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Smart News / Smart News Travel

Since this art museum in Brazil was completed in 1996, it has put the relatively unknown city of Niterói on the map.

Cool Finds

These UFO-Like Buildings Are a Space-Age Tourist’s Dream

The future is now—follow this tour of UFO architecture found all around the world

The Chateau d'Ussé has connections with Sleeping Beauty...and contains a slightly creepy surprise.

Cool Finds

The French Castle That May Have Inspired “Sleeping Beauty” Is Filled With Creepy Mannequins

In honor of Charles Perrault’s birthday, explore the Chateau d’Usse

Cool Finds

Watch 100 Drones Dance Their Way to a World Record

The swarm recently took to the skies to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

People view a painting at the Altes Museum in Germany. As populations age and address various health challenges, museums are increasingly tailoring their programming to better serve their patrons.

Cool Finds

How Museums Are Helping People With Memory Loss

Serving the community means changing museum offerings for guests with Alzheimer’s

A blue bead uncovered at the Iron Age village archeological site in Norway.

Cool Finds

There’s a 1,500-Year-Old Farming Village Beneath a Norwegian Airport

An airport expansion gives archaeologists the chance to dig for historical treasures in a pre-Viking settlement

Turns out the discovery of the Palace of Knossos is just the beginning—the ancient city is three times the size archaeologists suspected.

Cool Finds

This Ancient City Was Three Times Bigger Than Archaeologists Suspected

Will Crete’s tourist boom threaten the archaeological treasures of Knossos?

Mumbai's gigantic Dharavi slum will soon be home to a mobile museum.

Trending Today

Mumbai Is Getting a Museum Designed For and About Its Slums

But is a museum showcasing objects created by slum residents ethical or exploitative?

A First Folio kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, U.K.

Cool Finds

Shakespeare’s First Folio Goes on Tour in the U.S.

Rare copies of the tome, containing 36 of the Bard’s plays, will visit every state for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death

A gold-painted statue of Chairman Mao has been erected in a remote part of central China.

Cool Finds

Chinese Capitalists Built a Gigantic, Golden Statue of Chairman Mao

Like the Chairman’s legacy, this 121-foot statue is hard to ignore

Where are the whales?

Trending Today

Hawaii’s Humpback Whales Have Gone Missing

Scientists expect about 10,000 whales to visit Hawaii’s tropical waters this winter—but they’re taking their time

Romanian villagers dress up in real bearskins for ursul.

Cool Finds

Ring in the New Year by Dressing Up as a Bear

Romania’s famed bear dance scares away winter

Inside the one of the newly restored houses of Pompeii

Trending Today

Ancient Pompeii Is Alive Again as Italian Officials Unveil Six Restored Ruins

The “Grand Pompeii Project” helps to preserve the dwellings

A long exposure captures the Falcon 9's launch and return.

Trending Today

SpaceX’s Rocket Stuck the Landing

During the first Falcon 9 launch in six months, the first stage booster rocket make a neat u-turn in air and a clean landing on the ground

Abstract shapes of glowing-eyed cats would play and pose on top of five or six pedestals along the bridge.

Trending Today

A New San Francisco Overpass Could Be Bedecked With Demonic-Looking Cats

“Catbridge”: Unnerving or adorable?

Trending Today

This Weekend’s Southern Lights Were Nothing Short of Spectacular

The Northern Hemisphere hasn’t yet cornered the market for glorious aurorae

Part of the Capitol Christmas Tree's splendor comes from marine debris collected along the Alaska coast.

Cool Finds

The Capitol’s Christmas Tree Is (Partially) Made of Trash

Marine debris bedecks a 74-foot tree from Alaska

This architectural drawing shows the VOID that will soon take over suburban Salt Lake City.

Cool Finds

Utah Will Soon Have an Imaginary Theme Park

In 2016, virtual reality fanatics will step into a VR “VOID”

San Francisco's modern-day Chinatown. Old Chinatown was almost completely destroyed during the earthquake of 1906 and the fires that ensued.

Cool Finds

Traces of San Francisco’s Pre-1906 Earthquake Chinatown Uncovered

Old sewing machines shed light on an enclave that city officials once tried to eliminate

The "Great Garuda" seawall will be shaped like Indonesia's national symbol—a mythical, birdlike creature.

Cool Finds

Jakarta Is Building a Gigantic Bird-Shaped Seawall

But will the Great Garuda project be enough to save a sinking city?

The ashram's entrance was once closed to visitors, who had to sneak in or bribe a guard.

Cool Finds

Abandoned Beatles Ashram Is Opened to the Public for the First Time in a Long, Long, Long Time

Get back to the site of the Fab Four’s disastrous meditation retreat

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