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Kermit the Frog and Miss Mousey in "The Muppets Valentine Show"

Kermit the Frog Was Just Trying to Put on a Variety Show. Fifty Years Later, the Muppets Are Some of the Biggest Stars in Television History

The first episode of Jim Henson’s “The Muppet Show” premiered in the United Kingdom on September 5, 1976. Enthusiasm for the eclectic ensemble has endured ever since

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We’ve Been Strapping Cargo to Our Backs for Millions of Years, but Backpack Innovation Really Took Off Around the Civil War

Discover the origin story for an accessory being comfortably lugged by nearly every hiker and student, with about 450 million sold each year

A woman kneels in prayer in front of children's coffins in Freckleton, England, on August 26, 1944.

When an American Airplane Crashed Into a School in 1944, an English Village Lost Almost All of Its Youngest Children. Why Has WWII’s Worst Civilian Aviation Accident Been Forgotten?

On August 23, 1944, a test flight over the village of Freckleton, located in northwest England, ended in disaster, claiming the lives of 61 people, including 38 students between the ages of 4 and 6

Running with a stroller is a safe way to get some exercise when your kids are young, new research suggests.

Listen Up, Parents: Running With a Stroller Might Make You Less Prone to Overuse Injuries

Runners often experience conditions like shin splints, runner’s knee and plantar fasciitis, which causes pain in the bottom of the heel. But pushing a stroller’s handlebar seems to make you distribute your weight differently

Anderson Taylor stands behind display cases in the Cambridge Natural History Museum in Cambridge, Illinois.

An 11-Year-Old Boy in a Small Midwestern Town Just Became the Guinness World Record Holder for Being the Youngest Museum Curator

Four years after Anderson Taylor began collecting specimens, he opened the Cambridge Natural History Museum in Cambridge, Illinois, offering school tours and attracting visitors from across the region

The experimental therapies are part of a larger movement toward personalized medicine.

After Receiving a Custom Experimental Medicine, a Teen With a Rare Genetic Disorder Walked on His Own for the First Time

The patient’s genetic disorder causes frequent seizures and developmental delays. His progress, along with that of another boy who received a similar personalized treatment, highlights the promise—and challenges—of tailor-made drugs

A 1937 photo of Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the maharaja of Nawanagar

This Indian Maharaja Saved Hundreds of Polish Orphans During World War II, Offering Them Refuge When No One Else Would

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, ruler of the princely state of Nawanagar, opened his realm to young Poles who had been detained in Soviet labor camps as the children of the intelligentsia

Neon lights illuminate an oddly empty Santa Monica Pier at night.

You’ll Be More Than Amused by These 15 Photos of Theme Parks. Their Electrifying Attractions Will Have Your Heart Racing Before You Even Set Foot on a Ride

These images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest remind us that amusement parks have entertained generations of thrill-seekers

A 6-year-old boy found this single-edged sword in a field in southern Norway in April.

Cool Finds

A 6-Year-Old Boy Spotted Something Sticking Out of the Ground in a Field. It Turned Out to Be a Viking Sword

Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt was on a school field trip when he found the roughly 1,200-year-old weapon. The single-edged blade will now be preserved at an Oslo museum

Two young boys at a Georgia cotton mill. Their slim arms and tiny hands were considered ideal for machine work.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When a Photographer Turned His Focus on Social Injustice, It Helped Usher in the First Child Labor Laws

Lewis Hine didn’t consider his job as taking pictures; it was “detective work.” Sometimes gaining access with ruse and subterfuge, he captured stark images that touched hearts and changed minds

On the day of the Birmingham church bombing—September 15, 1963—white assailants also killed 13-year-old Virgil Ware (left) and 16-year-old Johnny Robinson (right).

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

The 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Killed Four Young Black Girls. But They Weren’t the Only Victims of Racial Violence in the City That Day

Hours after the attack, a police officer shot 16-year-old Johnny Robinson in the back. Then, a white teenager mortally injured 13-year-old Virgil Ware as he rode on the handlebars of his brother’s bike

William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies

‘Lord of the Flies’ Comes to Television for the First Time in a New Miniseries. In the 1950s, the Now-Famous Novel Almost Never Got Published

Publishers rejected the original manuscript for “Lord of the Flies” many times, yet the story still sparks a buzz today. Author William Golding later won the Nobel Prize in Literature

The funerary practice of pouring gypsum into ancient coffins means that imprints of clothing and bodies remain in burial sites in York, England.

Cool Finds

In the Ancient World, This Pigment Was Worth More Than Gold. Archaeologists Discovered It Buried With Babies in Roman Coffins

A funerary custom in Roman Yorkshire of pouring liquid gypsum over bodies before burial preserved traces of Tyrian purple

Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends live in a case at the New York Public Library.

The Real Winnie-the-Pooh Lives at the New York Public Library. When Queen Camilla Visited the Bear, She Reunited Him With a Dear Friend

On a state visit to the United States this week, the queen of the United Kingdom became the first British royal to visit the library as she fulfilled a mission to complete the set of toys that Christopher Robin once owned

A 1936 photo of the Timleck family, one of four winners of the Great Stork Derby

An Eccentric Tycoon Left a Fortune to the Winner of a Baby-Making Contest. The Great Stork Derby Divided Canadians During the Great Depression

In his will, Charles Vance Millar offered roughly 500,000 Canadian dollars to the mother who “has since my death given birth in Toronto to the greatest number of children”

A set of children’s building blocks (Anker-Steinbaukasten) that belonged to Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein Played With These Building Blocks as a Child. Here’s How They Helped Shape His Magnificent Mind

The 19th-century German toy pieces, made with quartz sand, chalk and linseed oil, allowed kids to create realistic structures

Wallace and Gromit chase Feathers McGraw in this model from "The Wrong Trousers" (1993).

Here’s How Animators Make Stop-Motion Masterpieces Like ‘Wallace & Gromit’ Come Alive

Aardman’s shows, shorts and feature films require painstaking craftsmanship. An interactive exhibition at the Young V&A museum in London brings museumgoers behind the scenes

Remember I'm Still Here by Emilia Evans-Munton has been confirmed as the world's largest sock monkey sculpture.

This Nearly 50-Foot-Long Sock Monkey Sculpture Is the Largest on Earth, Guinness World Records Confirms

Created by 22-year-old art student Emilia Evans-Munton, the sculpture is made of nearly 200 feet of corduroy fabric and 40 bales of straw

By age 20, autism diagnoses are almost equal among men and women in Sweden, a new study suggests.

Is Autism Really a Male-Dominated Condition? A New Study Suggests Women Have It Just as Often, but Are Diagnosed Later in Life

Researchers examined the prevalence of autism among nearly three million people born in Sweden over the past four decades

Easy-Bake Oven, 1977

How the Easy-Bake Oven, an Appliance That Allowed Kids to Heat Treats With a Light Bulb, Revolutionized the Toy Industry

The product, launched in 1963, became a staple in American households

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