Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The Jazz pattern that graced paper cups, like this one in the 1990s, remains a source of fascination in pop culture.

Cool Finds

How the Internet Tracked Down the Designer of the Beloved Jazz Paper Cup

Meet Gina, the woman behind the iconic paper cup pattern

Horses race in the 2015 Belmont Stakes. Researchers have found that horse race speed has increased since 1850.

New Research

Racehorse Speed Hasn’t Peaked Yet

But how will horses fare in the race to get faster?

Cool Finds

This Mockumentary Explains the Appeal of Skateboarding to Scared Parents

“The Devil’s Toy” looks “an epidemic from which no one was secure”: having fun on skateboards

Hitler's signature on one of his watercolors.

Trending Today

Did an Auction of Hitler’s Art Go Too Far?

A collection of Hitler’s paintings just sold for $450,000

A mermaid as depicted in Sea Fables Explained by Henry Lee, published in 1883.

Cool Finds

The Murky Tale of John Smith and the Mermaid

Alexander Dumas probably just made it up

A photograph of Claude Monet in his gardens circa 1917

Cool Finds

An Art Dealer Just Found a Forgotten Monet Pastel Hidden Behind Another Drawing

The pastel depicts a lighthouse and jetty near Monet’s childhood home

A genetically modified lamb from a research lab in France was accidentally sent to market in November. It's unclear who might have eaten her.

A Genetically Modified Sheep was Sent to a Slaughter House and Sold for Meat

The lamb came from a agricultural research lab and was equipped with a jellyfish gene

According to some scholars Vincent Van Gogh sits third from the left in this photograph. Surrounding him are artist Emile Bernard, politician Félix Jobbé-Duval, actor André Antoine and artist Paul Gauguin.

Cool Finds

Is This a Photograph of Vincent Van Gogh?

Some scholars think the camera shy artist can be spotted in an image taken by an amateur photographer, while others disagree

As the price of their wool rises, vicuñas, like the one picture here near the ALMA telescope in Chile, faces threats from poaching gangs.

Poachers Are Killing Andean Camels for Their Wool

To meet a growing demand for vicuña wool in Europe and Asia, gangs are massacring herds of the animals in South America

Super Mario Bros. creators Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka in a screenshot from Kotaku's YouTube video "Design History of Super Mario Maker, E3 2015"

Cool Finds

The Creators of Super Mario Drafted The Game on Graph Paper

The levels were originally planned out one at a time by hand

Fermented foods, like pickles, may influence social anxiety levels — though it's unclear exactly how and why.

A Pickle a Day May Keep Your Anxiety at Bay

Fermented food appears to calm the nerves of the socially challenged

These 15th-century female musicians are clearly in grave medical danger.

Cool Finds

Some 19th-Century Physicians Thought Music Could Infect the Brain

When it comes to music in the brain, medicine has come a long way

Trending Today

Etsy Won’t Let Witches Sell Spells

The craft site’s ban on metaphysical services stirs up a cauldron of controversy

South Africans celebrate at a gay pride event outside Johannesburg in 2013. While other countries have passed legislation criminalizing homosexuality, South Africa has advocated tolerance.

Some African Countries Are Trying to Use Science to Make Homophobic Laws, Now African Scientists are Pushing Back

Some African countries have tried to use science to justify laws that criminalize homosexuality

Afghan men stand near the ruins of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan.

Cool Finds

Destroyed Buddha Statues Are Coming Back to Life in Afghanistan as Beautiful 3D Projections

3D light projections recreate a pair of statues destroyed by the Taliban

A screen shot from a video about how Indo-European languages spread around the globe.

Cool Finds

Half of All Languages Come From This One Root Tongue. Here’s How it Conquered the Earth.

Today, three billion people speak Indo-European langauges

Some sommelier have taken an interest in pairing strains of marijuana with wine varieties.

Which Wine Should You Pair With Your Weed?

Forget the cheese and charcuterie

New Research

Here’s Why Americans Waste So Much Food

Spoiler alert: desire for freshness, fear of food poisoning play a role

Though still in development, Google's Im2Calorie program can compute the number of calories in a glamor shot of your food.

Google is Trying to Count Calories in Food Porn

All you need is an Instagram photo and an algorithm

Trending Today

About 12,200 People Are Erroneously Declared Dead Every Year by the U.S. Government

Being officially dead because of a typo makes living life difficult

Page 247 of 290