Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Travel

Christian Schmutz of the Swiss Cheesemakers Association hoists a 77-pound wheel of gruyère, which won the World Championship Cheese Contest last week.

Holey Cow Product! Swiss Gruyère Claims Cheese Championship

This is the cheesy content readers crave

Built at the turn of the seventh century, the white plaster-coated road begins in Cobá and ends 62 miles west, at Yaxuná's ancient downtown in the center of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Did a Seventh-Century Warrior Queen Build the Maya’s Longest Road?

Dubbed the “white road” in honor of its limestone paving, the 62-mile path is an engineering marvel on par with Maya pyramids

A crew harvesting grapes in Glottertal, Germany, on January 18, 2016. Temperatures must drop below 19 degrees Fahrenheit to harvest. In the final winter months of 2019, it was not cold enough to pick grapes in most vineyards.

A Warm Winter Left Germany Unable to Produce Its Famed Ice Wines

Known for their sweet flavor, ice wines are made from grapes left to freeze on the vine

You can now a book a stay in Lucy the Elephant.

Spend a Night in This 65-Foot-Tall, Elephant-Shaped Airbnb

Keen travelers can pay $138 to spend a night inside Lucy the Elephant, a 138-year-old six-story structure on the Jersey Shore

An 18th-century Spanish coin next to a modern American quarter

Cool Finds

Florida Treasure Hunters Unearth Trove of Silver Coins From 18th-Century Shipwreck

The find stems from a fleet of 11 Spanish ships that sank off the coast of Florida in 1715

NASA's newest class of astronaut candidates at their graduation ceremony at Johnson Space Center.during their graduation ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in January of 2020. The class includes 11 NASA candidates, as well as two Canadian Space Agency (CSA) candidates.

So You Want to Be an Astronaut? NASA Is Hiring

For the first time in four years, eligible candidates will have a shot at joining missions headed for the moon, Mars or the International Space Station

3-D model of Head of Amenhotep III on Sketchfab

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download 1,700 Free 3-D Cultural Heritage Models

A new Sketchfab collection brings models of fossils, artwork and more into the public domain

The restored dagger and sheath, following nine months of sandblasting and grinding

Cool Finds

Archaeology Intern Unearths Spectacular, 2,000-Year-Old Roman Dagger

After a nine-month restoration, the elaborately decorated blade and its sheath gleam as if brand new

Parliament at sunset

Cool Finds

Secret 17th-Century Passageway Discovered in British House of Commons

Parliament has posted photos of its members and collaborators delighting in the discovery

Barbara Karinska, “Emeralds” costume from Jewels, original designed in 1967. Lent by the New York City Ballet

From Ballerina Flats to Tutus, Ballet Has Left Its Mark on Fashion

A new exhibition in NYC features high-end couture, historic ballet costumes and modern athletic wear

Tourists wait to see Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

More Than One Million People Saw the Louvre’s Blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition

The record-breaking show attracted almost double the number of visitors as the Paris museum’s 2018 Delacroix retrospective

Gardens alongside the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace became archaeological sites where Girl Scouts discovered handmade nails and a shard of pottery.

Girl Scouts Join Archaeological Dig at Birthplace of Organization’s Founder

The 200-year-old house, where Juliette Gordon Low was born in 1860, is undergoing renovations to increase its accessibility

A Dixie Highway marker on Georgia State Route 3

Parts of Florida Highway Honoring the Confederacy Will Be Renamed in Honor of Harriet Tubman

Miami-Dade County commissioners unanimously approved plans to rename local stretches of Dixie Highway

Greg Lecoeur won the title of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020 for his Frozen Mobile Home, a playful snapshot of seals circling an iceberg.

Dazzling Display of Seals Wins Underwater Photographer of the Year Award

French photographer Greg Lecoeur triumphed over more than 5,500 submissions from hundreds of artists around the world

A 55-inch wide sarcophagus and what appears to be an altar are seen in an underground chamber at the ancient Roman Forum.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Possible Shrine to Romulus, Rome’s Legendary Founder

An underground temple and sarcophagus discovered in the Roman Forum may pay homage to the mythical figure

Pompeii's House of Lovers, first uncovered in 1933, was severely damaged in a 1980 earthquake.

Pompeii’s House of Lovers Reopens to the Public After 40 Years

The building, one of three newly restored painted houses, is named for a Latin inscription that reads, “Lovers lead, like bees, a life as sweet as honey”

An installation view of the "Fantastic Women: Surreal Worlds From Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo" exhibition

Spotlighting the Forgotten Women of the Surrealist Movement

A new show reveals how Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim and other women artists probed questions of femininity, autonomy and politics

The Chiba cliff section along the Yoro River in the city of Ichihara shows traces of a reversal in the Earth's magnetic field.

The ‘Chibanian Age’ Is the First Geologic Period Named After a Site in Japan

The period is named for Japan’s Chiba prefecture, where a cliff shows evidence of the most recent reversal of Earth’s magnetic field

The tapestries depict scenes from the lives of St. Paul and St. Peter.

For One Week Only, Raphael’s Tapestries Return to the Sistine Chapel

This is the first time all 12 of the Renaissance creations have been united in their original home since the 16th century

A 3-D model of Athens' classical acropolis

Virtual Travel

These 3-D Models Offer a Digital Glimpse Into 3,000 Years of Athens’ History

Photographer-animator Dimitris Tsalkanis built the city from scratch and posted it online for free

Page 38 of 118