Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Cool Finds

Cool Finds

Wander About an Art Installation Inspired by the Large Hadron Collider

Art from science

Cool Finds

These Temporary Tattoos Can Help ID a Food Allergy

Plus, the tattoo is inspired by historical Japanese prints

Cartoonist and concept artist Jean Giraud.

Cool Finds

Meet the Man Who Helped Define How Science Fiction Looks

The renowned cartoonist Jean Giraud had a hand in some of science fiction’s most iconic films

Darjeeling white tea brews with a delicate aroma and a pale golden color.

Cool Finds

For the First Time in 150 Years, Anyone Can Buy One of the World’s Rarest Teas

Go straight to the source

The Royal Oak in Witney, England

Cool Finds

Why “The Royal Oak” Is a Popular Pub Name in the U.K.

The story goes back to the English Civil Wars and a prince on the run

Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, between 1748 and 1755, currently at the Louvre Museum.

Cool Finds

Madame de Pompadour’s Legacy as a Patron of Arts Is Often Overlooked

A new exhibit explores the creative works of one of history’s most famous mistresses

The bombing site as seen from above.

Cool Finds

During the Cold War, the Air Force Dropped an Unarmed Nuke on South Carolina

Amazingly, none of the Gregg family of Mars Bluff were seriously hurt, not even the cat

"The Unconscious Patient (Allegory of the Sense of Smell)," about 1624 - 1625 by Rembrandt van Rijn

Cool Finds

Early Rembrandt Found in Basement Goes On Display

The painting is one of five in a series about the senses that the Dutch master created as a teenager

A portrait photograph of Victoria Woodhull.

Cool Finds

Victoria Woodhull Ran for President Before Women Had the Right to Vote

Her 1872 campaign platform focused on women’s rights and sexual freedom

Cool Finds

Super 8 Said Farewell to Its Kitschy Motel Art With a Gallery Show

Sending mediocre art off in style

The iconic brochure format was designed by the man responsible for New York subway signage.

Cool Finds

Want to Browse Some National Park Maps? There’s a Site For That

Can you guess the most popular map?

Chris Torres and Eric Gorscak take in the scenery at Cape Lamb—scenery that included lots of fossils.

Cool Finds

Fossil Hunters Uncover 71-Million-Year-Old Trove in Antarctica

After a plane flight, boat ride, helicopter lift and a lot of hiking, the scientists returned with a massive cache of fossils

A Little Free Library in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Cool Finds

Build Your Own Library at the First-Ever Little Library Festival

The book-sharing stations have popped up all across the United States

A ceiling sculpted by Isamu Noguchi has been restored and is open to public viewing.

Cool Finds

A Modernist Sculpted Ceiling Was Uncovered in a U-Haul Showroom

The Isamu Noguchi work is being shown once again

Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri mapped the positions and brightness of 481,215 stars.

Cool Finds

These Little-Known Nuns Helped Map the Stars

A century later, the identities of women who mapped over 481,000 stars are finally known

Mary Kies' patented technique wove silk and straw together to make fetching bonnets like this 1815 specimen.

Cool Finds

Meet Mary Kies, America’s First Woman to Become a Patent Holder

Brains plus bonnets equal a historic first

The diarist's hiding place will soon come to life in Anne, a virtual reality film.

Cool Finds

Virtual Reality Film Will Simulate Anne Frank’s Hiding Place

‘Anne’ will give audiences a sense of what it was like to be in the “Secret Annex”

An illustration of the path Mercury will take across the sun on May 9.

Cool Finds

For The First Time in a Decade, Watch Mercury Cross the Sun’s Face

Next week’s transit of Mercury is one of the major astronomical events of the year

The first drone to make an FAA-approved delivery is joining the collection at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum

Cool Finds

The First Delivery Drone in the United States Lands a Spot at the Smithsonian

The Flirtey F3.0 hexacopter touches ground at the National Air and Space Museum

Cool Finds

Deep-Sea Researchers Spot a Mysterious Jellyfish Near The Mariana Trench

The glowing jellyfish was previously unknown to science

Page 128 of 284