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Smart News / Smart News Travel

Ralph Samuelson on water skiis

The Man Who Invented Water Skiing

One hundred years ago, Ralph Samuelson successfully skied across the waters of Lake Pepin

Discovered beneath the Baths of Caracalla, the two-story home dates to between 134 and 138 C.E.

Cool Finds

An Ancient Home Found Beneath the Baths of Caracalla Is Now on Display

The second-century structure has frescoed ceilings and depictions of both Roman and Egyptian deities

Fresh copi on ice

Can Rebranding Invasive Carp Make It More Appealing to Eat?

Illinois is giving the problematic fish a new name—copi—in hopes of tempting more diners to chow down

The new Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies in Aspen

How Bauhaus Artist Herbert Bayer Helped Put Aspen on the Map

The Colorado town is home to a new center dedicated to the artistic polymath’s legacy

The original doghouse at the Bergers’ home

Good News

A Doghouse Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Is Now on Display

The architect sketched “Eddie’s House,” named for a Labrador retriever, on the back of an envelope in the 1950s

Rome’s new Museum of Rescued Art opens with some 100 objects on display.

Cool Finds

At Museum for Rescued Art, Italy Displays Stolen Artifacts It Has Recovered

The museum will showcase items before returning them to their original locations

A self-portrait of Vivian Maier from 1953

How Vivian Maier, the Enigmatic Nanny Who Took 150,000 Photographs, Found Her Place in History

The late artist is getting her first full-scale exhibition in the United Kingdom this summer

The Canton Synagogue, founded in 1531

Inside the Effort to Restore Synagogues in Venice’s 500-Year-Old Jewish Ghetto

A new project focuses on three 16th-century synagogues in the Italian city, where the Jewish population has dropped to 450

Korora, the world’s smallest living penguin

Hundreds of Little Blue Penguins Are Turning Up Dead in New Zealand

Rising ocean temperatures are likely causing the flightless birds to starve to death

A washed-out bridge over Rescue Creek inside Yellowstone National Park

Extreme Flooding Devastates Yellowstone, Forcing the Closure of All Park Entrances

Rock slides, flooding and heavy rain washed out roads and bridges

An octopus, sea star, bivalves and dozens of cup coral all share the same overhang in an area adjacent to the Hudson Canyon off the coast of New York and New Jersey.

Good News

This Underwater Canyon Could Become America’s Newest Marine Sanctuary

Hudson Canyon, the largest submarine canyon on the East Coast, is home to hundreds of species of fish and marine mammals

Skier visits nationwide reached an all-time high during the 2021-2022 season.

This Past Winter Was the Busiest Ski Season Ever

As the pandemic still raged, more and more Americans took part in the snowy sport

Lena Horne performing in Stormy Weather

The First Broadway Theater to Bear a Black Woman’s Name Will Honor Lena Horne

The Brooks Atkinson Theater will be renamed for the award-winning actor, singer and civil rights activist

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893

‘The Scream’ Gets a New Home in Norway’s $650 Million National Museum

The recently opened facility has an entire room dedicated to Norwegian painter Edvard Munch

Mountain goats at Yellowstone National Park

Good News

National Parks Aim to Phase Out All Single-Use Plastics by 2032

Visitors to the iconic U.S. sites will see utensils and cups made from biodegradable, compostable and recycled materials

A new exhibition in Marseille recreates the famous cave and the art found within. 

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Tour a Submerged Cave Packed With Paleolithic Art—Without Ever Venturing Underwater

As sea levels rise, an immersive new exhibition in Marseille lets visitors explore an inaccessible cavern’s archaeological treasures

The Mona Lisa is the most popular painting at the Louvre in Paris.

Disguised Protester Smears Cake on High-Tech Glass Protecting the ‘Mona Lisa’

It’s the latest in a long string of attempts to vandalize the world’s most famous painting

Adam W. McKinney dances in front of a former KKK headquarters in Fort Worth. 

Past Imperfect

Texas Artists Are Taking Over—and Transforming—a Former KKK Building

Those once terrorized by the Klan will decide on the center’s events and programming

Grotto Geyser in Yellowstone National Park

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Scientists Map Yellowstone’s Underground ‘Plumbing’

The new survey could be useful for everything from microbiology to thermal energy

The Carabinieri Police Cultural Heritage Protection Unit returned the painting to the government in a May 19 ceremony.  

Italian Art Police Recovered a Long-Lost Titian. But Is It Really the Renaissance Master’s Work?

The recently confiscated painting is worth an estimated $7 million

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