Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

It Might Be Hard to Collect Syria’s Chemical Weapons, But Neutralizing Them Isn’t That Complicated

Rounding up and securing all of Assad’s chemical weapons will no doubt be challenging, but the actual act of destroying them isn’t quite so difficult

A Man’s Testicle Size May Influence His Enthusiasm for Parenting

Some men may be naturally inclined to go down the long-term investment parenting route, whereas others may lean towards the Johnny Appleseed approach

William Jay Gaynor

An Assassin’s Bullet Took Three Years to Kill NYC Mayor William Jay Gaynor

Gaynor collapsed and died from a bullet that had been lodged in his throat for three years - put there by an eventually successful assassin

Nobody Knows How to Interpret This Doomsday Stonehenge in Georgia

We know where they are and what they say, but everything else is all hotly debated

“The Rape of the Sabine Women,” Pietro da Cortnoa

Ask 10,000 Men About “Forced Sex,” And Rape Statistics Start to Make Sense

When asked, one in four men admitted to committing sexual assault

Mooncakes Are China’s Fruit Cake—Traditional Holiday Gifts No One Actually Wants

Last year, China threw away 2 million of them

Egyptian military helicopters

In Case You Forgot, Egypt Is Still in the Midst of a Major Conflict

What started a month ago with protests-turned-deadly has not gone away

Watch As Taxonomists Painstakingly Clean And Assemble a Bat Skeleton

This is basically an Apple commercial for bat preservation

Yes, Astronauts Are Afraid to Go to Space

Actual astronauts never seem afraid to piece the atmosphere and plunge into the icy depths beyond our planet, but they are

The ocean’s most wanted: The Snake

INTERPOL Is After “the Snake,” a Notorious Illegal Fishing Vessel

Norway requested that INTERPOL bestow the Snake with a Purple Notice, information-gathering the agency uses to compile details on criminal activities

None

A 1928 Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary May Be the First Official Record of “Meh”

The term “meh,” defined as “an expression of indifference or boredom,” entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2008

Obama Isn’t the First Peace Prize Laureate to Support a War

This isn’t the first time a Peace Prize winner has pushed for war

Build Your Very Own Incredible, Wind-Powered Creature

Your next rainy day, you now have no excuse to be bored. You’re welcome

Here’s How Researchers Determined a Long-Lost Van Gogh Painting Is an Original

Two years of intense research were required to give the painting the final stamp of approval

For $100,000, You Can Have the Most Valuable Pokemon Card Ever

This is by far the most anyone has asked for a trading card like this

None

These Beautiful 16th Century Watercolors Illustrate the History of Comets And Meteors

Today, studying comets and meteors involves billions of dollars worth of equipment and teams from all over the world

None

The Conflict in Syria Is Damaging the Country’s Historic Sites

The ongoing fighting in Syria is devastating irreplaceable artifacts

None

This 1970s Underground Bomb Shelter Is Impeccably Designed And For Sale

3970 Spencer St seems pretty normal, until you look more closely that you realize that the trees in the background are fake, and the sky is painted on

Sudden Pauses in Text Messaging May Mean You’re Being Lied To

Additionally, we’re more likely to lie by text than in-person or on the phone

What Can Thirty Years of the Times’ Wedding Section Tell Us About Marriage And Social Status?

The Rap Genius Engineering team decided it would be fun to analyze over thirty years of New York Time nuptials to see just what NYT couples are like

Page 1007 of 1120