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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Music Does Get Louder Every Year

Yes, grandma, the music is louder than it was when you were a kid

The demographics of Nobel laureates

What Makes a Nobel Laureate? The Demographic Keys to Success

It helps to be an older man from Europe

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How Much is Wikipedia Worth?

Consider this the next time Jimmy Wales shows up asking you for money: Wikipedia is worth tens of billions of dollars

Read a Great Work of Literature, And You Could Understand Real People Better

Literary fiction presents a myriad of characters and leaves it up to the reader to piece together all of those takes on reality

We Can Guess What Holden Caulfield’s Reaction to the New Salinger Documentary Would Be: LMAO

Caulfield was one of the first to employ the phrase LMAO

This Japanese Shrine Has Been Torn Down And Rebuilt Every 20 Years for the Past Millennium

In addition to reinvigorating spiritual and community bonds, the tradition keeps Japanese artisan skills alive

This New, Weird Beer Has Moon Dust in It

We hear it goes great with cheese

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This 5’5” Basketball Player Can Dunk And Has a Message: Treat Short Athletes Better

Brandon Todd spent years training to be able to dunk, putting on 80 pounds of muscle and increasing his vertical to 45 inches

People Are Just As Superficial About Robots’ Looks As They Are About Humans’

Depending on a person’s age and the robot’s job, people feel differently about what the robot should look like

Tom Clancy at a book signing at Boston College.

Espionage Thriller Author Tom Clancy Dies

Clancy authored more than 20 books and his final novel, Command Authority, is scheduled for release on December 3

How Much Abuse Can a Single Lego Brick Take?

Forget iPads, if you want a long lasting toy stick with blocks

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Early Easter Islanders Ate Rats—Lots of Rats

Perhaps the lack of fish food even explains the orientation of Easter Island’s famous statues, which face inwards toward the islanders’ food source

Occupy Wall Street Has Spawned a Financial Services Group

People affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement want to open an Occupy-branded bank

Lysol’s Vintage Ads Subtly Pushed Women to Use Its Disinfectant as Birth Control

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Lysol isn’t even an effective contraceptive

Wilson Kipsang running the 2010 Frankfurt Marathon

Wilson Kipsang Just Broke the Marathon World Record

Wilson Kipsang just set the marathon world record, clocking in at 2 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds

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This Football Player Is Afraid of His Team’s Mascot

Eric Berry has a problem. He’s afraid of horses. This wouldn’t be a big deal if he weren’t a player for the Kansas City Chiefs

Americans Check Their Emails Even When They’re Sick And on Vacation

A new study confirms what we all shamefully know: even when we’re sick or on vacation, we check our emails

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Listen to the Entire Evolution of the Guitar Solo in Six Minutes

The guitar is a symbol for rock and roll, and the lead guitarist its champion

Hemingway’s 1943 letter to his first wife, Hadley Mowrer

Ernest Hemingway Taught One of His Many, Many Cats to Drink Whisky

Ernest Hemingway: author, journalist, crazy cat guy

This New Grocery Store Only Sells Expired Food

Out-of-date food is often still good to eat, and this man wants to sell it to you

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