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SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE
A French family had a painting of seven lions hanging in its living room since the 1800s; an auctioneer identified it as a Delacroix original that sold for €455,000- A dusty portrait remained in a private collection for decades; a Vienna gallery later identified it as an 1897 Gustav Klimt painting listed for €15 million
- In a Florence library, a 1551 astronomy book held handwritten notes that went unnoticed for centuries; a historian recognised them as Galileo’s writing from around 1590
- For 15 years, a bronze sculpture lay under a sheet in an unused Paris apartment; the Camille Claudel work later sold for €3.1 millionAn abandoned Parisian apartment reveals an extraordinary artistic treasure: a long-lost bronze sculpture by French sculptor Camille Claudel...12 Nov, 2026, 03.00 PM IST
- In the early 1850s, Philadelphia-born beekeeper Lorenzo Langstroth developed a hive with removable frames, making honey harvesting easier; his design remains widely used todayIn 1851, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth introduced the movable frame hive, a groundbreaking innovation that transformed beekeeping. This advan...11 Nov, 2026, 05.30 PM IST
- In the late 1920s, Ohio barber Elijah Pierce carved a small wooden elephant for his wife; decades later, the Columbus Museum held more than 100 of his carvingsElijah Pierce, a barber from Ohio, began crafting wooden sculptures as heartfelt gifts for his wife. What started as a personal endeavor bl...28 Oct, 2026, 03.00 PM IST
- USA tried to make rain by bombing clouds with dynamite in 1891. The $7,000 experiment for drought-hit Texas produced unexpected resultIn 1891, the US government funded an unusual experiment to make rain by bombarding the sky with dynamite, balloons and other explosives. Le...26 Oct, 2026, 10.49 PM IST
- Thomas Edison's talking dolls in 1890 became nightmare fuel due to creepy voice recordings. Its eerie sound earned it the name ‘little monsters’Thomas Edison’s talking dolls were designed to delight children with recorded nursery rhymes, but their strange voices made the toys far le...24 Oct, 2026, 07.00 PM IST
- 14-year-old Indian American kid invents AI-powered app that can evaluate your heart health in just seven seconds. Who is Siddarth Nandyala?Siddarth Nandyala was just 14 when he decided to make a grand invention, one that can save lives. His app, the Circadian AI, can detect hea...23 Oct, 2026, 07.03 PM IST
- In the 19th century, mysterious glyphs from Easter Island drew scholarly attention; more than 150 years later, the Rongorongo script remains undecipheredResearchers have provided new evidence that the rongorongo script could have emerged independently on Easter Island. A wooden tablet was da...21 Oct, 2026, 12.57 AM IST
- An Egyptian farmer found a mysterious pink stone in his field — it led archaeologists to two giant statues of Ramses II buried for centuriesArchaeologists found ancient statue fragments related to Ramses II in the Nile Delta region of Egypt. The discovery was triggered by farmer...19 Oct, 2026, 09.47 PM IST
- Because a hailstorm ruined his family’s 15 acres of oats, he couldn’t afford college; in less than two years, Illinois-born self-taught astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered PlutoClyde Tombaugh, after enduring financial trouble following a damaging hailstorm, sparked his passion for astronomy in 1928. He crafted a te...17 Oct, 2026, 04.01 PM IST
- In 2019, Amsterdam began using bubble barriers to catch river plastic. Now the US wants to bring the technology to the Great LakesLansing is considering implementing the Bubble Barrier technology, initially developed in Amsterdam, to address plastic pollution. This inn...13 Oct, 2026, 08.32 PM IST
- World War II's strangest plan: US spies wanted to use radioactive foxes against Japan but then an experiment went completely wrongDuring World War II, American spies came up with an unusual plan to scare Japan using radioactive foxes. The scheme involved secret experim...12 Oct, 2026, 10.41 PM IST
- A shopper paid $25 for a Victorian brooch at an antiques market in 2024; experts identified William Burges’s work, and the piece later sold for $15,000 at auctionA brooch bought for just under £20 at an English antique market over three decades ago has attracted attention after its owner, Flora Steel...12 Oct, 2026, 05.34 PM IST
- Is the US stock market open today on Columbus Day? Will NYSE and Nasdaq trade? Here's the Dow Jones and S&P 500 scheduleIs the US Stock Market Open on Columbus Day 2026? NYSE, Nasdaq, Dow Jones and S&P 500 trading hours - The New York Stock Exchange and Nasda...12 Oct, 2026, 05.09 PM IST
- Thousands of spiders sometimes rain directly from the sky? Scientists explain the reason behind this bizarre phenomenon of natureSpiders appearing to rain from the sky may sound like a scene from a horror movie, but the unusual phenomenon has been reported in Australi...11 Oct, 2026, 05.43 PM IST
- In 1968, 20 million squirrels suddenly began migrating across America. The mass exodus confused scientists but the answer was in what happened a year beforeIn 1968, millions of squirrels suddenly flooded roads, crossed lakes and abandoned their usual habitats across America, leaving scientists ...10 Oct, 2026, 11.03 PM IST
- In 1739, archaeologists uncovered a mysterious 12-sided Roman object; 287 years later, its true purpose remains unknownRoman dodecahedrons are mysterious 12-sided objects found in former Roman territories, yet their real purpose remains unknown. The first kn...10 Oct, 2026, 05.39 PM IST
- Howard Finster spent over 30 years turning a Georgia backyard swamp into Paradise Garden; the preacher’s handmade world survived him and remains open for toursHoward Finster, a former preacher, transformed his Georgia backyard into a vibrant art space decades ago. His visionary creations birthed P...07 Oct, 2026, 01.50 PM IST
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