Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Cool Finds

frame from Winnie-the-Pooh part 1 (1969)

Cool Finds

Russia Has Its Own Classic Version of an Animated Winnie-the-Pooh

Three short films produced from 1969 through 1972 follow the adventures of A.A. Milne’s characters

New Amsterdam, Now New York, on the Island of Manhattan by Johannes Vinckeboons

Cool Finds

New Amsterdam’s First Laws: Drink Less, Fight Less

New Amsterdam was controlled by the Dutch from 1624 to 1664

Cool Finds

Computers Write Novels Faster Than You Do

Silicon chips don’t suffer writer’s block

Cool Finds

There’s an Airbnb for Fields in England

In the U.K., you can rent a field for weddings, concerts, sports matches or simply your own enjoyment

Cool Finds

Experts Have No Idea Who This Roman God Is

A recently unearthed carving combines Roman and Mesopotamian elements but may represent a god from an even earlier time

A MONIAC at Roosevelt College, pictured with economics professor Abba P. Lerner

Cool Finds

This Computer From 1949 Runs on Water

Computers at the time didn’t have displays; one economics student created a visualization using water-filled tanks and tubes

A Civil War historical re-enactment at Tunnel Hill, Georgia

Cool Finds

A Nurse Describes the Smell of the Civil War

The overpowering stink of blood and decaying flesh can surprise even trained soldiers

Cool Finds

Lemmings Do Not Explode Or Throw Themselves Off Cliffs

A popular myth about these arctic rodents has its roots in faked documentary footage from Disney

Astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad sets up the American flag on the Moon during Apollo 12 on November 19, 1969.

Cool Finds

How NASA Censored Dirty-Mouthed Astronauts

NASA really didn’t want astronauts swearing on air

Cool Finds

Heroin Use Is on the Rise Again, Thanks to Suburban White Users

OxyContin is heroin’s new gateway drug, experts say

Cool Finds

A Dutch Actress Is Journeying to the South Pole on a Tractor

She pays tribute to great polar expeditions of the past and carries the dreams of thousands with her

A rufous hummingbird.

Cool Finds

One Hummingbird’s Unusual Flight: From Minnesota to Texas, on a Plane

Rufous hummingbirds have no business being in St. Paul amid freezing temperatures

Cool Finds

The Black Sea Devil, a Rare Deep-Sea Anglerfish, Filmed for the First Time

Fewer than half a dozen anglerfish have ever been recorded swimming in their undersea habitat

The proposed canal routes through Nicaragua.

Cool Finds

Nicaragua Is Going Ahead With a Massive Canal That Will Bisect the Country

According to experts, the project will likely wreak havoc on both Nicaraguans and the country’s environment

Cool Finds

One Idea to Get to Mars: Fill the Walls of a Spaceship With Water

The insulation from radiation would also be drinkable

None

Cool Finds

This New Video of the Earth Is the Best Ever Made

The video was made with images taken by a Russian satellite

Cool Finds

How to Fold a World Record-Setting Paper Airplane

The secret lies in the design, but having a football quarterback on hand to throw the plane might help you break records

Marsha Ivins takes a nap on the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Cool Finds

Astronauts Nap on the Launchpad While Waiting for a Ride to Space

There’s not much to do while NASA goes through its pre-launch checks

False-color micrograph of Caenorhabditis elegans

Cool Finds

We’ve Put a Worm’s Mind in a Lego Robot’s Body

A wheeled Lego robot may not look like a worm, but it “thinks” like one after programmers gave it the neuron connections in a C. elegans roundworm

Cool Finds

India Once Released 25,000 Flesh-Eating Turtles Into the Ganges

A plan to clean up corpses failed due to lack of planning

Page 173 of 282