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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The robot Ai-Da in front of one of its self-portraits.

Art Meets Science

Meet Ai-Da, the First Robot to Speak Before U.K. Parliament

The robot answered questions about technology, art and consciousness

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station

Art Meets Science

Tom Cruise Might Become the First Civilian to Spacewalk at the ISS

Universal is game to send Cruise into space for a proposed action film, but plans aren’t official yet

An A.I.-generated image of the Faroe Islands inspired by Vincent van Gogh

Art Meets Science

How Would van Gogh Have Painted the Faroe Islands?

A new exhibition uses artificial intelligence to create images in the style of history’s greatest artists

Brigitte Lacombe’s 1996 photo of Joan Didion, who is now is the subject of a new exhibition at the Hammer Museum

Joan Didion’s Legacy Lives on in Los Angeles

The writer, who died last winter, is the subject of a new exhibition at the Hammer Museum

Moai statues on Easter Island

Fire Irreversibly Damages Easter Island Statues

The isolated island is home to hundreds of the mysterious monuments

Girl With a Flute was previously believed to be a Vermeer original.

Art Meets Science

Who Is Behind This Vermeer Painting? Probably Not Vermeer

The National Gallery of Art now believes that “Girl With a Flute” was painted by one of his associates

A photo of Ales Bialiatski on display in the Nobel’s garden at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway

Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Human Rights Activists in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia

Belarus political prisoner Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties jointly won this year’s award

Senga Nengudi performing Air Propo at Just Above Midtown in 1981

Just Above Midtown Was a Haven for Black Artists

A new exhibition spotlights the gallery that championed Black avant-garde art in the 1970s and ’80s

English artist Sam Cox and his wife, Alena, sitting in front of their Kent mansion, which Cox covered in doodles

This Artist Spent Two Years Covering His Mansion in Doodles

Sam Cox—also known as Mr. Doodle—has been dreaming about the project since he was 18

French writer Annie Ernaux

Annie Ernaux Wins Nobel Prize in Literature for Her Unabashed Autobiographical Writing

The French author is the 17th woman to win the prize

The Beatles’ George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and original drummer Pete Best play a gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

See Rare Photos of the Beatles Before They Were Famous

The images show the band playing a local gig in Liverpool in 1961

Giraffe drinking with oxpecker birds in the background in South Africa

View 16 Breathtaking Images From the Nature Conservancy’s Annual Photo Contest

The winning shots feature everything from glowing mushrooms to sauntering lions

Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen, seen here competing in 2021, has accused 19-year-old Hans Niemann of cheating in recent games.

The Cheating Scandal Rocking the Chess World

Will the evidence back up world chess champion Magnus Carlsen’s allegations against Hans Niemann, a young grandmaster?

Megan Piphus Peace with Gabrielle

Meet the First Black Woman Puppeteer on ‘Sesame Street’

Megan Piphus Peace, 29, plays a 6-year-old Black girl named Gabrielle

Singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn was applauded—and sometimes banned—for her daring songs about women's lives. 

Country Legend Loretta Lynn Braved Controversy to Tell the Truth About Women’s Experiences

The self-taught singer-songwriter died on October 4 at her home in Tennessee

Untitled artwork by Moses Johuma, a student at the Cyrene Mission School

Rare Collection of 1940s Art Returns to Zimbabwe After 70 Years

Students at the Cyrene Mission School created the works at a time when the African country was under colonial rule

Researchers have created facial reconstructions of three medieval Scottish people who were buried at the historic Whithorn site.

Art Meets Science

Stunning Facial Reconstructions Resurrect a Trio of Medieval Scots

The renderings show what a bishop, a cleric and a young woman with a remarkably symmetrical face may have looked like in life

Sacheen Littlefeather speaking at the Academy Awards in 1973

Indigenous Rights Activist Sacheen Littlefeather Dies at 75

Marlon Brando sent her to decline his Best Actor award in protest over Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans

Fragments of the Hercules statue (left) and an archaeologist excavating the artwork (right)

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Greece Unearth ‘Larger-Than-Life’ Statue of Hercules

The team discovered the 2,000-year-old artwork in Philippi

A game of doubles pickleball 

Why LeBron James Is Buying a Pickleball Team

The Los Angeles Lakers star is a fan of America’s fastest-growing sport

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