it?
He was a jovial Lower East Side gangster, wartime chemical researcher and secretive color television pioneer. An inquisitive daughter wants the full story, but this ninety-three-year-old would rather drink his coffee and read his book in peace.
'The world owes me nothing.'
People say farmers aren’t supposed to get emotionally attached to livestock. Uh-huh. When fate sent our writer two newborn sheep with life-threatening birth defects, that kind of thinking was banished from the barn.
It’s the first book many babies receive as a gift, and one of the few that parents will keep when their child is grown. Why does this 75-year-old story have such staying power?
To save endangered eels, researchers have been working for decades to figure out where they reproduce.
Physicians suffer one of the highest burnout rates among professionals. Dr. Kimberly Becher, one of two family practitioners in Clay County, West Virginia, learned the hard way.
Why do so many accomplished chefs call Popeyes their favorite fried chicken?
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/7b/b1/7bb13ff8-f7c1-4aee-9705-5489f056ff5d/dahomehy.jpg)
A new film stars Viola Davis as the leader of the Agojie, the all-woman army of the African kingdom of Dahomey
Afewerki’s attack on Tigray is the culmination of the Eritrean dictator’s ambition to become master of the Horn of Africa.
Humans are social creatures, and loneliness can be debilitating — yet, many have discovered solace in the solitary life.
Before the industrial revolution, there had been a significant increase in machinery use in Europe. Why not in China?
The American chestnut tree used to grow throughout the eastern U.S., but was devastated by a blight in the early 20th century.
Math provokes dread in so many people—yet we are all born with a sense for numbers.
In the Panhandle, where swarms of lionfish gobble up native species, a tournament offers cash prizes to divers skilled at spearing one predator after another.
Why are we so dismissive of simple solutions?
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/65/56/6556bf21-81c7-4c28-91bf-596fa5457022/sep2022_g13_kingarthur.jpg)
The story of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table has captivated us for a thousand years. But is there any truth behind the tales?
The zipper is one of those inventions—along with the bicycle—that seems as though it should have occurred much earlier in history. How complicated...
An education in “juice,” how to protect your shins, and keeping 12,000 daily tons of garbage at bay.
Scientists are using machine learning to eavesdrop on naked mole rats, fruit bats, crows and whales — and to communicate back.
In the moments before entering every supercell thunderstorm, there’s a moment of pause that washes over me. It usually comes as daylight vanishes, a few seconds after I turn on my headlights; just …
The most important lessons from history are the takeaways that are so broad they can apply to other fields, other…
Plant and Krauss discuss their first album together in 15 years, their 'happily incompatible' friendship and, of course, the chances of a Led Zeppelin reunion.
The story of Josephine Baker.
As he approaches 90, even brushes with death can’t keep him off the road — or dim a late-life creative burst.
A virtuous person respects the rules. So when should the same person make a judgment call and break or bend them instead?
Did the artist paint a security camera (or a condom, or a portrait of rigatoni) into “The Red Studio”? An investigation at MoMA looks for clues.
The tons of contraband lunch meat seized at the U.S.-Mexico border tell us something about the market value of nostalgia.
It’s time to ditch the biological clock, run to the nearest fair and jump back on that metaphoric roller-coaster known as your life
Eight radio stations in Southern Louisiana still broadcast partially in French as they try to keep alive a dying language in the area. French has been spoken there since the mid-1700s.
The best science fiction books of all time push the envelope, show what could be, and make you question what's possible.
The most influential sci-fi books of all time examine humanity's longest-held hopes and deepest, most visceral fears.
From sci fi romance to science fantasy and sci fi horror, those genre-blending science fiction books have something for every reader.
These hidden gems are all great works of imagination set near and far that you need to add to your TBR ASAP.
:extract_focal()/https%3A%2F%2Fpocket-syndicated-images.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farticles%2F2189%2F1584711969__103933831_fanny-folle_pictures976crop.jpg)
It has often been described as a “miracle” that most of Denmark’s Jews escaped the Holocaust. Now it seems that the country’s Nazi rulers deliberately sabotaged their own operation.
:extract_focal()/https%3A%2F%2Fpocket-syndicated-images.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farticles%2F8098%2F1659583091_GettyImages-1268003196.jpg)
Meet the footballing bees, optimistic pigs and alien-like octopuses that are shaking up how we think about minds.
Mischievousness requires humour, wit and a playful humaneness: qualities that make for a particular kind of virtue