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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The definition of "boy scout" just expanded to include transgender kids who identify as male.

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Boy Scouts Will Allow Transgender Children to Enroll in Boys-Only Programs

The decision is thanks to an 8 year old

Weapons from the Falkland War are melted down for the project, which brings together British and Argentinian families affected by the conflict.

Cool Finds

This Artist Creates Roses From Weapons Left Behind By War

“Two Roses for Peace” brings together people on both sides of a 1982 conflict

Félicitations, Team USA!

America Just Won the Olympics of Cooking You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

It’s the first time the USA has been awarded gold

The little black graphene dress

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The LBD Gets an Update With the Debut of the First Dress Made with Graphene

Partially made from the world’s thinnest, strongest material, lights on the dress change color based on the wearer’s breathing rate

Anger is no match for Patience—no matter how large her sword.

Cool Finds

Here’s What Happens in a “Comic Book” Drawn by Medieval Monks

Psychomachia pits vice against virtue in a battle for human souls

Millions of immigrants passed through Castle Garden on as they entered the United States.

Cool Finds

America’s First Immigration Center Was Also an Amusement Park

Castle Garden went from fort to pleasure grounds to precursor of Ellis Island

The legendary Mary Tyler Moore

Remembering Mary Tyler Moore and Her Groundbreaking Sitcom That Almost Wasn’t

The iconic entertainer died today. She was 80 years old

"Container Trade Object"

Cool Finds

New Exhibition Highlights Art Inspired by Standing Rock

Art as a lens to understand the protest

A portrait of Dan Rice circa 1840.

This Famous American Clown Was (Probably) a Model for Uncle Sam

Dan Rice was the John Oliver of the mid-nineteenth century

"Gung Haggis Fat Choy" may be the only celebration that combines both traditional Robert Burns Night festivities, including bagpiping, with a celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy: This Canadian Celebration Combines Robert Burns Night and Chinese New Year

Started by “Toddish McWong” in 1998, the annual dinner has grown and grown

The final title card for Guiding Light.

TV’s Longest-Running Soap Opera Was First Broadcast 80 Years Ago

Guiding Light had over 15,700 episodes between radio and television

Samuel Clemens often told stories to his children, but only one has survived.

Cool Finds

New Mark Twain Fairy Tale Unearthed

The previously unknown—and unfinished—story was hiding in plain sight

Coins recovered during Operation Pandora

Trending Today

Police Recover More Than 3,500 Stolen Artifacts in Europe

Operation Pandora involved 18 nations and pan-European police agencies to recover paintings, coins and artifiacts

Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michael Basquiat won the 2017 Randolph Caldecott Medal.

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American Librarians Just Chose 2017’s Best Books for Children and Young Adults

Meet the 2017 Newbery, Caldecott and Printz award winners

Microscope not included.

Cool Finds

This Necklace Contains All of the World’s Languages

Because cultural preservation never goes out of fashion

Paul Robeson, photographed by Alfredo Valente in 1940.

Remembering Paul Robeson, Actor, Sportsman and Leader

Among other things, Robeson transformed one of history’s most famous showtunes into a protest song

Central High School, where school integration battles of the Civil Rights Movement played out, is among 39 sites and historical projects to get National Park Service grants.

Trending Today

New Grants Give Out Millions to Preserve African-American History

A $7.5 million grant program will fund 39 projects in over 20 states

Edgar Allan Poe as imagined in an 1895 image by Swiss/French printmaker Félix Valloton.

Who Was the Poe Toaster? We Still Have No Idea

In Baltimore, they’re keeping the tradition of visiting Edgar Allan Poe’s grave for his birthday—but without the mystery

Cool Finds

This Altar Cloth Might Have Been Elizabeth I’s Skirt

It belonged to a parish church for centuries

The White Spy and Black Spy have inspired video games, action figures, and an animated TV series.

This Cuban Cartoonist Drew the Cold War for MAD Magazine

The Black Spy and the White Spy have been chasing each other around in MAD Magazine for 56 years

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