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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The pony swim in 2008

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Watch the Chincoteague Ponies Complete Their 91st Annual Swim

For nine decades, the local fire department has herded the horses from Assateague to Chincoteague Island to auction off the foals

Civil Rights icon John Lewis tells his life story in March, the bestselling graphic novel.

Cool Finds

Civil Rights Legend John Lewis Won a Prestigious Comic Book Award

With March, Lewis brings his life story to a whole new generation

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Why VHS and Five Other Formats May Live Forever

The final VCRs will ship later this month, but if recent history is any indicator, it doesn’t mean the VHS format will vanish for good

Cool Finds

This App Puts a Museum in Your Phone

Get out and get some culture with a newly released app that gives art a smart spin

"Memory Wound" is within view of Utøya, where Norway's July 22 massacre occurred.

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An Artist Will Slice Up a Peninsula to Remember Norway’s 2011 Massacre

“Memory Wound” will evoke the brutal losses of the July 22 tragedy

Cool Finds

Common African Union Passport to Allow Free Movement Across the Continent

The African Union unveiled a new passport earlier this week that will allow citizens to cross between its 54 member states without visas

Pure Human features clothing made from leather that is produced from the DNA of designer Alexander McQueen—and that includes freckles, realistically placed tattoos and even sunburns.

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Alexander McQueen Is Being Turned Into Leather

The late designer’s DNA is part of a bizarre experiment in fashion ethics

Cool Finds

The World’s Largest Picnic Basket Faces an Uncertain Future

The fast decline of a kitschy landmark

This musical score, in Jane Austen's handwriting, is one of nearly 600 Austen family musical treasures available in an online archive.

Cool Finds

Jane Austen’s Music Collection Is Now Online

Play piano like a Darcy with nearly 600 Austen-approved tunes

Eleven Persian qanats are being preserved by Unesco.

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Unesco Names New World Heritage Sites

Rock art, irrigation and education add to the organization’s growing list of sites worthy of protection

Cool Finds

Anyone Can Contribute to This Giant Poem…if You Can Find This Typewriter

A roving typewriter tries to capture New York’s subconscious

The Mertz Library hosts one of the world's largest collections of material about plants.

Cool Finds

Go Inside New York’s Nearly Secret Botanical Library

It’s a gardener’s fragrant fantasy

Was this 1660 self-portrait painted with the help of high-tech optics?

New Research

Did Rembrandt Have Help With His Most Famous Paintings?

A new study suggests the old master also knew his optics

Carla Hayden will be the nation's first woman and first African-American to serve as Librarian of Congress.

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Meet Your New Librarian of Congress

Carla Hayden will make history as the first African-American in the role—and the first woman

The Girl Scouts' newest badges celebrate art in the outdoors.

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The Girl Scouts’ Newest Badges Bring Art Outside

Scouts designed and voted on the new badges

The Young Orphan, c. 1884

Cool Finds

Meet William Merritt Chase, the American Master Coming Back into Fashion

At the turn of the century, Chase was one of the most well-known painters and teachers in the United States. A new exhibit revisits his revolutionary skill

Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Cool Finds

10 Downing Street’s “Chief Mouser” Is Keeping His Job Despite Brexit

Larry the Cat will outlast David Cameron at the Prime Minister’s residence

Awaroa Beach

Cool Finds

New Zealanders Just Crowdfunded a New Addition to this National Park

Over 40,000 people donated to buy Awaroa Beach and gift the site to Abel Tasman National Park

Cultural treasure—or stolen goods?

Trending Today

Britain’s Most Famous Plundered Art Could Finally Go Home

There’s a new attempt to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece

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