Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Trending Today

Archivists Are Trying to Preserve Paris’ Post-Attack Memorials

Future generations will know how Parisians responded to attacks in their city

Nicholas Cage, Tyrannosaurus returner.

Trending Today

Nicholas Cage Returned a Stolen Dino Skull

The actor paid $270,000 for the skull of one of T. rex’s cousins

The Catalan Nativity character known as Caganer in the Santa Llucia Christmas Market, Barcelona, Spain.

Catalonia

Catalonian Nativity Scenes Feature a Man Pooping in the Manger Scene’s Corner

Kids also celebrate Christmas by beating a log until it poops out treats

Abstract shapes of glowing-eyed cats would play and pose on top of five or six pedestals along the bridge.

Trending Today

A New San Francisco Overpass Could Be Bedecked With Demonic-Looking Cats

“Catbridge”: Unnerving or adorable?

The collective called Pussy Riot

Trending Today

Montenegro Will Get a Women’s-Only Art Museum

The museum was proposed by feminist punk collective Pussy Riot

Mother Teresa stands with children at her Calcutta mission.

Trending Today

Mother Teresa Will Become an Official Saint

The champion of India’s poorest has sprinted to sainthood since her 1997 death

After this traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, the bride is required to take her new husband’s surname

Trending Today

In Japan, Couples Are Still Legally Required to Have the Same Surname

The Supreme Court upheld a century-old law that was challenged by equal rights activitsts

Does that book feel more like a doorstop? It's part of a growing trend.

New Research

Bestselling Books Are Getting Longer

But are they getting better?

Part of the Capitol Christmas Tree's splendor comes from marine debris collected along the Alaska coast.

Cool Finds

The Capitol’s Christmas Tree Is (Partially) Made of Trash

Marine debris bedecks a 74-foot tree from Alaska

Trending Today

Watch a NASA Scientist School the Empire on How to Build a Better Death Star

Darth Vader could have saved a few dollars by building it around an asteroid

A four-year-old beagle from British Columbia, Miss P was awarded the 2015 Best in The Show at Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

Cool Finds

How to Prep Your Pooch to Win Best in Show

Pro-Tip: hope the judge is in a good mood

The branching routes to Rome, as visualized by a design team

Cool Finds

The Many Roads That Lead to Rome, Visualized

Caveat: not all cities named Rome are in Italy

Screenshot from Boogie Belgique - Ms. Yutani (official music video)

Cool Finds

Take a Tour of Postwar Tokyo in the 1940s

High-quality archival footage makes a fascinating backdrop in a new music video

Women in Saudi Arabia can finally cast ballots.

Trending Today

Tomorrow, Saudi Women Will Vote for the First Time

More than 130,000 women have registered to vote

Trending Today

Test Your Smarts With the British Spy Agency’s Christmas Card Puzzle

Can you solve this head-scratcher?

The ashram's entrance was once closed to visitors, who had to sneak in or bribe a guard.

Cool Finds

Abandoned Beatles Ashram Is Opened to the Public for the First Time in a Long, Long, Long Time

Get back to the site of the Fab Four’s disastrous meditation retreat

Maybe the white whale just wanted a hyphen.

Cool Finds

Why Does Moby-Dick (Sometimes) Have a Hyphen?

The hunt for the true story behind Melville’s hyphen is as mysterious as the famous white whale

Cool Finds

When Rock Was Banned in the Soviet Union, Teens Took to Bootlegged Recordings on X-Rays

Teens snuck jazz and rock into the U.S.S.R. on records made of old x-rays

It took Leo Tolstoy six years to write War and Peace.

Trending Today

There’s a ‘War and Peace’ Marathon Going On in Russia

It will take 1,300 readers four days and 60 hours to read the book out loud

Page 232 of 286