Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Cool Finds

Cool Finds

Five-Year Photo Project Captures the Sistine Chapel in High-Res Detail

Released in a new set of books, the 1:1 photos will be used by restorers to restore and assess damage to Michaelangelo’s masterpieces

The replica club will be open through the end of the month.

Cool Finds

This Short-Lived 1930s Speakeasy Was a Sanctuary for Gay Londoners

And now you can visit a recreation

Artists rendering of the suspected Planet 9

Trending Today

NASA Wants the Public to Log In to Help Find Planet 9

Citizen scientists can examine photos to help discover a new planet, which recent evidence suggests is hiding at the edge of the solar system

Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman, Mae Jemison

Cool Finds

LEGO Is Making a Women of NASA Set

The toy company selected Maia Weinstock’s proposal to celebrate the space agency’s female pioneers during its Lego Ideas competition

"I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine." No, wait, that's Finding Nemo.

Cool Finds

Take a Peek at the Mesmerizing “Cosmic Jellyfish”

NOAA’s research vessel Okeanos Explorer filmed this specimen of Rhopalonematid trachymedusa in the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa

Wilmer Souder poses with a microscope—one of the newfangled tools with which he helped pioneer the field of forensic science.

Cool Finds

Why Nobody Remembers the Forefather of Forensic Science

Wilmer Souder was a hidden pioneer of a still developing field

Workers labor in the fields in the shadow of Mt. Williamson.

Cool Finds

View Daily Life in a Japanese-American Internment Camp Through the Lens of Ansel Adams

In 1943, one of America’s best-known photographers documented one of the best-known internment camps

Ray Yoshida, Arbitrary Approach, 1983

Cool Finds

New Exhibition Lets You Look at Art While Playing Pinball

Kings and Queens tracks the game’s influence on a group of Chicago artists

This Roman road is part of a newly opened McDonalds.

Cool Finds

New McDonalds Has a Cool Design Element: an Ancient Roman Road

Have a bit of history with that Happy Meal

Prayer wheels are just one of the sounds preserved and remixed in a new project.

Cool Finds

Listen to the Sounds of Sacred Spaces Around the World

A new project documents, then remixes, religious and spiritual sounds

This image, entitled "Doing Their Share, Too," celebrated the war work of black women.

Cool Finds

This African American Artist’s Cartoons Helped Win World War II

Charles Alston knew how to turn art into motivation

Woodblock print on paper by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Cool Finds

Japan Is Getting a Ninja Museum

Officials hope the iconic warriors can sneak more tourism into the country

Within Our Gates is the oldest surviving film by a black director.

Cool Finds

Watch the Oldest-Known Surviving Film by an African-American Director

Within Our Gates was Oscar Micheaux’s response to a racist classic

Cool Finds

Albania Wants to Show Off Its Shipwrecks

From 6th century B.C. Greek cargo ships to WWII wrecks, the Balkan nation is hoping to boost tourism by highlighting its underwater archaeology

African-American Girl Scouts chat at a camp named after Josephine Holloway, who pioneered scouting for girls of color.

Cool Finds

Girl Scouting Was Once Segregated

Though the Girl Scouts of the USA initially declared itself a space for all girls, the reality was different for girls of color

The taxi of the future doesn't drive—it flies.

Cool Finds

Dubai Will Get Self-Flying Taxis This Year

Bypass traffic with the taxi of the future

The Ryuguji temple

How 13th-Century “Mermaid Bones” Came to Be Displayed in a Japanese Temple

According to legend, the ningyo washed ashore on the Japanese island of Kyushu in 1222

The smooching couple in the center left gave the bakery its nickname.

Cool Finds

How a Pompeiian Bakery Became This Year’s Hot Date Destination

The romance never dies at the House of the Chaste Lovers

Cool Finds

These Photos Show Just How Colossal the World’s Tallest Sandcastle Is

The new Guinness World Record holder is a 48.8-foot creation on Puri Beach that celebrates world peace. It’s shore to impress

The interior of the Islamic Art Museum after a car bomb damaged the museum in 2014

Trending Today

Egypt’s Museum of Islamic Art Triumphantly Re-Opens

The museum has restored 160 artifacts damaged by a 2014 truck bomb and has expanded, putting three times as many artworks on display

Page 105 of 282