Colin Jost versus the bobsled
Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost, reporting from the 2026 Winter Olympics for NBC, agreed to ride in a bobsled. It did not go well. “I thought my back was…
Author: The Smart Reader Staff
Briefs and quick reads selected and edited by The Smart Reader's editorial team of Rick, Allyson, and Ryan Good.
Couch Potato turns 50 in 2026
“Couch potato” was coined on July 15, 1976, when Tom Iacino, a member of the tongue-in-cheek California group the Boob Tubers, called his friend,…
The Patron Saint of Wi-Fi
The Catholic Church officially has a millennial saint. Carlo Acutis, canonized by Pope Leo XIV in September 2025, is believed to be the first saint born…
The floppy disk passed away 50 years ago
The 5.25-inch floppy disk, introduced in 1976 by Shugart Associates, turns 50 this year, though it hasn’t been able to celebrate in person for quite some…
China’s sun gets hotter
Scientists at China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, mercifully nicknamed EAST, have shattered a fusion barrier that physicists once…
The baby who changed medicine
KJ Muldoon was five months old when doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia put him on a liver transplant list. He had been diagnosed with CPS1…
Small reactors, big ambitions
For 30 years, nuclear energy in America has been mostly a story of decline, aging plants, high costs, and public anxiety. The next chapter looks very…
A Raccoon’s Excellent Adventure
It started innocuously enough. A raccoon in Ashland, Virginia found a gap in the ceiling of a state liquor store, squeezed through, and helped himself…
Costco Membership Earning Its Keep?
A Costco Gold Star membership costs $65 a year – which means it pays for itself the moment you’ve saved $5.42 a month. For families,…
World Otter Day – May 27
The otter who hijacks surfboards Something is happening at Steamer Lane, the famous surf break in Santa Cruz, California – and it is not what…