Smart News Science

In Australia, pyrocumulonimbus clouds sent somewhere between 300,000 and 900,000 metric tons of smoke into the stratosphere.

New Research

Australia’s Fires Sent Smoke 19 Miles High

The unprecedented plumes of were carried aloft by smoke-filled thunderclouds and exhibited unusual wind patterns

NASA is asking volunteers to help label photographs of the Martian surface to help the Curiosity rover avoid obstacles like loose sand.

You Can Help Teach the Curiosity Rover to Drive on Mars

The rover isn’t quite eight years old, but NASA thinks it’s time that Curiosity becomes more independent

In 2016, fluid like water or liquid carbon dioxide broke into the fault system. Over four years, it filled the cracks and set of a swarm of tremors.

New Research

Earthquake Swarm Reveals Complex Structure of a California Fault Line

In 2016, fluid broke into the cracks of a fault system, setting off a four-year-long swarm of mini earthquakes

The Bighorn Fire burns through the western side of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Oro Valley, Arizona on June 14.

Arizona Faces Wildfires and Evacuations as COVID-19 Cases Rise

Arizona has spread out firefighters’ camp sites and relied more on aircraft to fight fires amid the pandemic

Time lapse of photographs captured by the GOES-East satellite from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on June 16, 2020. The plume is set to reach the southwest United States this week.

Huge Saharan Dust Cloud Could Bring Hazy Skies, Spectacular Sunsets to the United States

The large dust cloud has already obscured skies in the Caribbean and will likely reach Gulf Coast states by the middle of this week

The endangered smoky mouse was feared to be extinct after the 2019-2020 fire season in Australia. But researchers have spotted survivors in seven locations, offering hope for the species' persistence.

Australian Mouse Feared Extinct After Fires Found Alive

Camera traps spotted the endangered smoky mouse in seven different locations

This cheese is real, but by stimulating certain parts of a mouse's brain, researchers were able to trick the critter into smelling scents that were not present.

New Research

Experiment Tricks Mice Into Smelling Things That Aren’t There

Researchers stimulated certain of the mouse’s brain cells in a particular order to produce 'synthetic smells'

Researchers tested their pollen-carrying bubbles on lily, azalea and campanula flowers (shown).

New Research

Soap Bubbles Can Pollinate Flowers, but Can They Replace Bees?

New research shows that carefully calibrated soap bubbles cause pear trees to bear fruit

A fossilized Mussaurus egg that was the subject of one of two new studies documenting soft-shelled eggs at the time of the dinosaurs. Mussaurus was a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur that grew to 20 feet in length and lived in modern-day Argentina between 227 and 208.5 million years ago.

New Research

First Soft-Shelled Dinosaur Egg Fossils Found

Twin discoveries reveal that some ancient reptiles laid soft-shelled eggs, challenging long-held assumptions in paleontology

Summer solstice sunrise over Stonehenge

Virtual Travel

How to Livestream Stonehenge's Summer Solstice Celebrations

Annual event at the Neolithic monument will be broadcast virtually in place of an in-person gathering

This giant squid was stranded on Britannica Bay in southwest South Africa.

Rare Giant Squid Washes Onto Shores of South African Beach

At more than 13 feet long, the creature was probably just 2 years old, scientists say

One of the interior passages of the 5,000-year-old Irish megalithic tomb of Newgrange. In this photo, sunlight enters the monument's main chamber at dawn on the winter solstice.

DNA Extracted From Ancient 'Irish Pharaoh' May Reveal Royal Incest

New analysis of elite man buried in Stone Age monument suggests he was the product of either a brother-sister or parent-child pairing

A graph generated by the "hedonometer," a tool that measures happiness on Twitter going back to 2008. After George Floyd's killing, researchers measured the most negativity on English-language Twitter ever—making it the "saddest day in the history of Twitter," they say.

New Research Suggests We're Living in Historically Unhappy Times

A tool that analyzes tweets and a study from University of Chicago researchers show that Americans' happiness has reached new lows in recent weeks

A near-infrared, color image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the sun glinting off of north polar seas on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Similar glints were spotted from Earth in 2000 at Titan's equator but Cassini found no evidence of liquid there.

New Research

Bright Patches on Saturn’s Largest Moon Are Dried-Up Lake Beds

New study tackles a 20-year-old mystery about Titan, the second-largest moon in the solar system

This artist's rendering of green airglow on Mars depicts the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter in the foreground.

Green Glow Detected in Mars' Atmosphere

The emerald light resembles the glow emitted in Earth's atmosphere

A male Broad-tailed Hummingbird photographed at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, where researchers conducted field experiments on avian color vision.

New Research

Compared With Hummingbirds, People Are Rather Colorblind

Experiments reveal the tiny birds can see "non-spectral" colors that blend ultraviolet light with colors humans can see to create distinct hues we can't

See Spot run!

Businesses Can Now Buy Spot, Boston Dynamics' Robotic 'Dog'

The four-legged robot sells for about $75,000

This diagram shows the different kinds of animal bones used to make the 48,000-year-old tools.

Cool Finds

Evidence of Early Bow-and-Arrow Hunting Discovered in Sri Lanka

If confirmed, the 48,000-year-old find will be the oldest known instance of bowhunting outside of Africa

Artist Jason deCaires Taylor's “Ocean Siren” changes color according to the average daily water temperatures measured at Davies Reef on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Recently, marine heatwaves have wreaked havoc on the Great Barrier Reef, causing the most widespread bleaching ever recorded.

This Sculpture Takes the Great Barrier Reef’s Temperature

'Ocean Siren' changes colors in real time to reflect ocean temperatures at Davies Reef, part of Australia’s ailing Great Barrier Reef

An up-close look at SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease

Covid-19

COVID-19 Cases Exceed Eight Million Worldwide

The bleak milestone arrives as cases spike in South America

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