Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Cool Finds

Cool Finds

How Non-stick Frying Pans Are Made

Spinning the pans helps coatings apply evenly and makes the process hypnotic

Cool Finds

Behind the Scenes at a Tyrannosaurus Rex Dissection

Months of work went into creating a model, life-sized dinosaur for experts to dismember and cut open

Cool Finds

How George Washington Did His Hair

Despite the powder and curls it wasn’t a wig at all

One of the chalkboards shows a calendar in the process of switching from November 1917 to December — only the month label and the first day apply to the new month.

Cool Finds

100-Year-Old Chalkboards, With Drawings Still Intact, Discovered in Oklahoma School

The find includes lessons on pilgrims, math and music

Two species of mites make their home in the hair follicles on your face.

Cool Finds

Meet the Mites That Live on Your Face

These microscopic organisms live and die on your face

Cool Finds

This is What it Looks Like When a GoPro Falls From Space

SpaceX put a camera in a payload fairing for its Falcon 9 rocket

Bermuda

There’s Only One Way to Make a Dark ‘n’ Stormy Without Breaking the Law

The cocktail has a surprising, and litigious history

Cool Finds

Visit the Pacific’s Deepest Hydrothermal Vents With Underwater Robots

Researchers spotted the vents nearly 12,500 feet beneath the surface during an expedition mapping the floor of the Pescadero Basin

Cool Finds

There is an Ikea Museum at the Company’s Headquarters in Sweden

The main focus is Ikea’s designs throughout the decades

An African American soldier is shown cooking at the camp kitchen of 2nd New York Regiment during the Civil War

Cool Finds

The Civil War’s Division of North and South is Reflected in Cookbooks

Naval blockades kept the South starving for salt and other foods, a fact reflected in the recipes of the time

Cool Finds

In 1938, the NY Times Wrote About a Weird New Food: The Cheeseburger

Apparently, cheese on meat needed some explanation

Cool Finds

Japanese Elevators May Soon Have Toilets

Earthquake-trapped travelers could have access to running water in elevators

Secret Service agents grab Gerald Ford seconds after Sara Jane Moore attempts to shoot him in September 1975.

Cool Finds

These Two Female Assassins Independently Tried to Kill Gerald Ford

The only two women to attempt to kill a president did so within 17 days of one another

Male wolf spiders vibrate dead leaves to create purring noises and court females.

Cool Finds

Listen to the Dulcet Purr of a Wolf Spider

Males seduce females by making leaves vibrate

Cool Finds

How Bug Guts Slow Down Planes and What Engineers are Doing About it

Designing the most fuel-efficient plane means keeping wings free of sticky exploded bugs

The Plain of Jars in northeast Laos may be related to burial rituals dating back 2,000 years—but the site still proves a mystery to archeologists.

Ancient Urns or Drinking Vessels for Giants? Behind the Mysterious Plain of Jars in Laos

A grassy area studded with hulking, 2,000-year-old jars provides a surreal sight as well as an archeological puzzle

Cool Finds

How People Write Down Their Laughter Has Changed Over Time

“Hehe” means something different than “heehee”

A prototype of the Predictor pregnancy test (left) and the test as it went to market in the late 1970s (right).

Cool Finds

This is What the First Home Pregnancy Test Looked Like

“Predictor” gave results in just two hours

Jeanne Villepreux-Power described how the Paper Nautilus grew its own shell

Cool Finds

A 19th Century Shipwreck Might Be Why This Famous Female Naturalist Faded to Obscurity

Jeanne Villepreux-Power invented the aquarium and studied cephalopods, but today few recognize her name

Page 158 of 284