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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

A federal tea taster at work.

The FDA Used to Have People Whose Job Was to Taste Tea

Literally, that was it

Pearls have been a symbol of extreme wealth for thousands of years.

Here’s Why Pearls No Longer Cost a Fortune

Coming up with ways to lower the price of pearls—either through culturing or by out-right fakery—took centuries

An illustration of Washington's imagined deathbed scene, painted about 50 years after his death.

George Washington’s Hard Death Shows the Limits of Medicine in His Time

He’s one of the United States’s most revered figures, but his last hours were plagued by excruciating illness

Catalan Mossos d'Esquadra officers scuffle with demonstrators as they cordon off the area around Lleida museum in the west of Catalonia, Spain, on Monday, Dec. 11, 2017.

What to Know About the Removal of 44 Artworks from Catalan’s Museum of Lleida

The fate of the works has become a point of contention in Catalonia’s bitter push for independence

"García Márquez is a towering figure of 20th-century Latin America and beyond, profoundly influential as a novelist and a key figure in journalism, politics, film and cultural production," said Charles Hale, director of LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections,in a statement about the new archive at the Ransom Center.

The Magical Mind of Gabriel García Márquez Shines Through His Newly Digitized Archive

The University of Texas has digitized some 27,000 documents from the collection of the acclaimed author

Middlebury College Archivist Danielle Rougeau holds a Christmas card sent by poet Robert Frost in 1962, shortly before his death.

Catch a Rare Viewing of Robert Frost’s Cheery, Dreary, Dark Christmas Cards

The poet’s annual Christmas cards, made in compilation with printer Joe Blumenthal, were not necessarily traditional, but they were always beautiful

French wine became imperilled in the mid-1800s as twin pests from America swept through European agricultural regions.

How One Mycologist Saved France’s Wine (Among Other Things)

Bordeaux mixture saved many crops besides grapes from fungus

Egyptian excavation workers work on a mummy in a newly discovered tomb in Luxor, Egypt

Cool Finds

In Luxor, Two Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years Unveil Their Secrets

They include hundreds of statues and one of the best-preserved wall paintings found in the area

Why Pantone’s Color of the Year Is the Shade of Science

PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet is a deep saturated purple, but it doesn’t hold a candle to true ultraviolet

The tradition of decorative gingerbread dates back to the Middle Ages.

The Un-Christmassy Origin of Gingerbread Houses

This tradition dates back to the story of Hansel and Gretel

Sign the Stars Anywhere on Earth With the First International Astronomy Dictionary For Deaf Communities

The encyclopedic list includes more than 40 space terms ranging from the Moon to exoplanet

A Pizza Margherita served up by I Decumani, located on the Via dei Tribunali in Naples.

Mamma Mia!: Naples’ Pizza-Making Process Gets Unesco Heritage Status

The art of pizzaiuolo, as the craft is known, is a cherished tradition that is not easy as pie

For the 1960s, Coach's sporty, practical styling was unique.

A Paper Bag Was the Inspiration for the First Coach Purse

Lillian Cahn reached back to her childhood experiences to design the ‘leather shopping bag’ that was the company’s first purse

The Profound Loneliness of Greta Garbo

Sotheby’s is auctioning off a collection of letters that reveal Garbo’s deep dissatisfaction with her life in Hollywood

Cool Finds

Message From the Past Found Inside Spanish Statue of Jesus

A local chaplain wanted people from the future to know what crops his region grew, what games they played and what diseases they suffered

Trending Today

Toblerone’s Tussle With “Twin Peaks” Chocolate Comes to a Bittersweet End

The grocery chain Poundland is now able to sell its Toblerone copycat, but it had to change the packaging

Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi'

Saudi Prince Revealed as Buyer of $450 Million da Vinci Heading to the Louvre Abu Dhabi

An investigation by David D. Kirkpatrick of the New York Times revealed the buyer’s identity

Members of parliament react to the passage of the Marriage Amendment Bill, from left to right, Cathy McGowan, Adam Brandt and Andrew Wilkie.

Australia Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage in Jubilant Vote

The first same-sex weddings will be able to take place as early as January 9

Lubaina Himid

Trending Today

Why Lubaina Himid’s Turner Prize Win Is One for the History Books

The 63-year-old, Zanzibar-born contemporary artist becomes the oldest person and first woman of color to win the prestigious award

Madame Tussauds Berlin--one of the many Tussauds wax museums that bears Marie Tussaud's name--has a wax sculpture of Marie Tussaud herself. Here, she's portrayed sculpting the head of Ben Franklin (which is a thing she actually did).

How Marie Tussaud Created a Wax Empire

From France, to Britain, to the world, Tussaud’s waxworks endure

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