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Cool Finds

A researcher examines inscriptions by 16th century Europeans in a cave on Mona Island

Cool Finds

Cave Graffiti Shows Natives and Europeans Had Early Dialogue in the Caribbean

Cave art from both Taíno people and Spanish explorers in a cave on Mona Island shows the two had some early cultural understanding

Avi Avital is the featured performer in "InstaConcerto for Mandolin and Orchestra," a 75-second concerto written for Instagram.

Cool Finds

This Classical Mandolinist Makes Music With…Instagram?

“InstaConcerto for Mandolin and Orchestra” plays with a genre known more for its selfies than its chamber music

A 3D view of the console of the Apollo 11 "Columbia" command module.

Cool Finds

Explore the Apollo 11 Command Module in 3D

For the first time, you can peek inside the craft that enabled “one giant leap for mankind”

Cool Finds

These Anti-Suffrage Postcards Warned Against Giving Women the Vote

There are always those who resist societal change

Cool Finds

The World’s Largest Picnic Basket Faces an Uncertain Future

The fast decline of a kitschy landmark

Image captured from the 1948 Republican National Convention.

Cool Finds

Watch Historic Footage of Seven Consequential (and Cringeworthy) Convention Moments

These tidbits of political theater past must be seen to be believed

A Delta Aquarid meteor streaks across the sky.

Cool Finds

Keep Your Eyes to the Sky for the Delta Aquarid Meteors This Month

The late-July meteor shower heralds the popular Perseids

This musical score, in Jane Austen's handwriting, is one of nearly 600 Austen family musical treasures available in an online archive.

Cool Finds

Jane Austen’s Music Collection Is Now Online

Play piano like a Darcy with nearly 600 Austen-approved tunes

Cool Finds

Anyone Can Contribute to This Giant Poem…if You Can Find This Typewriter

A roving typewriter tries to capture New York’s subconscious

The Mertz Library hosts one of the world's largest collections of material about plants.

Cool Finds

Go Inside New York’s Nearly Secret Botanical Library

It’s a gardener’s fragrant fantasy

An up close view of coral

Cool Finds

Watch Corals in Action With New Underwater Microscope

The Benthic Underwater Microscope opens up a whole new age of ocean exploration

The Girl Scouts' newest badges celebrate art in the outdoors.

Cool Finds

The Girl Scouts’ Newest Badges Bring Art Outside

Scouts designed and voted on the new badges

Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Cool Finds

10 Downing Street’s “Chief Mouser” Is Keeping His Job Despite Brexit

Larry the Cat will outlast David Cameron at the Prime Minister’s residence

W.E.B. Du Bois at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

Cool Finds

The Revolutionary Infographics of W.E.B. Du Bois And Booker T. Washington

Data visualizations shed light on the living conditions of black people decades after the end of slavery

Awaroa Beach

Cool Finds

New Zealanders Just Crowdfunded a New Addition to this National Park

Over 40,000 people donated to buy Awaroa Beach and gift the site to Abel Tasman National Park

Ten-year veteran of the Smithsonian's protective services office, Sargeant Nadia Tyler is master of the wildly popular Pokémon Go.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All on the National Mall

Sergeant Nadia Tyler, a security guard at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, is collecting Pokémon creatures daily

Baa.

Cool Finds

Impatient Islanders Create Google “Sheep View”

Ewe won’t forget this unique look at the Faroe Islands

A courtyard in front of a mosque adjacent to the al-Qarawiyyin Library, pre-restoration.

Cool Finds

The World’s Oldest Working Library Will Soon Open Its Doors to the Public

After renovations wrap up in September, the library at Morocco’s al-Qarawiyyin University will debut an exhibition section for non-scholars

Cool Finds

Before Pokémon Go, These Scavenger Hunts Were All The Rage

“X” marks the spot

"These chimpanzees get more recognition, respect & freedom in American than our people do," wrote Malcolm X to a friend in 1964.

Cool Finds

Here’s What Malcolm X Thought About Race in 1964

A revealing postcard to Redd Foxx is up for auction

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