Smart News History & Archaeology

The Russian Front of World War II as of 1942.

Cool Finds

The CIA Is Celebrating Its Cartography Division’s 75th Anniversary by Sharing Declassified Maps

Decades of once-secret maps are now freely available online

The stone in front of the home in Braunau am Inn, Austria, where Adolf Hitler was born reads "For peace, freedom and democracy, never again fascism, millions of dead are a warning"

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Austria Will Seize the Home Where Hitler Was Born

The government doesn't want the apartment complex turning into a Neo-Nazi shrine

The tea bag made it possible to brew a single cup of tea rather than a whole pot.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Ever Wonder Who Invented the Tea Bag?

Its two competing origin stories are linked by one thing: convenience

An official notice of exclusion and removal posted on April 1, 1942.

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75 Years Ago, the Secretary of the Navy Falsely Blamed Japanese-Americans for Pearl Harbor

The baseless accusation sparked the road to the infamous internment camps

Tycho Brahe was extremely wealthy and lived an unusual life that included a pet moose.

Astronomer and Alchemist Tycho Brahe Died Full of Gold

The shiny element was important to Renaissance scientists. Very important

This Christmas, St. Peter's Square has a tree, a nativity scene and a message about refugees.

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Pope’s New Nativity Scene Raises Awareness of Worldwide Refugee Crisis

It's a lavish display complete with a plea for racial tolerance

An ancient grape seed found at the Lake Hula site

New Research

The Paleo Diet May Need a Rewrite, Ancient Humans Feasted on a Wide Variety of Plants

Archaeologists in Israel have counted 55 species of plant foods a an early hominid site on Lake Hula

Ellen Willis in upstate New York in 1970

One of the First Female Rock Critics Battled Sexism and Obscurity To Document the 1970s

Willis was The New Yorker’s first pop music critic, but to her, everything was open for criticism

Graves of Franklin Expedition members on Beechey Island

New Research

Thumbnail Reveals the Final Days of Franklin Expedition Explorer

A synchrotron micro-x-ray sheds new light on the cause that led to one crew member's death

Now more of the Princeton Battlefield, where Washington and his troops scored a pivotal victory, will be preserved.

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Preservationists Score Victory at Revolutionary War Battlefield

Most of the Princeton battlefield where Washington’s troops fought will be saved from development

People Have Spent Years Trying to Diagnose Mary Todd Lincoln From Beyond the Grave

Abraham Lincoln's wife has been called a "wildcat," "menstrual" and "bipolar" among other things

Men smoke pipes and drink on the London streets. Booth's police notebooks reveal the everyday habits of Londoners.

Cool Finds

Explore the Seedy Reality of a London Long Gone

Charles Booth explored the poorest parts of England’s capital—and changed the way social scientists think about the world

This Egon Schiele painting, Portrait of Wally, was looted during World War II and became the subject of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in the 2000s after it was exhibited in New York.

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Reclaiming Nazi-Looted Art Is About to Get Easier

HEAR Act removes legal loopholes that prevented victims of Nazi art plunder to restore what’s rightfully theirs

Robert Noyce (left) and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in from of the Intel SC1 building in Santa Clara, 1970.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Silicon Valley Owes Its Success To This Tech Genius You’ve Never Heard Of

Robert Noyce was one of the founders of Silicon Valley

A panoramic map of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO.

Cool Finds

The Library of Congress Is Putting Its Map Collection on the Map

A new partnership with the Digital Public Library of America will put three major LOC map collections online

Williams is perhaps best known for his iconic Theme Building, a space-age structure at Los Angeles International Airport.

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Why You Should Know Trailblazing Architect Paul Revere Williams

Almost four decades after his death, the African-American architect whose work came to define Los Angeles gets his due

A postcard of the Motel Inn, circa 1940s.

The World’s First Motel Was a Luxury Establishment, Not a Dive

The first motel was supposed to turn into a chain, but it was quickly overtaken by cheaper competitors.

Jasper Forest, a part of Petrified Forest National Park.

Another Weird Facet of America’s Strangest National Park: The Conscience Pile

People mail stolen rocks back to Petrified Forest National Park, but they can't be returned to their original sites

It isn't pretty, but it made history.

Cool Finds

Someone Paid $46,000 for a Bunch of Mold

Its discovery was an accident, but this scientific sample changed the course of medicine forever

A Standard Stations filling station in California, circa 1939.

Leaded Gas Was a Known Poison the Day It Was Invented

For most of the mid-twentieth century, lead gasoline was considered normal. But lead is a poison, and burning it has had dire consequences

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