Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Starting New York Giants catcher John Tortes "Chief" Meyers in an unspecified game against the female team in 1913.

Cool Finds

Amateur Women’s Baseball Teams Existed as Early as 1866

They typically challenged local a men’s teams to play

Bermuda

There’s Only One Way to Make a Dark ‘n’ Stormy Without Breaking the Law

The cocktail has a surprising, and litigious history

French supermarkets are now required to donate food that might normally be thrown away around its sell-by date.

French Government Plans to Fine Grocery Stores That Throw Away Food

New regulations require that markets donate extra food or face fines

Trending Today

Water Wives: Men in India Marry Extra Women to Fetch Them Water

Parched regions of India depend on women who take on the time-consuming, inconvenient task of obtaining and carrying water

People look at ancient Assyrian human-headed winged bull statues at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad March 8, 2015.

Trending Today

Museums Issue Most-Threatened List of Iraqi Treasures

Seven types of cultural objects are under threat from the Islamic State and instability in Iraq

Graphic design student Oskar Pernefeldt envisions a blue and white flag to symbolize Earth's presence on far off planets like Mars.

Does Planet Earth Need Its Own Flag?

Some think we need a universal flag to stake our claim in space

Cool Finds

How People Write Down Their Laughter Has Changed Over Time

“Hehe” means something different than “heehee”

One of the LATA 65 students works on a mural in Lisbon.

Cool Finds

Lisbon Artists Are Teaching Graffiti Classes for the Elderly

Grannies learn about street art history and how to tag walls

New lanes on London's Regents Canal urge human bikers, runners and walkers to break for ducklings.

Cool Finds

London Adds Special Lanes for Ducks

A city charity has painted pathways for waddlers on Regents Canal walkways

Cool Finds

Two Factions Are Battling for Control in an Alternate Reality Game

The aliens are here and some want them to stay

Trending Today

The Independent Bookstore Is Not Dead Yet

Membership in the American Booksellers Association is up

In 16th-century England, death by plague, depicted in the wood carving above, might have been an easy way to go compared to the accidents that could befall a person in everyday life.

Cool Finds

Here Are Some of the Weird Ways You Could Die in Tudor England

Pole vaulting and bacon are among the odd causes of death discovered by historians

Cool Finds

Archivists Uncover an Unfinished Memoir By Orson Welles

Fragments of “Confessions of a One-Man Band” discovered in a newly-acquired trove of documents

The original Pac-Man was kind of a feminist.

Pac-Man Turns 35 This Month

The now-iconic game was originally released by Namco in 1980

Cool Finds

Watch How an Expert Spots Fraudulent Wine

Distinctive labels and corks mark the truly valuable vintages

Cool Finds

Watch a Baby Bee Go From Wriggly Larvae to Adult in Just Over a Minute

From larvae to adult thanks to the magic of timelapse photography

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, pictured here in 1923, enjoyed using the methods of Sherlock Holmes on real cases.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Once Helped Clear an Innocent Man of Murder

On his birthday, revist the mystery author’s most famous case

Cool Finds

There Will Be an Extra Week of Summer This Year

Cultural summer ensures 106 days of fun in the sun

New Research

After Two Years On the Job, Women’s Confidence Plummets

New research shows dropping levels of ambition and confidence for mid-career women

Evidence from reindeer combs, like the one above, hints that the Vikings may have traded with Denmark before they started raiding England.

Vikings Didn’t Just Raid, They Traded Too

Reindeer artifacts found at Medieval market sites suggest the famed raiders tried the merchant thing first

Page 248 of 290