Smart News: Travel News & Tips | Smithsonian Magazine

Cards Against Humanity now owns a private island in Maine.

Cool Finds

Cards Against Humanity Has a Private Island

“Hawaii 2” started as a joke, turned into an island owned by the card game and licensed to its players

February 6, 2015

Hikers in the North Cascade mountains of Washington, on the Pacific Crest Trail

Only 50 people per day will be allowed to start thru-hikes from the southern terminus

February 5, 2015

The USSR is alive and well in a bunker in Lithuania.

Cool Finds

This Fake Gulag Will Let You Pretend the Soviets Are Still in Power

Barking dogs, harsh guards and brutal imprisonment in a bunker where the USSR never fell

February 5, 2015

New Research

The Taj Mahal Gardens Have a Special Relationship to the Solstice

On the day the sun climbs the highest in the sky, careful alignments within the gardens and buildings of the beautiful mausoleum appear

February 3, 2015

Yosemite National Parks "carnivore crew" spotted this rare Sierra Nevada red fox with a motion-sensitive camera.

Cool Finds

For the First Time in Almost a Century, a Rare Red Fox Was Seen at Yosemite

Cameras and “hair snares” could preserve a threatened Sierra species

January 29, 2015

It took just three weeks for Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen to make free-climbing history

January 15, 2015

One of many abstract images of the Moon collected by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Cool Finds

These Photos From a Lunar Orbiter Could Be Abstract Art

Our distant view of the Moon from Earth is nice, but these close-ups are amazing

January 14, 2015

Cool Finds

Come for the Giant Rock, Stay for the UFO History

George Van Tassel believed he could communicate with aliens

January 9, 2015

Two athletes are halfway through an impressive 32-pitch climb up El Capitan’s Dawn Wall

January 5, 2015

An Indonesian Air Force troops looks for AirAsia flight QZ8501 in the Karimata Strait.

The year saw a few prominent disasters, but 2014 was, unfortunately, nothing out of the ordinary

December 29, 2014

Cool Finds

Never Mind Mars, What About a Trip to Venus First?

There’s a serious proposal to send astronauts to a floating cloud city in Venus’s atmosphere before heading to Mars

December 23, 2014

Cuban Fruit peddlers stopped along Malecon Sea drive in Havana, to peddle their wares: Mangos, melons, and pineapples. March 30, 1949,

The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1960

December 17, 2014

New Research

Pollution Is Turning the Taj Mahal Brown

Workers must periodically cover the Taj Mahal in clay to remove the pollutants stuck to its marble walls

December 15, 2014

Cool Finds

If You Looked Out the Window While Returning From Space, Here’s What You’d See

The bright glow of friction in Earth’s atmosphere

December 15, 2014

Cool Finds

The Library for Magicians Is Taking Appointments

The Conjuring Arts Research Center in New York City houses some of the world’s rarest books on the art of deception

December 12, 2014

Cool Finds

One Hummingbird’s Unusual Flight: From Minnesota to Texas, on a Plane

Rufous hummingbirds have no business being in St. Paul amid freezing temperatures

November 25, 2014

The proposed canal routes through Nicaragua.

Cool Finds

Nicaragua Is Going Ahead With a Massive Canal That Will Bisect the Country

According to experts, the project will likely wreak havoc on both Nicaraguans and the country’s environment

November 24, 2014

Marsha Ivins takes a nap on the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Cool Finds

Astronauts Nap on the Launchpad While Waiting for a Ride to Space

There’s not much to do while NASA goes through its pre-launch checks

November 20, 2014

Your reward: a spot in a digital time capsule buried beneath the lunar surface

November 19, 2014

Smaug now resides at the Wellington airport.

Cool Finds

Smaug the Dragon And Other Unexpected Airport Surprises

There’s more to the world’s airports than newsstands and food courts

November 6, 2014

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