Arts

Will Catalan Elections Allow an Old Nation to Become a New State In Europe?

Catalonians have long asserted they are not part of Spain, now the historical question of independence is on the ballot

Five of the World's Most Fascinating Topiary Gardens

Whimsical gardens in surprising shapes decorate homes, churches and cemeteries around the world. We’ve rounded up five of the most extraordinary

A map of the Dupont Underground site.

A Long-Forgotten, Underground Tunnel in D.C. Is Finally Getting Some Fresh Air

The 75,000-square-foot space underneath the city's Dupont Circle will become an impressive new art space

Signs with arrows pointing the way to popular destinations, along with average walking times, popped up in Raleigh.

Tactical Urbanists Are Improving Cities, One Rogue Fix at a Time

And city governments are paying attention, turning homemade infrastructure changes into permanent solutions

A Lost John Steinbeck Short Story Was Rediscovered, Published

The short story deals with the racial politics of the mid-20th century

When Dazzling Art Transforms the Cityscape

Janet Echelman’s sky-high sculptures, created from miles of fiber, cast a magical spell over urban spaces

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Copyright Law Kept These Famous Works From Entering the Public Domain This Year

Here is a list of books, movies, music & scientific research that would have entered the public domain today had the 1978 copyright law not been passed

Frozen bubbles

How to Make Awesome Frozen Soap Bubbles Without Having to Brave the Cold

Frozen soap bubbles are really cool looking. But going outside to make them means braving the cold. Here's how to make them at home

Futurists Once Dreamed of Submarine Helicopters And Spaceships Powered by Swans

The ships that we've dreamed up tell us a lot about just how badly humans have wanted to travel beyond our own world

Tolkien's Dwarves Would Have Needed 38 Mini-Nuclear Plants to Melt All That Gold So Quickly

Unless those dwarf furnaces were burning some sort of Middle-earth super fuel, in real life Smaug probably would have just eaten the dwarves

Victorians Made Jewelry Out of Human Hair

Hair work went out of fashion around 1925, but it was popular for hundreds of years before that

This Sea Slug Was Just Named After a Game of Thrones Character

There's a Stephen Colbert beetle, a Lady Gaga genus of plant, and a Beyonce bee. And now, a Game of Thrones slug

Playing an Instrument Won’t Make Your Kid Smarter

Music can, however, boost children's creativity and teach them important life skills such as discipline and concentration--but so can other hobbies

Fingerbreaking

Breakdance Competitions Are Adding Fingerbreaking to Their Lineup

This is not a bad-cop interrogation method, but rather a newly recognized form of dance

Image: William Zeitler

Benjamin Franklin Invented a Glass Harp

Here you can hear a man play the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies on the armonica - which looks a lot like a man massaging a stack of plastic cups

The Pictures in Your Home Goods Catalogs Are Probably Computer Rendered

Some materials are harder to render than others, but soon those catalogs will be full of space that never existed in the real world

Which Seat Should You Pick at the Movie Theater?

When you walk into a theater, you're probably still going to argue with your friends about which seat to pick. But now you know the right answer

Here’s How Disney Animates Snow

In the Disney animation studio, different types of snow are made by tweaking a computer model. In the real world, they're made by changing the temperature

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This Museum Exhibit Shows How Awesome Overlooked Female Drummers Actually Are

It turns out that there are, in fact, women who drum. And they are amazing

Cheese made from human toe bacteria

This Exhibit Features Cheese Made From the Bacteria of Human Tears, Belly Buttons And Noses

The artists recently held a wine and cheese pairing event, in which visitors stuck their noses close to the human cheese and took a big whiff

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