Smart News Ideas & Innovations

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This is What it Looks Like When a GoPro Falls From Space

SpaceX put a camera in a payload fairing for its Falcon 9 rocket

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The Most Popular Eating Banana Might Soon Go Extinct

The Cavendish banana is succumbing to a disease that wiped out its predecessor

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An Oregon Town Tried (and Failed) to Scare Off Sea Lions With a Fake Orca

“Fake Willy" nearly drowned on its mission to drive sea lions out of Astoria, Oregon

The little blue pill is nothing like flibanserin, the sexual dysfunction drug for women recently approved by an FDA advisory committee.

Trending Today

Stop Calling Flibanserin "Female Viagra"

As the FDA weighs the merits of a new drug to boost female libido, it's clear this is not a little blue pill for women

An artist’s concept of NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator

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NASA Will Launch a Flying Saucer Soon

Weather has kept the test vehicle, designed to land softly on Mars, grounded for the moment but the launch window is still open

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Japanese Elevators May Soon Have Toilets

Earthquake-trapped travelers could have access to running water in elevators

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How Bug Guts Slow Down Planes and What Engineers are Doing About it

Designing the most fuel-efficient plane means keeping wings free of sticky exploded bugs

Graphic design student Oskar Pernefeldt envisions a blue and white flag to symbolize Earth's presence on far off planets like Mars.

Does Planet Earth Need Its Own Flag?

Some think we need a universal flag to stake our claim in space

A prototype of the Predictor pregnancy test (left) and the test as it went to market in the late 1970s (right).

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This is What the First Home Pregnancy Test Looked Like

"Predictor" gave results in just two hours

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New ATMs in China Recognize Your Face

Facial-recognition cash machines were designed to cut down on fraud

Does washing your laundry in warm water really make that much of a difference? Probably not.

The Case for Washing Clothes in Cold Water

Laundry: You're doing it wrong

Every latrine has it's own unique smell.

These Perfumers Are Analyzing the Stench of Toilets

Fair warning: Toilet chemistry is not for the faint of stomach

New Research

60 NASA Scientists are Trying to Build a Better Parachute

The Supreme Council of Parachute Experts wants to construct a parachute that can help a heavier craft land on Mars

New Research

Scientists Just Mummified a Human Leg to Test Ancient Egyptian Techniques

It took 208 days for Swiss scientists to mummify a fresh leg using natron

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Take a Drone Tour of Ancient History

Drones offer a soaring perspective of ancient sites

The original Pac-Man was kind of a feminist.

Pac-Man Turns 35 This Month

The now-iconic game was originally released by Namco in 1980

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This Surfboard Maps Waves and Gathers Ocean Data for Researchers

Sensors would make surfers into citizen scientists

Healthy ochre sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus)

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This Beer Was Brewed to Save Sea Stars

A new ale sends some proceeds to research on sea star wasting syndrome

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Jerusalem is Running Out of Room for the Dead

A new project looks to save space by building modern catacombs

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A Malaysian Farm is Playing Classical Music to its Chickens

Drug-free chickens roam in a barn filled with tunes from Mozart

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