Smart News

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln in 1861 shows how the man would not have been amused by this theft.

Trending Today

A Sculpture of Abraham Lincoln’s Hand Has Been Stolen From an Illinois Museum

The 150-year-old plaster art piece went missing sometime before December 11

Gene Luen Yang becomes the first graphic novelist to be appointed as the national ambassador for young people's literature.

Trending Today

Meet the New National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

The Library of Congress' decision to appoint graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang to the post reflects a growing acceptance of comic books

Where are the whales?

Trending Today

Hawaii’s Humpback Whales Have Gone Missing

Scientists expect about 10,000 whales to visit Hawaii's tropical waters this winter—but they're taking their time

Superheavy elements round out the seventh row of the periodic table. (Editor's Note, November 23, 2021: Image updated to reflect most accurate and up-to-date version of the periodic table.)

Trending Today

Four New Elements Are Added to the Periodic Table

Superheavy elements round out the seventh row of the periodic table

Trending Today

Get Excited for This Year's Space-Themed Stamps

The Postal Service honors NASA’s New Horizons Mission and Star Trek's premiere

Vermeer's "Little Street" painting compared to the buildings at the present-day address.

Cool Finds

An Expert Has Figured Out the Real-Life Location of Vermeer’s “Little Street” Painting

The painter probably had a personal connection with the house that figures prominently in the painting.

The Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is tested the day before New Year's Eve atop the roof of One Times Square in New York, on Dec. 30, 2015.

Trending Today

Here’s Why New York Celebrates New Year’s Eve by Dropping a Ball

New Year’s Eve wasn’t always a riotous party

Romanian villagers dress up in real bearskins for ursul.

Cool Finds

Ring in the New Year by Dressing Up as a Bear

Romania's famed bear dance scares away winter

The Detroit Reservoir preserved this 19th-century utility wagon.

Cool Finds

West Coast Drought Uncovers Remnants of a Long-Sunken Oregon Town

Historic low water levels revealed remains of a town beneath Detroit Lake

Single-use styrofoam containers are so 2015.

Trending Today

D.C. Is Banning Plastic Foam in 2016

Say adios to polystyrene takeout containers

Screenshot from "American Panorama" showing the origins of foreign-born Americans living in Washington, D.C. in 2000.

Cool Finds

Explore America’s History With These Richly Interactive Maps

“American Panorama” delves into the social, political and economic movements that define this country

A copy of a photograph of a solar eclipse taken by the English astronomer Arthur Eddington in 1919.

Cool Finds

Long-Lost Photos of Eclipses and Stars Found in an Observatory Basement

The stash of old negatives includes a 97-year-old copy of the photo that helped confirm the Theory of Relativity

A doctor and patients in Nicaragua during an outbreak of dengue and chikugunya virus earlier in 2015

Trending Today

Introducing the First Dengue Fever Vaccine

Three countries have already approved the vaccine

The "Dog Star" Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky.

Trending Today

Night Sky Wonders to Ring in the New Year

The star Sirius is high in the sky, and comet Catalina is at its brightest

Do these satellite sea surface images look similar? Experts think so. The image of the Pacific Ocean on the left was taken recently. To the right is a sea surface image taken in December 1997.

Trending Today

This Year's El Niño Looks Menacingly Familiar

The world is bracing for record rains and droughts

Your morning fix is about to get cheaper.

Trending Today

Caffeine Junkies, Rejoice! Coffee Just Got Cheaper

A global surplus of coffee is causing bean prices to bottom out

Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark is the resting place of Hans Christian Andersen. Now, it will mark the home for the city's homeless, as well.

Cool Finds

Copenhagen Has a Cemetery for Homeless People

But proper burials for indigent individuals remain few and far between

Cool Finds

What Should People Do With Food Waste? Make Beer

Craft beers are getting creative

The archway of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra will be recreated in New York City and London.

Trending Today

Replicas of a Temple Nearly Destroyed by ISIS Are Coming to New York and London

A surviving archway from Palmyra will be recreated as a symbol of defiance

Excerpt from the "Executive Coloring Book" by Brenda Jackson, Dennis Altman, Marcie Hans, Martin A. Cohen, and Ronald L. McDonald, published in 1961.

Cool Finds

Adult Coloring Books Were Popular (and Subversive) in the 1960s

Coloring books made fun of corporate culture, conspiracy theorists and Communist fears

Page 632 of 955