Smithsonian Magazine-The Weekender

“A new Banksy statue of suited man walking off a ledge in London.”

Views expressed in this science and technology update are those of the reporters and correspondents.

Accessed on 10 May 2026, 1553 UTC.

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Sunday, May 10, 2026

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The new statue was installed overnight in Waterloo Place. (Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images)

Attributed to Banksy, a New Statue of a Suited Man, Blinded by a Flag and Walking Off a Ledge, Appeared in Central London
The artwork was installed under the cloak of night this week, less than two months after a journalism investigation into Banksy’s true identity was published
Christian Thorsberg

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	CELEBRATE AMERICA’S 250TH ANNIVERSARY Discover the Nation’s History in a Way You’ve Never Seen Before
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	How Do You Lift a 30,000-Pound Mast From a Warship Built a Record-Breaking 261 Years Ago? With a Really, Really Big Crane

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	How the Classic American Game of Twister Went From Risqué to Record-Breaking
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	Everyone Remembers Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride. But His Forgotten Race to Secure a Trove of Documents Reveals How Government Records Helped Win the War
	A Deadly Outbreak of Hantavirus Has Stranded a Cruise Ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Here’s What to Know About the Rare Contagion

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	Eight Things We’ve Learned About Moms Since the Last Mother’s Day
	This Greek Volcano Seemed Quiet for 100,000 Years. Then It Erupted Again. Should Scientists Take a Second Look at ‘Extinct’ Volcanoes?
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	These 15 Majestic Photographs Showcase the Beauty of the Great Lakes and Will Make You Fall in Love With the Natural Wonders





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May 10, 2026

Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender

“A Vincent van Gogh painting found wrapped in blood-stained pillow.”

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Sunday, April 19, 2026

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The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring on display before the restoration (Robin van Lonkhuijsen / ANP / AFP via Getty Images)

This Vincent van Gogh Painting Was Found Wrapped in an Ikea Bag and a Blood-Stained Pillow. Now, the Artwork Has Been Restored to Its Former Glory
Art sleuth Arthur Brand recovered “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring” in 2023, three years after it was stolen from a Dutch museum. Following careful restoration, the canvas is now back on display
Ellen Wexler

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	A Rare 1897 Film Discovered in an Old Trunk in Michigan Features the First On-Screen Appearance of a Robot
	The Hell Creek Formation Is North America’s Legendary Boneyard. See the Top Five Discoveries Found in the Iconic Fossil Bed

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	Why Does This Newly Discovered 2,000-Year-Old Stone Slab Depict a Roman Emperor as an Egyptian Pharaoh?
	In 1776, the Declaration of Independence Was Breaking News. Here’s How the Founding Document Reached the American Public
	A Glowing Sphere Towering Over Utah Sent an Urgent Artistic Message: The Great Salt Lake Is Drying Up
	Large Invasive Rodents Are Wreaking Havoc in California. New Research Suggests Someone Deliberately Introduced Them

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	After Nearly 80 Years of Doubt, Scientists Say a Spear Lodged Between Elephant Ribs Offers Evidence That Neanderthals Hunted Big Game
	Enslaved and Free Workers Built Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Brick by Brick. Archaeologists Just Discovered One of the Kilns They Used
	Does Your Cat Always Leave Behind a Half-Full Bowl of Food? New Research Points to Why Our Furry Friends Can Be Such Picky Eaters





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April 19, 2026

Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender

“The largest stand-alone ancient Roman villa ever unearthed in Wales.”

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Accessed on 25 January 2026, 2249 UTC.

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Sunday, January 25, 2026

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The foundations of the buried villa captured by ground-penetrating radar (Terradat)

Archaeologists Say They’ve Detected the Largest Stand-Alone Ancient Roman Villa Ever Unearthed in Wales
The mansion’s foundations and floors are likely well-preserved, according to geophysical surveys. The discovery provides new insights into the Roman occupation in the region
Sonja Anderson

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	Hundreds of Ancient Roman Blade Sharpeners Emerge From a Riverbank in England, Revealing the Ruins of a 2,000-Year-Old Whetstone Factory
	These Baffling Bone Artifacts Discovered by an Amateur Archaeologist May Be the World’s Oldest Whale Harpoons
	A Cow Named Veronika Can Scratch Her Back With a Broom. Watch the Video That Scientists Are Calling the First Documented Evidence of Cattle Using Tools

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	History Remembered This Black Medal of Honor Recipient for the Two Worst Days of His Life. A New Book Dives Into the Vietnam Vet’s Story
	Astronomers Discover a Mysterious Bar-Shaped Cloud of Iron Within the Iconic Ring Nebula
	This Plant Produces Plump, Fake Berries to Trick Birds Into Spreading Its Offspring Far and Wide
	SMITHSONIAN VOICES Scientists Discover New Species of Poison Dart Frog with One-of-One Specimen Collected More than Sixty Years Ago

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	Ötzi the Iceman May Have Carried a Cancer-Causing Strain of HPV, a Common Virus Still Plaguing Humans Today
	A Stunning Stretch of California’s Rugged Coastline Is Now Open to the Public for the First Time in a Century
	This Dinosaur May Have Used Its Strange Clawed Hands to Pilfer and Pierce Eggs
	Oscar Wilde’s Portraits, Poems, Letters and Manuscripts Head to Auction 125 Years After His Death





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January 25, 2026

Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender

“Astronomers may have witnessed a rare double explosion of a star called a ‘superkilonova’ for the first time.”

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Accessed on 28 December 2025, 2151 UTC.

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Sunday, December 28, 2025

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An artistic representation of a superkilonova (Caltech / K. Miller and R. Hurt (IPAC))

In a First, Astronomers May Have Witnessed a Rare Double Explosion of a Star Called a Superkilonova
A massive star may have burst, leaving behind two dense, dead cores, which then collided and caused another explosion
Margherita Bassi

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	Need a Quick Boost in Physical Strength? Try Blurting Out Some Curse Words, a Study Suggests
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	From Edison’s Light Bulb to the Ball in Times Square

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	Two Towering Statues of an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Have Been Restored at the Entrance of His Temple After 3,000 Years
	SMITHSONIAN VOICES For 25 Years, the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program Has Kept Weekly Tabs on Volcanic Eruptions Around the World. Here’s How They Do It
	She Protested School Segregation as a Teenager. Now She’s Being Honored With a Statue at the U.S. Capitol
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	A New Way to Boost the Powerhouses of the Cell Might Combat Aging and Degenerative Diseases, Lab Study Suggests





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December 28, 2025

Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender

“This stunning image shows a skydiver falling across the face of the Sun.”

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Accessed on 15 December 2025, 0008 UTC.

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Sunday, December 14, 2025

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“The Fall of Icarus” (Andrew McCarthy, Cosmic Background)

This Stunning Image Shows a Skydiver Falling Across the Face of the Sun. Here’s How the Team Captured the Mesmerizing Photo
Months of careful planning and calculations went into the shot. Then, the team had only one jump attempt to get it right
Margherita Bassi

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	A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe
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	SMITHSONIAN VOICES What Do You Get a Museum That Has Almost Everything for the Holidays? One of the Most Spectacular Dome-Headed Dinosaur Skulls Ever Unearthed

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	‘Murder Hornets’ Might Strike Terror in Humans, but These Frogs Can Eat Them for Lunch
	Archaeologists Discover Ancient Roman Olive Oil Production Facilities in North Africa
	Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Was Initially Rejected by a Publisher. It Later Became One of the World’s Most Beloved Novels
	This Site in Bolivia Boasts 16,600 Exposed Dinosaur Footprints—The Most Ever Found in One Location
	This Artist Put 2,500 of Her Favorite Books in a Massive Rotating Library on Miami Beach





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December 14, 2025

Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender

“Go behind the scenes as an iconic library moves 700,000 treasures.”

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Accessed on 07 December 2025, 2119 UTC.

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Sunday, December 7, 2025

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A bust of Plato in the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin (Yvonne Gordon)

Go Behind the Scenes at an Iconic Irish Library as Staff Move 700,000 Historical Treasures Into Storage
Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library will close for restoration and construction in 2027. What does that mean for the medieval manuscripts and books housed there?
Yvonne Gordon

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	Archaeologists Digging Beneath Britain’s Houses of Parliament Discover 6,000-Year-Old Flint Artifacts and a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Altar Fragment
	FROM OUR ARCHIVE How an Experiment to Amplify Light in Hospital Operating Rooms Led to the Accidental Invention of the Snow Globe

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	Ancient DNA Reveals That a Teenage Girl Chewed on This Wad of ‘Gum’ 10,500 Years Ago
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	A DNA Analysis of Almost 3,000 Canines Suggests That Most Dogs Have a Little Wolf in Them
	Giant Mirrors in Space Could Bring Sunlight After Dark, One Startup Says—and Astronomers Are Concerned
	IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Thousands of Mysterious Holes Dot the Landscape in Peru. Archaeologists Say They May Finally Know Why
	Experts Say This Small Drawing of a Foot May Be a Long-Lost Study for Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling
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December 7, 2025

Smithsonian Magazine

“Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender: Ethiopian volcano erupts for the firs time in nearly 12,000 years of scientific records.”

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Accessed on 30 November 2025, 2046 UTC.

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Sunday, November 30, 2025

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Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes in director Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, a Focus Features release. (Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 Focus Features LLC)

The Real History Behind ‘Hamnet’ and the Tragically Short Life of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway’s Only Son
A film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as the Bard and his wife, imagines the lives of the Shakespeare family in fantastical and heartbreaking fashion
Kayla Randall

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	Ethiopian Volcano Erupts for the First Time in Nearly 12,000 Years of Scientific Records
	In Her 70s, Grandma Moses Began Painting Lovely Scenes of Rural Life. Then She Became an Icon
	Stunningly Well-Preserved Neanderthal Skull Suggests the Species’ Large Noses Weren’t Adapted for the Cold
	Listen to a Lion’s Second Type of Roar, Which Was Just Discovered by Scientists

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	Three Brothers Found a 1939 Copy of ‘Superman No. 1’ in Their Mother’s Attic. It Just Became the Most Expensive Comic Book Ever Sold
	These Ancient Log Boats Unearthed in England Were Each Carved From a Single Tree Trunk 3,000 Years Ago
	FROM THE ARCHIVE German Archaeologists Discovered the Iconic Bust of Nefertiti in an Ancient Egyptian Sculptor’s Studio. Find Out Why Their Discovery Is Now One of Archaeology’s Most Controversial
	The Ten Best History Books of 2025

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	Just as the Italian Art of Glassblowing Was on the Verge of Shattering, a Talented Craftsman in Murano Emerged to Revive It
	A Famed Street Photographer Chronicled What Christmas Looks Like Across America Over the Course of Decades
	Archaeologists Find Evidence of a Bronze Age City in Kazakhstan
	See the ‘Mona Lisa of Illuminated Manuscripts,’ a 600-Year-Old Bible Covered in Intricate Illustrations
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	One of the World’s Oldest Calculators Was Up for Auction. Then, Scientists Rallied and Temporarily Blocked Its Sale





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November 30, 2025

Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender

“Archaeologists may have found the Lost City of the Silk Road.”

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Accessed on 23 November 2025, 2202 UTC.

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Sunday, November 23, 2025

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This Tugunbulak settlement was inhabited between the 6th and 11th centuries. (Simon Norfolk)

Archaeologists May Have Found the Lost Iron City of the Silk Road in the Remote Highlands of Uzbekistan
Researchers are uncovering what they think is the metropolis of Marsmanda, an iron-making city that could rewrite the history of the famed trade route
By Andrew Lawler Photographs by Simon Norfolk

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	Ancient Pompeii’s Elite May Have Built Lavish Towers on Top of Their Villas. Here’s What They May Have Looked Like

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	Watch a Wolf Cleverly Raid a Crab Trap for a Snack. It Might Be the First Evidence of a Wild Canid Using a Tool
	At the Mysterious Boundary Between Waking Life and Sleep, What Happens in the Brain?
	FROM THE ARCHIVE A 35,000-Year-Old Saber-Toothed Cub Was Unearthed in Siberia—and It Still Had Its Whiskers and Claws
	Scientists Reverse Human Rejection of Pig Organ Transplant for First Time

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	Forensic Analysis Identifies Skeleton as a Medieval Hungarian Duke Who Was Brutally Murdered 750 Years Ago
	Hundreds of Australian Bagpipers Attempt to Set World Record While Playing AC/DC
	Watch Four Furry and Adorable Cheetah Cubs on the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Online Feed
	SMITHSONIAN VOICES To Survive Mass Extinctions, Reef-Building Corals Retreat to the Deep Blue Sea
	Paleontologists Unearthed Australia’s Oldest Known Crocodile Eggshells. The Reptiles’ Relatives May Have Hunted From the Trees
	Meet the Daredevils Chasing Down Speed Records at the Bonneville Salt Flats





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November 23, 2025

Smithsonian Magazine-the Weekender

“The mystery of the ancient Roman gravestone discovered in a family’s back yard has been solved.”

Views expressed in this science and technology update are those of the reporters and correspondents.

Accessed on 19 October 2025, 2126 UTC.

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.com).

Sunday, October 19, 2025

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The Passage of Commodus was used by Roman emperors. (Simona Murrone / Colosseum Archaeological Park)

You Can Now Walk Through the Colosseum’s Secret Tunnel Once Used by Ancient Roman Emperors
Experts say the notorious emperor Commodus may have survived an assassination attempt inside this tunnel, which is now open to the public following extensive restorations
Sonja Anderson

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	Researchers Just Revealed the First-Ever Image of Two Black Holes Orbiting Each Other

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	How World War II Influenced ‘The Chronicles of Narnia,’ C.S. Lewis’ Beloved Fantasy Novels
	This Chilling Recording Reveals Large Bats Catching, Killing and Eating Birds Midflight
	Meet Jackie, a 1-in-30-Million Calico Lobster Caught Off the Coast of Massachusetts
	Can This Controversial Brutalist Fountain in San Francisco Be Saved From Demolition?

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	Scientists Resurrect 40,000-Year-Old Microbes From Alaskan Permafrost. What They Found Raised Worries About the Future of a Warming Arctic
	Does Your Dog Love Chasing a Ball? Study Suggests Dog Toy ‘Addiction’ Is Real





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October 19, 2025

Smithsonian Magazine-The Weekender

“Metal barrels dumped off the coast of Los Angeles are encircled by mysterious white halos….”

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Sunday, September 21, 2025

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Some of the barrels off the coast of Los Angeles are surrounded by mysterious white halos in the sediment. (Schmidt Ocean Institute)

Metal Barrels Dumped Off the Coast of Los Angeles Are Encircled by Mysterious White Halos—and Scientists Think They Finally Know Why
At least some of the barrels contain caustic alkaline waste, which has made the surrounding ecosystems inhospitable to most life forms, a new study suggests
Sarah Kuta

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	Archaeologists in Albania Unearth Tomb Belonging to an Upper-Class Roman Who Died 1,700 Years Ago
	The Best-Preserved Viking Ship in the World Just Survived Its Treacherous Final Journey
	SPONSOR: VISIT LEXINGTON See Why Visitors Wish They’d Spent Longer in Lexington, Kentucky
	The Louvre Stops Renting Out Nintendo 3DS Consoles, Which Helped Visitors Navigate the Massive Museum for 13 Years
	NASA Discovers ‘Clearest Sign’ Yet of Ancient Life on Mars in a Rock Studied by the Perseverance Rover

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	How Prepared Are We for a Rare and Powerful Solar Event?
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	More Than 300 Hats Have Been Pulled From Yellowstone’s Geothermal Features So Far This Year
	Did an Enslaved Chocolatier Help Hercules Mulligan Foil a Plot to Assassinate George Washington?
	See the Entire U.S. Constitution on Display for the Very First Time in History
	These Long-Lost 17th-Century Paintings Were Looted by the Nazis. They Just Surfaced at an Ohio Auction House
	Can You Really ‘Rot’ Your Brain by Scrolling Too Much on Your Smartphone?
	Three-Minute Take-Home Test May Identify Symptoms Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease Years Before a Traditional Diagnosis



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