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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The iconic Barnum's Animals crackers are getting a redesign, thanks to PETA.

After 116 Years, Animal Crackers Have Been Freed From Their Circus Cages

A new redesign of the iconic treats shows animals walking across a savanna

Archaeologists unearthed the rotting teeth during construction of a new metro line in Melbourne, Australia

Cool Finds

Archaeological Dig at Australian Metro Station Unearths 1,000 Human Teeth

A local dentist probably flushed the molars down the toilet or discarded them with his trash

Obvious' "Portrait of Edmond Belamy" exceeded expectations at Thursday's sale

Art Meets Science

Christie’s Will Be the First Auction House to Sell Art Made by Artificial Intelligence

Christie’s will sell the work from Paris-based art collective Obvious, which created ‘Portrait of Edmond Belamy’ with the machine-learning algorithm GAN

Poster for Cinématographe Lumière (1896)

Poster From One of the Earliest Public Movie Screenings Is Heading to Auction

The artwork advertised the Lumière brothers’ pioneering Cinématographe

Police stand guard around the Confederate statue Silent Sam after it was toppled by protestors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Protestors Pulled Down a Confederate Statue at the University of North Carolina

“Silent Sam,” as the monument is known, had been a source of controversy for decades

The restored horse head is on view for the first time since its discovery in 2009

A 2,000-Year-Old Golden Horse Head Suggests Romans Actually Got Along Wth German ‘Barbarians’

The sculpture fragment suggests Romans lived peacefully alongside Germans until a decisive defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest

An artist's rendition of Sheffield Castle

Archaeologists Are Excavating Sheffield Castle, One-Time Prison of Mary, Queen of Scots

The Scottish queen spent 14 years imprisoned at the medieval stronghold

Michaelina Wautier, "The Triumph of Bacchus," ca. 1643-59

‘Baroque’s Leading Lady’ Artist Michaelina Wautier Finally Gets Retrospective

The 17th-century painter mastered an array of genres at a time when most female artists were consigned to painting flowers

Slow-moving clumps of bacteria form the darker regions of the portrait, while fast-moving, spaced-out bacteria form the lighter regions

Art Meets Science

Light-Reactive Bacteria Create Miniature ‘Mona Lisa’ Replica

Researchers transformed swimming bacteria into replica of the da Vinci masterpiece, morphing likenesses of Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin

Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, Tainan city councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh and Huang Shu-jen, head of a local group established to commemorate "comfort women"

Taiwan Unveils Its First Statue Honoring ‘Comfort Women’

The monument has sparked diplomatic tensions with Japan

Image of the 12th-century Buddha statue

Crime-Fighting Art Expert Helps Bring Stolen Buddha Statue Back to India

The statue comes home 57 years ago after being stolen

The Whitechapel fatberg is a massive clump of congealed fat, wet wipes, diapers and miscellaneous waste

You Can Now Watch the Whitechapel Fatberg’s Decay on Livestream

The toxic clump of sewage oil and waste housed at the Museum of London has, so far, changed colors, ‘sweated,’ hatched flies and grown yellow pustules

It’s often difficult to tell “where the art ends and the building begins”

Swiss Institute Reimagines Duchamp’s Readymades for the Modern World

The exhibition asks visitors to revisit the objects in their daily life that are often taken for granted

View the Uffizi’s Ancient Treasures From Afar, in 3D

A new website has digitized 300 objects from the Florence gallery’s Greek and Roman collection

How an Artist Is Rebuilding a Baghdad Library Destroyed During the Iraq War

“168:01,” an installation now on view at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, encourages visitors to donate books to the University of Baghdad

Charles II attempted to ban public coffeehouses, which he viewed as hotbeds of "fake news" and seditious murmurings

Missouri Exhibition Explores the Centuries-Old Specter of ‘Fake News’

Curator considers three categories of ‘fake news’: error, hoax and truths deemed false

Pocket-Sized Bible Returns to Canterbury Cathedral After 500 Years

The volume was lost after Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the cathedral’s monastery

Cool Finds

Fog Sculptures Are Enshrouding Boston’s Historic Parks

Artist Fujiko Nakaya brings five fog installations to life to mark the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s 20th anniversary

"Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine"

Hundreds of Newly Found Poems Reveal the Devastation of the U.K.’s ‘Cotton Famine’

When the American Civil War crippled England’s cotton industry, impoverished workers turned to poetry to convey their plight

In addition to the graduate program, ASU and the WWII Museum will offer a series of non-credit courses designed for those seeking a less rigorous academic experience

First US-Based World War II Master’s Degree Program Will Launch in January

The online graduate program is a collaboration between Arizona State University and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans

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