Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Stories from Colin Schultz

None

Today is Actually the 1700th Anniversary of the Bikini, not the 66th

July 5th, 1946 is classically regarded as the birth date of what we now call the bikini. But that version of history misses the long view

None

What if Newton’s Principia Mathematica, Published Today, Had Been in Comic Sans?

The rage over CERN’s font choice drives the question: How would the world have reacted to Newton’s world-changing tome had Comic Sans existed at the time?

Dust jacket of the book Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler.

Germans un-Kampf-ortable With Reissue of Hitler’s Tome

Starting in 2015, Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf will once again be available to German readers

None

Physicists Pin Down New Particle, Won’t Quite Call It the Higgs

None

One of the First Maps to Include “America” Found in Old Geometry Book

None

Timbuktu’s Ancient Relics Lay In Ruins At Hands of Militant Group

None

Stick Bugs Have Sex for Two Months Straight

Yes. They can. Two-plus months. Or, more specifically, 79 days, says pseudonymous entomologist—blogger Bug Girl

None

London Had All-Electric Taxis in 1897

Every recorded earthquake of magnitude 4 of higher since 1898

100 Years of Earthquakes On One Gorgeous Map

None

The Genetic Engineering Plan to Turn Trees Black and Cool the World

How Spray-On Everything Could Radically Transform Manufacturing

None

What If the Founding Fathers Had Known About Voltron?

Olly Moss, a UK-based graphic designer, riffs on Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 political cartoon, “Join, or Die.”

Head of World’s Largest Oil Company Suggests Climate Change is No Big Deal

Speaking to the non-profit think tank Council on Foreign Relations, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson said that preventing climate change will be “manageable.”

None

Obama Could Win 2012 Because the South Used to Be Underwater

The Peutinger Table maps the full historical extent of the Roman highway system.

Greek Subway Dig Uncovers Marble Road from Roman Empire

The Colorado Springs fire has forced the evacuation of 32,000 residents.

Devastating Colorado Wildfires Most Recent in Decades-Long Surge

None

Movie of the Inside of a Woman’s Body as She Gives Birth

None

Scientists Confirm that Somali Pirates Are On Holiday Now, Too

None

117th Element “Ununseptium” Confirmed, Will Get Name Not Stolen From Avatar

None

Bike-Powered Helicopter Smashes World Record, Flies for Almost a Minute

Page 73 of 74