Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

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The Last Crew Member Who Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima Died

Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk said he never regretted his involvement in the bombing

July 30, 2014

Natural Chocolate Is Actually a Reddish Color

Chocolate didn’t turn brown until chemists got their hands on it

July 30, 2014

Cool Finds

Pollution Beat People to the South Pole

Before people ever made it to the South Pole, a pollutant had beaten us there

July 28, 2014

Cool Finds

Don’t Worry Mr. Nixon, the National Zoo’s Pandas Figured Out How to Have Sex

President Nixon wanted to make sure Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing had enough time to “learn the ropes”

July 28, 2014

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This Guy Simultaneously Raised a Chimp and a Baby in Exactly the Same Way to See What Would Happen

When treated as a human, the baby chimp acted like one—until her physiology and development held her back

July 28, 2014

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Archaeologists Are Excavating the Battleground that Inspired ‘The Last of the Mohicans’

For these students, archaeology field school is taking place on a very famous battlefield

July 23, 2014

Cool Finds

Looking Back at NASA’s Strange Mobile Lunar Laboratory

Unfortunately, the odd-looking MOLAB remained earthbound

July 23, 2014

Cool Finds

Along I-95, 5,000 Years of History

Archaeological excavations along I-95 are digging up the past

July 22, 2014

Trending Today

The Horrific Downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 Has Echoes in History

Lessons from history hint at what might happen next

July 18, 2014

New Research

Ancient Tooth Plaque Shows Our Ancestors Used to Feast on Weeds

Purple nutsedge is a pest today, but thousands of years ago it was probably valued for its cavity-preventing properties

July 17, 2014

Cool Finds

You Can Now Riffle Through the Same Library Charles Darwin Used Aboard the Beagle

The digital library includes 195,000 pages of text and 5,000 illustrations

July 16, 2014

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Are Hunting for the Lost French Fleet That Nearly Conquered Spanish Florida

In 1565 a fleet of French ships was destroyed in a hurricane, effectively ending France’s hopes of territory in Florida

July 16, 2014

Trending Today

The Wrecked Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Is Finally Being Towed Away

The ship’s remains will be broken down for scrap metal

July 14, 2014

New Research

Some Ancient Assyrians Ignored the Advent of Writing for Thousands of Years

It took thousands of years for Assyrians to finally give up primitive record-keeping methods

July 14, 2014

Cool Finds

Children’s Skulls Encircled Some Bronze Age Lake Villages

The bones may have been thought to ward off flooding in lakeside villages

July 11, 2014

Cool Finds

How One 1930s German Photographer Successfully Trolled the Nazi Party

A photograph of a young Jewish girl won a contest to find the “perfect example of the Aryan race.”

July 9, 2014

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Greece Find Some of the World’s Oldest Erotic Graffiti

About 2,500 years ago, ancient Greeks were boasting of their sexual conquests in long-lasting graffiti

July 9, 2014

Cool Finds

Thousands of Secret KGB Espionage Documents Are Now Available to the Public

The papers contain names of spies, descriptions of secret weapons and detailed plots against the West

July 7, 2014

Cool Finds

The National Archives Wants to Put Its Whole Collection on Wikimedia Commons

The National Archives and Records Administration plans to upload everything it can

July 3, 2014

Trending Today

After WWII, Japan Made One of the World’s Strongest Commitments to Military Pacifism—Which It’s Now Going to Soften

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to rejigger Japan’s long-standing commitment to pacificism

July 2, 2014