Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

World War II Just Took Another Life As Relic Bomb Explodes

An old bomb just killed one and injured eight in Germany

Deep fried butter on a stick

Long Before Paula Deen’s Fried Butter Balls, Cooks Were Trying to Roast Butter on a Stick

Paula Deen may in fact come from a long culinary tradition of skipping the bread and simply eating the butter

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

A resolution-themed postcard from 1909.

This Site Provides a Supportive Audience For Your New Year’s Resolution

The site has sponsored projects ranging from losing weight to building a race car

A memorial to the Irish famine in Dublin.

160 Years Later, Scientists Grow a GM Potato That Could Have Prevented the Irish Potato Famine

Genetically modified potatoes resistant to potato blight were designed in Ireland

Drivers Are Doing Something Besides Driving Ten Percent of the Time

Simply talking on a cellphone, however, did not increase the risk of an accident or near accident for drivers - so long as their eyes stayed on the road

On a Warmer Planet, Fewer Clouds Form, And Temperatures Rise Further

Scientists use words such as “catastrophic,” “impossible” and “profound” to describe what life on the planet would be like under 4-degree-warmer conditions

Why So Many Afghanis Celebrate Their Birthdays on January 1

In the war-ravaged nation, many peoples’ birthdays are on January 1st

The World’s Third Oldest Bible, the Codex Washingtonianus, Is Making a Rare Museum Appearance

When the Codex was first published publicly in 1912, it caused a controversy because it contained an extra passage in the Gospel of Mark

Using Nothing But Sound, These Scientists Are Making Things Float

Using nothing but high frequency ultrasound, these researchers can make anything float

Your Probability of Dying Doubles Every Eight Years

It’s a brand new year, and the chances that this one will be your last might be higher than you suspect

This Cold Snap Is Making It Colder Than the Surface of Mars

There’s a pocket of cold air hanging over the eastern states, and it is very cold indeed

London’s Looking at Building Bike Lanes in the Sky

The dedicated bike lanes could improve some commuter’s trips by nearly 30 minutes

Playing Q-bert on the Atari 2600 through the Internet Archive’s Console Living Room.

Play Through the History of Video Games (Frogger! Asteroids! Q-bert!) All on One Site

From Frogger to Asteroids to Turtles!, play through the early days of video gaming

Bodily maps of emotion developed by the researchers.

Different Emotional States Manifest in Different Spots in the Human Body

Humans are emotional creatures, but whether emotions produced the same physical responses in people across varying cultures remained unknown until now

A memorial ceremony held in 1974 in Tel Aviv, where a tribute to the victims of the Munich massacre was unveiled.

How Worried Should We Be About Terrorism at the Sochi Olympics?

The 1972 summer games held in Munich, Germany, suffered the worst terrorist attack in history

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

Central Park’s Horse-Drawn Carriages Could Be Replaced With Old-Timey Electric Cars

Demand for horse-drawn rides has reportedly spiked as tourists and locals alike rush in for a chance to take one last buggy ride through the park

The Shackleton expedition's scientist, Alexander Stevens, stands on one of the team's ships, the Aurora.

A Century-Old Roll of Undeveloped Film Was Just Found in Antarctica

A century-old set of negatives was found in an Antarctic supply hut

A dolphin with its drug of choice.

Dolphins Seem to Use Toxic Pufferfish to Get High

The dolphins’ expert, deliberate handling of the terrorized puffer fish implies that this is not their first time at the hallucinogenic rodeo

Page 975 of 1115