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Smart News / Smart News Ideas & Innovations

'Vasa' can be visited today at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Bizarre Story of ‘Vasa,’ the Ship That Keeps On Giving

‘Vasa’ sunk in front of horrified onlookers on this day in 1628, claiming 30 lives

Salicylic acid, the main ingredient in aspriin, is found in a number of plants, including jasmine, beans, peas and clover as well as willow trees.

Aspirin’s Four-Thousand-Year History

It’s 2000 B.C. and you have a headache. Grab the willow bark

The sport of angling ("angle" is an old work for "hook") was a popular 1600s pastime that had a number of guides written about it.

This Obscure Fishing Book is One of the Most Reprinted English Books Ever

‘The Compleat Angler’ is much more than an instruction manual on fishing. It’s a Walden-like meditation on nature and friendship

One of the cats involved in the Acoustic Kitty Project was a grey-and-white female.

The CIA Experimented On Animals in the 1960s Too. Just Ask ‘Acoustic Kitty’

Turns out that cats really don’t take direction well

Joseph Moxon, author of 'Mathematicks Made Easie,' was born on this day in 1627.

Is One A Number? According to ‘Mathematicks Made Easie,’ Yes

The ancient Greeks, and people for almost 2,000 years after them, argued over whether one was a number

Cool Finds

This Animated Movie About Van Gogh Is Made Entirely of Oil Paintings

Loving Vincent will include more than 56,000 paintings

Using stiff collars to help a guide dog user communicate with their dog has been around since the 1800s.

The Cuddly Tail of Guide Dogs

Dogs have been assisting blind humans for a very long time, but the arrangement only became formal recently

Alexander Graham Bell used the money from his telephone patent to fund Volta Laboratories, which later became Bell Laboratories.

Telephones Were Silenced for One Minute After Alexander Graham Bell Died

By the time Bell died, he had moved on to other inventions. But the telephone made a huge mark on American society

Once the tablet-like tool is plugged into an individual’s cellphone, it can detect if the device was in use before a crash.

Trending Today

Can the ‘Textalyzer’ Stop New Yorkers From Texting and Driving?

The device would allow police to check if phone usage could be to blame for a car crash, but critics have raised privacy concerns

This engraving from 1870 shows the cramped conditions when a train ran through the Tower Subway tunnel. Even once the train was removed, there wasn't much more space.

19th-Century Londoners Walked Under the Thames in This Creepy Tunnel

The Tower Subway tunnel was only seven feet in diameter

The actual first logo for the World Wide Web, created by the developer of its first web browser.

The World Wide Web Was Almost Known as “The Mesh”

The inventor of the World Wide Web had a few different name ideas

A thin film of DNA could work even better than sunscreen at protecting our skin

New Research

Why Salmon Sperm DNA Could Revolutionize Sunscreen

A thin layer of the genetic material seems to effectively block the sun’s rays and becomes more effective over time

Candles were an important source of after-dark light in the early United States, so it makes sense that one of the first patents would be related to improving them.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

What the First Three Patents Say About Early America

Gunpowder, fertilizer, soap, candles and flour were all important to Americans

The WP-3D Orion "Hurricane Hunters" are a key part of NOAA's hurricane toolkit.

Why Does NOAA Still Send Pilots Into Hurricanes?

The first “Hurricane Hunter” flight was a bet, but today they’re an essential part of risk management

The United States's version of the Imperial system is based on an older British version.

America Has Been Struggling With the Metric System For More Than 200 Years

The United States is the one of the world’s only holdouts at this point, but it could have been the first country outside of France to adopt the system

This iRobot 780 was one of the early Roomba models that randomly moved about the room. But the company's latest models (900 series) uses cameras and software to collect data and map out your home.

Trending Today

Roomba Wants to Sell Maps of Your Home

Data from these robovacs could assist in the development of other ‘smart home’ devices

Jung's interest in the subconscious was a driving force in his work.

Five Fascinating Facts About Carl Jung

He thought he was two people (sort of) and more things you didn’t know about the pioneering psychologist

Trending Today

Meaty Secrets Behind the Record-Setting, 1,774-Pound Burger

The beefy behemoth was recently bestowed the title of world’s largest commercially available burger

Frances Gabe's 1984 patent shows the floor plan of her self-cleaning home

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The First Self-Cleaning Home Was Essentially a ‘Floor-to-Ceiling Dishwasher’

Frances Gabe, who died late last year, channeled her frustration with housework into a futuristic design to end the drudgery of cleaning

Yes, the Amazon service is named after this robotic guy.

Debunking the Mechanical Turk Helped Set Edgar Allan Poe on the Path to Mystery Writing

Like many others, Poe was certain the machine couldn’t be playing chess under its own power

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