Smart News

Boo! Telling ghost stories on Christmas was a tradition for hundreds of years. Here, Marley's ghost surprises Ebenezer Scrooge in an illustration from the first edition of the classic tale.

Why Do People Tell Ghost Stories on Christmas?

Christmas ghost stories are a tradition going back much farther than "A Christmas Carol"

This Strad's wood is different from modern-day maple.

New Research

Mineral Baths May Have Given Stradivari Their Signature Sound

Turns out the famous violins really are different from modern instruments

Score was a tiny communications satellite attached to a really big rocket.

Cool Finds

Celebrate Christmas With the First Voice Ever Broadcast in Space

Eisenhower kicked off the space race with a goodwill wish

The National Menorah and one of the state Christmas trees near the White House in 2009.

Someday, Maybe We’ll Have Hanukkah in July

Hanukkah and Christmas fall on the same day this year because not everyone follows the same calendar

This image from the Landsat 7 satellite depicts snow near the border of Morocco and Algeria, south of the city of Bouarfa and southwest of Ain Sefra.

Trending Today

Snow Falls in the Sahara for the First Time Since 1979

A cold snap in the Algerian city of Ain Sefra led to a snowfall that covered the area's distinctive orange dunes

The American holiday celebrating African traditions is 50 years old this year.

This Year Marks the 50th Kwanzaa

The week-long holiday is a celebration of African-American culture

A compressed view of the entire visible sky from the Pan-STARRS1 Observatory

New Research

Massive Survey Catalogues the Night Sky

Over four years, the Pan-STARRS telescope collected 2 petabytes of photos of the night sky, creating the most complete astronomical atlas yet

Tens of thousands of sticky notes were used to create the communal artwork/therapy session.

Cool Finds

New Yorkers’ Post-Election Post-its Will Be Preserved

<i>Subway Therapy</i> captured a city's outpouring of emotion. Now, the notes New Yorkers left behind will be archived

New York's shrine to the performing arts has never seen a dancer quite like this.

Cool Finds

A Huge Bronze Hippo in a Tutu Is Coming to Lincoln Center

Her name is <i>Hippo Ballerina</i>, and she’s sure to make theatergoers do a double-take

Lillian Randolph in It's A Wonderful Life, with a dusting of fake snow made from foamite, sugar, water and soap.

The Crazy Tricks Early Filmmakers Used To Fake Snow

Cornflakes, flour and, uh, asbestos were all used in early movies

Cool Finds

Check Out NASA's Picks for This Year's Best Images of Earth

From sunsets to city lights, the images capture the beauty of our ever-changing planet

Shell's Polar Pioneer drilling platform

Trending Today

Obama and Trudeau Protect Millions of Acres From Drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic

But questions remain about the permanency of the act in the arctic

Uniformed Letter Carrier with Child in Mailbag

Smithsonian Podcast

A Brief History of Children Sent Through the Mail

In the early days of the parcel post, some parents took advantage of the mail in unexpected ways

Crossword puzzles have been around for over one hundred years. In that time, they've gone through fads.

Why Crossword Puzzles Are Still Mostly Written By Humans

Computers can write sports articles, replace stock brokers and help diagnose patients. But they can’t write good crosswords

Poland's Sjem, or lower house of parliament, was the site of a recent showdown on press freedoms.

Trending Today

Poland Has Lifted Its Media Ban

It’s the latest in an ongoing saga about press freedoms in the populist-led country

Dwarf minke whale

New Research

Unidentified Complex Sound From Earth's Deepest Trench May Be New Whale Call

Known as the Western Pacific Biotwang, researchers believe it may be a previously unrecoreded call from a dwarf minke whale

Phuket Horned Tree Agamid, Acanthosaura phuketensis, found in Phuket,Thailand

Cool Finds

Meet the Klingon Newt, Ziggy Stardust Snake—Two of the 163 New Species Discovered in the Mekong

A new reports details the dozens of new animal and plant species scientists found in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong in 2015

The Westinghouse Atom Smasher in its prime.

The Strange Story of the Westinghouse Atom Smasher

The giant bulb was an important part of early American nuclear history. Now it’s part of a miniature railroad

Eggnog is connected to a medieval drink called posset.

The Long, Rich, Boozy History of Eggnog

This December, we’re exploring the drink’s storied history

Anne Frank in 1940, four years before her arrest and deportation.

Trending Today

Anne Frank May Not Have Been Betrayed

New evidence suggests the family was not specifically targeted, but rather discovered during an investigation related to illegal ration coupons

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