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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

You'll have a tail to tell after visiting this North Carolina museum.

American South

North Carolina Has a House Cat Museum

You’ll want to paws for this roadside attraction

Lizard image produced by light-sensitive bacteria

New Research

Researchers Create Color Images With Bacteria

The art is done by inserting 18 genes into E. coli

According to Mary Sawyer's account, the lamb was a female. Sarah Hale's poem says it was a male. Sawyer is probably the source with reason to know.

‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ Is Based on a True Story

As a child, Mary Sawyer rescued a lamb. Then it followed her to school one day

Joel Arthur Rosenthal's dazzling menorah

Blinged-Out Menorah Debuts at Pioneering Exhibit in Rome

The piece, which is encrusted with precious jewels, was gifted to the Jewish Museum in Rome by the artist Joel Arthur Rosenthal

Italy is hoping to draw tourists to less-frequented parts of the country, like sites along the Appian Way, pictured here.

Italy Is Giving Away 103 Historic Buildings, Free of Charge

But potential owners are required to transform the properties into tourist-friendly sites

Cool Finds

Indonesian Village Turns Into a Rainbow to Attract Tourists

Every house and business in Kampung Pelangi is painted in bright rainbow colors

Basquiat Painting Becomes Most Expensive American Work Ever Sold

A Japanese billionaire bought the piece for $110.5 million

Can you tell which it is?

The 1870s Dairy Lobby Turned Margarine Pink So People Would Buy Butter

Margarine or butter? The question has deep roots, and you shouldn’t even ask it in Wisconsin

Sprawling Contemporary Art Museum to Open in Bangladesh

The space will include a 100-acre sculpture park and a vast gallery devoted to South Asian art

For Minneapolis art lovers, this huge painting needs no introduction—or title.

Cool Finds

Enormous Chicken Painting Comes Home to Roost

After years overseas, Doug Argue’s iconic portrait is back

New Research

New App Makes It Easier to Colorize Old Photos

The software combines human input and a sophisticated neural network to make historical images pop

Japanese Princess Will Lose Her Royal Status When She Marries a Commoner

Some say that the country should amend its imperial succession laws, which currently prohibit women from ascending to the throne

James Andrews, “Jane Austen” (1869), watercolor

Six Portraits on Display Deepen the Mystery of Jane Austen

Was Austen demure, sardonic, or glamorous? Each portrait tells a different story about the beloved author

Still from the 1958 horror film 'Dracula' starring Christopher Lee. The character of Dracula has appeared in more than 200 films.

The Icelandic Translation of ‘Dracula’ Is Actually a Different Book

The mysteries of this Gothic classic aren’t over yet

Photograph of two Havana meteoritic metal beads with a 1 cm cube for scale. The bead on the left (7.8 g mass) is cut perpendicular to the central hole, illustrating the extensive alteration of the bead and infilling of the central hole. The bead on the right (4.6 g mass) is cut parallel to the central hole and exhibits a concentrically deformed structure.

New Research

Beads Made From Meteorite Reveal Ancient Trade Network

Researchers have confirmed iron beads in Illinois come from a Minnesota meteorite, supporting a theory called the Hopewell Interaction Sphere

Iceland’s Volcano and Earthquake Museum is Devoted to the Country’s “Epic” Geology

The Lava Center is surrounded by three volcanoes

An infantry unit with bayonets marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in May 1865. They are followed by three ambulances.

See the Civil War Through the Lens of Its First Photographer

Mathew Brady and the photographers he hired were the first to photograph a war zone

Ona Louise has a tale to tell.

Cool Finds

Drag Queens Are Public Libraries’ Newest Storytellers

Early reading just got a lot more glamorous

This smart tag contains synthetic DNA and other security measures to help authenticate and track the provenance of canvas.

Cool Finds

Can Giving Paintings Their Own DNA Stop Art Forgery?

Science is leading the charge against copycats

The taggers of the future aren't carrying cans of spray paint.

Cool Finds

Street Art Will Soon Take to the Skies with Graffiti-Painting Drone Swarms

Paint-loaded quadcopters can turn any vertical space into a canvas

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