Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

California Governor Jerry Brown

California Bans ‘Cure The Gays’ Therapy

In California, it’s no longer legal to try to cure homosexual youth

A toothbrush floats in the International Space Station.

It’s Now Legal for Early American Astronauts to Sell Their Space Toothbrushes

A new law lays out the details of who owns souvenirs from the early space era

A bog oak floor.

Giant Tree Trunk Unearthed After 5,000 Years in a Bog

A 44 foot-long piece of a 5,000 year old tree trunk was uncovered on September 25 in the UK

None

Google Brings Street View to the Great Barrier Reef

Google Street View-style views take you to on a tour of exotic coastal ecosystems

None

Motor-Powered Mario Lets You Play Old-School Donkey Kong in Real Life

Laser-cut figurines and metal balls recreate the early 80s classic

Facebook Zero works on all these phones.

Facebook Snuck Into the World of Basic Cell Phones And Took Over

How Facebook is reaching those without smart phones

High School Students Hit a Forty Year Low on the SAT Reading Section

Over 50 percent of test takers scored below the level that would indicate college success, and scores from every racial group but one (Asian) declined

Clerics take part in a protest against innocence of Muslims, an anti-Islamic film

Cartoons of Mohammed, Anti-Jihad Subway Ads and Other Provocations, Past and Future

Antarctica

68-Year-Old Explorer Plans to Cross Antarctica…in Winter

Sir Ranulph Fiennes will traverse Antarctica by ski, in the middle of winter

The famous painting

Mona Lisa’s Body Might Soon Be Exhumed

The woman suspected to be the subject of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting might be buried in a church in Florence

An Ingenious Way of Shaming Politicians Into Fixing Potholes

A group of annoyed citizens in Yekaterinburg, Russia, reached their wits’ end with the many potholes dotting city roads, so decided to take action

This Alberta corn field was shaped into a massive QR code.

Farming Family Makes High-Tech Crop Circles

An Alberta family won the Guinness World Record for turning the corn field into a QR code

How an Obscure Video Sparked International Protests

Sam Bacile’s movie was hardly seen at all in the United States, yet it incited a string of riots and the assassination of an American ambassador

This paper doll could end up with a nasty rash.

How Common Are Infections From Tattoo Ink?

A recent set of infections from tattoos has shed light on just how unregulated ink really is

None

From Tweets to Tunes – Musicians Sonify Twitter

A group of musicians is reading your Tweets, and turning them into music

America’s Smaller Cities Are Becoming More Diverse

The U.S. is becoming increasingly diverse outside of its traditional “melting pot” urban centers, according to a new study from Brown University

Trust us, there’s nothing old fashioned about Estonian youth.

Estonia’s Teaching 100 Percent of Its First Graders to Code

Estonia is implementing a new curriculum that will teach 100 percent of its publicly educated students to write code

New Camouflage Makeup Protects Soldiers From Bomb Burns

Soldiers are adding a new makeup to their war wardrobe that protects them from bomb blast burns

Happy 100th Birthday to John Cage, Who Made a Lot of People Angry

Sixty years ago, John Cage put on a performance of a piece called 4‘33” or “four minutes, thirty-three seconds.” Today would have been his birthday

The flag of the Tlicho Nation

Kindergarten Classes Could Save Fading Language

A kindergarten program seeks to teach children a small community’s native language

Page 284 of 288