Vol. 50 | No. 05 September 2019NASA; ALAMY (DETAIL)
September 2019 | SMITHSONIAN.COM 126
From the Tide Pool
to the Stars
A California entre-
preneur is salvaging
the story of how John
Steinbeck and his rowdy
biologist friend Ed
Ricketts revolutionized
ecology after their jolly
scientifi c adventure in
the Sea of Cortez
by Richard Grant38
The Homecoming
After 40 years in storage
at an Australian univer-
sity, the skeleton known
as Mungo Man—one of
the oldest Homo sapiens
ever found outside
Africa—is fi nally being
returned to the Aborigi-
nal people
by Tony Perrottet07 American Icon: Apple pie wars- You call that Delicious?
10 Art: The rooms where it happened
12 Justice: The largest reparations
payment to a slave
20 Literature: What did Mark Twain read?
22 National Treasure: Atomic bomb souvenir
24 Exploration: Mapping Spanish shipwrecks
features
A digitally remastered image of Saturn and its mysterious rings,
based on observations by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.prologue
50
Saturn’s Surprise
Made largely of frozen
water particles, the
planet’s massive rings
have intrigued astrono-
mers ever since Galileo
fi rst spotted them cen-
turies ago. But if star-
tling new observations
are correct, their days
may be numbered
by Shaun Raviv56
The New Treasures
of Pompeii
From coins and graffi ti
to horse stables and
mythic frescoes, recent
discoveries at every-
one’s favorite doomed
city reveal the facts
of life—and sudden
death—as never before
by Franz Lidz24
02 Discussion
88 Ask Smithsonian
You’ve got questions.
We’ve got expertsCover: Decorations unearthed on
an atrium wall, photographed by
Chiara Goia, feature a lithe nymph
on a Pompeian red background.