Smart News

A man butchers a whale in 1968

New Research

We Now Have a Toll of All the Whales Killed by Hunting in the Last Century

The whaling industry killed nearly 3 million for their oil, researchers estimate. But the true total is likely higher.

New Research

The Desire to Conform Starts In Toddlers

Apes don’t have this problem — if they know the answer to a puzzle, they’ll do it, regardless of what their friends might think

"The Legal Justice League" celebrates the first four women to sit on the country's highest court.

Cool Finds

Celebrating the Women of the Supreme Court With LEGOs

What better way to hail the female trailblazers of the bench than miniaturizing them into tiny toys?

Trending Today

Who’s Beheading Animals in Sacramento?

Officials can’t figure out who’s behind a bizarre rash of animal mutilations in California’s capital

New Research

1,800 Studies Later, Scientists Conclude Homeopathy Doesn’t Work

A major Australian study debunks homeopathy—again

A view of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

New Research

The Galaxy May Be Way Bigger Than We Thought

New data analysis suggests that the Milky Way may be 50-percent larger than previously believed

New Research

How the Sugar Industry Influenced Dental Research

Newly uncovered “sugar papers” reveal that the sugar lobby played a major role in 1970s dental public health policies

A panther chameleon.

New Research

We Finally Know How Chameleons Change Their Color

Chameleons' secret involves tiny crystals under their skin

Cool Finds

When Even the Simplest Word Looks Weird And Wrong You Have Wordnesia

We don’t really know why it happens, but at least there is a term for it

Cool Finds

Our Brains Hate Waiting So We Sped Up Everything Else

Sidewalk rage, road rage and anger at slow-loading web pages are all part of our evolutionary inheritance

A scanning electronic microscope image of the 600 million-year-old sponge-like fossil

New Research

One of the Oldest Known Animals Is This Tiny, Ancient Sponge

A new fossil find pushes back the start of the evolution of multicellular animals

The zodiacal light.

Cool Finds

Catch a Glimpse of the Zodiacal Light Show This Month

For some in the northern hemisphere, a celestial treat sometimes referred to as “false dusk” is lighting up the night

New Research

London’s Congestion Pricing Plan Is Saving Lives

By charging $17.34 for a trip downtown during peak hours, London has reduced traffic fatalities by 40 percent

Trending Today

Why’s Wikimedia Suing the NSA?

Wikimedia Foundation joins Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others to protest mass surveillance online

A mummified corpse of a Chinchoro girl between 4,000 and 8,000 years old gets a cleaning.

New Research

Saving the World’s Oldest Mummies From Rot in a Warmer, Wetter World

Why are the ancient bodies of the Chinchorro people stored in a Chilean museum rapidly degrading into black ooze?

Smog over Shanghai

Trending Today

China’s Smog Might Be to Blame for the East Coast’s Rough Winter

A NASA visualization shows how particles from East Asia can swirl into Pacific storms—a source of precipitation for the U.S.

Celebrities: Popular then forgotten. Recognize her? No?Don't worry, this is just a stock photo.

Cool Finds

How Long Do Cultural References Last?

Not forever

Icebergs break off, or calve, from the Dawes Glacier at the end of Endicott Arm in southeast Alaska.

New Research

The Loud Noise of Melting Glaciers May Actually Be Good for Animals

Melting glacier ice has been found to the loudest noise in the ocean—what does that mean for marine animals?

Trending Today

How Dick Tracy Invented the Smartwatch

The detective’s two-way wrist radio paved the way for the Apple Watch and other wearables

New Research

Here’s What Music Specially Composed for Your Cat Sounds Like

Research shows that cats prefer “species-specific” with frequencies and tempos that mimic the sounds of purring and birds

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