Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

It’s Not Just You: Garfield Is Not Meant to Be Funny

Unlike New Yorker cartoons, in which, you are actually missing the joke, Garfield is in fact not even designed to be funny

March 20, 2013

Most Internet Spam Comes From Just a Handful of ‘Bad Neighborhoods’

The majority of the spam in the internet comes from just a couple of bad neighborhoods

March 18, 2013

Hearing Just One Half of a Conversation Is Really, Really Annoying

“Yep.” “Yep.” “Sure, okay.” “5?” “Oh no she di…” “What?” “Oh man that’s crazy!”

March 14, 2013

Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio Chosen As New Pope

Pope Francis is the first South American ever to hold the position and the first non-European pope in more than 1,000 years

March 13, 2013

Japan Just Opened Up a Whole New Source for Fossil Fuels

For the first time, natural gas has been pulled from offshore methane clathrates

March 13, 2013

Here You Still Can Listen to Sound of a Nintendo Game Boy

One technology enthusiast set out to capture the sounds of old gadgets in his Museum of Endangered Sounds

March 12, 2013

Being a Naturalist Is Way More Dangerous Than You Think

Some of these naturalists were murdered by people in the regions they were working. Others died of diseases or lost their lives to their research subjects

March 11, 2013

Dennis Hope Thinks He Owns the Moon

Dennis Hope claims to own the Moon, and he wants to sell you an acre for just $19.99 plus taxes and fees

March 11, 2013

Is Cursive Handwriting Going Extinct?

March 6, 2013

Fake Bishop Tries to Crash Pope-Choosing Party

An impostor bishop crashes important papacy-related meeting

March 6, 2013

Is This What Facebook’s Future Looks Like?

March 5, 2013

Investigation: China Covertly Condones Trade in Tiger Skins and Bones

The Chinese government says it is committed to saving tigers from extinction, yet it legalized trade in captive-bred big cats’ skin and bones

February 26, 2013

Bullying Really Does Mess You Up Later in Life

A recent study linked bullying during childhood to higher instances of psychological disorders

February 25, 2013

More than Half of Our ‘Tuna’ Isn’t Really Tuna

Around one-third of 1,200 seafood samples from restaurants and grocery stores around the U.S. were not from the fish their label claimed to be

February 22, 2013

Children in the U.S. Are Eating Fewer Calories, But Fewer Is Still Too Many

Heath experts warn that the decline in calorie intake was pretty incremental, meaning we’re not out of the obesity epidemic woods quite yet

February 22, 2013

Couples Who Share Grief Fare Better on the Long Term

After the death of a child, those that stay strong for the sake of their partner tend to suffer most and cope least well while also hurting their spouse

February 22, 2013

First Grader Codes Her Own Computer Game

The seven-year-old Philadelphia student just became the world’s youngest known person ever to code a computer game

February 15, 2013

Mistreated Robots Now Have a Advocacy Group

Someday, the Seattle-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots may begin to serve disgruntled, nonhuman customers of the AI persuasion

February 13, 2013

A Restaurant in Japan Is Serving a $110 Tasting Menu Featuring Dirt

Japan’s foodies have turned their attention to a new delicacy on Tokyo menus; will dirt turn up next in haute cuisine in New York and London?

February 12, 2013

Experts Are Weeding Out Impostor Portraits of Mozart

Experts want to do away with the romanticized conceptions of what Mozart looked like, or those of a white-wigged, red-jacketed young man at the piano

February 11, 2013