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Smart News / Smart News Travel

Cool Finds

The Statue of Liberty Was Originally a Muslim Woman

“The New Colossus” was actually born in Egypt

Austria

These Videos Will Change the Way You Think About Travel Photography Forever

A new technique lets you zoom through the world without leaving your desk

Cool Finds

A Gothic Chapel Is Transformed Into a Spectacular Sky

Staring at the ceiling has never been so inspiring

Cool Finds

This Artist Makes Traditional Carpets That Look Like They Were hit by a Software Bug

Faig Ahmed’s Azerbaijani carpets twist and swirl like a bad Photoshop job

Pub signs illustrat the creative names of local watering holes, like the Dog & Sausage in St. Helier, Jersey.

Cool Finds

A Brief History of British Pub Signs

The colorful signs boast more than good looks—they’re like miniature history books

Cool Finds

Minnesota Is Expanding Its Bike Share to Include Canoes

Because bikes and boats are a perfect pair

Cool Finds

How to Visit the British Museum Without Going to London

A new partnership with Google allows art aficionados to take virtual strolls through the museum’s treasures

Cool Finds

These French Vending Machines Sell Short Stories

Super-short fiction that’s as good as any snack

Trending Today

Does This Brooklyn Sculpture Say ‘Oy’?

…or is it saying ‘Yo’?

Trending Today

Manhattan Project Sites to Be Opened to the Public

Manhattan Project Historical Park will preserve three sites from the beginning of the Atomic Age

Can you hear me now? Good.

Cool Finds

This Ear Was Made With Vincent Van Gogh’s DNA

What secrets have been whispered into this creepy, living copy of the most famous ear in art history?

Trending Today

NASA is Hiring Astronauts for Future Deep Space Missions

Do you want to head to Mars?

Trending Today

Seattle’s Famous ‘Gum Wall’ Is Getting Scraped Clean

An estimated 1,000,000 pieces of chewing gum are stuck to the quirky attraction

In the unregulated park, kids encountered alligators without fences, gates or grates.

Cool Finds

When Kids Played With Alligators in Los Angeles

Babies, dogs and onlookers mixed with snapping reptiles at California’s Alligator Farm

Cool Finds

A 2,000-Year-Old Greek Fortress Has Been Unearthed in Jerusalem

The fort played a role in the Jewish revolts that inspired Hanukkah

Cool Finds

This Incredible Street Art Is Also An Evolution Lesson

In Rome, a giant mural illustrates how life began and evolved

Trending Today

Amazon Just Opened An Actual Bookstore in Seattle

And just like its online marketplace, Amazon’s brick-and-mortar shop aims to shake up the industry

Detail from the cover of the 1948 Green Book, a guidebook for black travelers.

Cool Finds

A Black American’s Guide to Travel In the Jim Crow Era

For decades, The Green Book was the black traveler’s lifeline

Singing sand dunes in the Gobi Desert

New Research

Why the Sands of Many Dunes Sing, Boom, and Even Burp

Contrary to Marco Polo’s tales, it’s not because they’re full of mysterious spirits

Cool Finds

Pink Gumdrops Are Solving a Sticky Crisis in London

The receptacles are part of the world’s first chewing gum recycling program

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