Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

None

Time-Traveling Time Lapse Takes the Same Train Ride in 1953, 1983 And 2013

Three time-lapses were shot on the same stretch of rail over 60 years

Thousands of Dolphins And Whales Will Get in the Way of the Navy’s Bombs, Says the Navy

Underwater explosions and sonar testing is expected to kill hundreds, and injure thousands to millions of animals

There Might Soon Be a Cure for (Your Pet Mouse’s) Jetlag

Scientists have found the protein that prevents your (mouse’s) body from adjusting to changing time zones

Why Do We Cry When We’re Happy?

Your brain can’t handle the overflow of emotion

Twyla Hein, Earth Biscuit Farm, Tipton, Iowa

This Photographer Is Documenting the Forgotten Female Faces of Farming

The face of farming is almost always male, but women are the fastest growing farming demographic in the country. This photographer is telling their stories

Dung Beetles Offset Climate Change

Even the most determined dung beetles can’t offset all of those emissions, so don’t feel too relieved about that steak or burger

None

Russian Authorities Are Deciding If It’s Illegal to Paint Putin in a Negligee

Russian police are flexing their newly appointed authority under the country’s anti-gay propaganda law

Guilt Is Contagious

Shaking hands with a cheater made study participants feel guilty themselves

What Isaac Asimov Thought 2014 Would Look Like

Past predictions about the future oftentimes fail miserably, but many of Isaac Asimov’s futuristic visions were pretty accurate

None

North Korea Reportedly Executed Pop Singers And Dancers

So far, only one South Korean outlet has reported on this latest possible atrocity, and unfortunately it will probably remain that way

This was most definitely not made by NASA.

NASA’s 3-D Printer Is Not Like the 3-D Printers You’ve Heard Too Much About

NASA’s 3-D printer is the 3-D printer your 3-D printer wishes it could be

Strikes began in July in New York, and have now spread to the South.

Why It’s a Big Deal That Fast Food Strikes Have Spread to the South

Fast food workers are asking for more money and to unionize, something that’s unusual to see in the South

A photo of the lunar surface captured by China’s Chang’e 2 probe.

Before This Year is Out, China’s Rover Should Be Cruising the Moon

China’s Chang’e 3 rover is slated to launch by the end of the year

Severed Octopus Arms Have a Mind of Their Own

Octopus tentacles still react up to an hour after being severed from their dead owner, and even try to pick up food and feed a phantom mouth

The development of ARPANET, the precursor of the modern internet, from December 1969 to March 1977

See How Fast ARPANET Spread in Just Eight Years

The internet of today touches the vast majority of the globe—and beyond—but not so long ago the net had a much more modest footprint

None

The Star Tau Boo Flips Its Magnetic Field, Too

Scientists watched the magnetic field of a star 51 light years away flip back and forth

New Element 115 May Finally Be Added to the Periodic Table

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry will make the final call of whether or not the time has arrived to confirm ununpentium’s existence

Saving the Last of the Great Carousels

The ornate, well made carousels of the past are in danger - degrading, being sold piecemeal and sometimes even for parts

Haters May Have a Natural Disposition to Hate

The researchers coined the term “dispositional attitudes” as a new means of assessing a person’s baseline outlook on the world

Can Wikipedia Edits Predict Box Office Success?

How do you quantify the buzz around a movie? One group of researchers suggests looking at Wikipedia edits

Page 1032 of 1143