April 2011

Opening Announcements, Cover, Contents

Departments:From the Editor, Letters, Your Smithsonian.com, Indelible Images

Departments:Interview, My Kind of Town, This Month in History, Wild Things

Departments:Around the Mall, From the Castle, Behind the Scenes

Departments:The Object at Hand, Q & A, What’s Up

Sifting Sacred Ground

Soil from Jerusalem’s Temple Mount is yielding artifacts of biblical proportion.

By Joshua Hammer

Something New Under the Sun

Scientists probe our nearest star to help predict its ravaging solar storms and then some.

By Robert Irion

Living on the Edge

The stark demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is prime habitat for a rare crane.

By Eric Wagner

The Painting in the Cellar

Sorting through old canvases in a storeroom, a Yale curator made a discovery that is causing quite a stir.

By Jamie Katz

The Lure of Capri

What is it about this tiny, sun-drenched island off that coast of Naples that has made it so irresistible for so long?

By Tony Perrottet

Opening Salvo

Nearly a century of discord between North and South finally exploded in April 1861 with the bombardment of Fort Sumter.

By Fergus M. Bordewich

The Last Page

Turn On, Log In, Wise Up