New Research

An unlit church in Sweden

Lights Are Driving Bats From Their Belfries

The trend of pointing floodlights at churches in Sweden has driven some long-eared bat colonies out of their historic roosts

Four in five adults will experience back pain in their lifetimes, often from overusing their lower back muscles. A new smart garment aims to help.

News Brief: Underwear of the Future Could Help Prevent Back Pain

The wearable device reduces strain on the back during lifting or leaning, which can help stop the pain before it starts

Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel

Survey Finds Most People Are Biased Against Atheists, Including Atheists

The findings revealed that the bias was strongest in more religious countries including the United States, United Arab Emirates and India

A close-up of a camel spider's multifaceted mouthparts, taken in Namibia's Namib Desert.

Camel Spiders Are Fast, Furious and Horrifically Fascinating

Yet another mystery about these arachnids: Why are they so intent on mass-murdering ants?

An artist's illustration of Patagotitan mayorum, the latest and possibly most gargantuan in a series of recent giant dino finds.

Did Scientists Just Unveil the Biggest Dinosaur of All Time?

The jury's still out—but if you can get over the size contest, far more fascinating patterns about these giants emerge

New cloud complex discovered on Neptune

New Storm as Big as Earth Is Stirring Up Neptune's Atmosphere

Astronomers aren't sure if the 5,600-mile-wide storm will peter out or if a deep vortex will keep it churning

The well-preserved nodosaur fossil

Was the "Sleeping Dragon" Dinosaur a Red Head?

A new study suggests the perfectly preserved armored nodosaur camoflauged itself against marauding meat-eaters

A fragmented painting of a woman bearing offerings, from the Mycenaean palace at Tiryns.

DNA Analysis Sheds Light on the Mysterious Origins of the Ancient Greeks

Scholars have long puzzled over the ancestry of the Minoans and Myceneans, two important Bronze Age cultures

By editing a gene soon after fertilization, scientists were able to successfully fix a disease-causing mutation in human embryos

Five Things to Know About the Latest Gene Editing Breakthrough

While it's not the first case of genetically modifying human embryos, the study has reignited a long-running controversy

Human Artifacts Found at 46 Ancient Lakes in the Arabian Desert

The finds add to evidence that a wetter "Green Arabia" was an important stop in the migration of early humans

Bepob Over Here Nitwit: Study Identifies the Funniest Words in the English Language

Participants rated 4,997 random words on how funny they were, with Booty, Booby, Egghead and Twerp making the top 12

An arachnid in the trapdoor spider family, a group known for its snug and potentially even ocean-going burrows.

How One Brave Spider Floated Thousands of Miles to Colonize a New Continent

Improbably, new genetic analysis shows that trapdoor spiders may have ridden ocean currents from Africa to Australia

The algal scrubber in action.

Smithsonian Scientists Are Using Algae to Revitalize America’s Waterways

Walter Adey’s algal turf scrubber filters pollutants to clean water

Gen Xers and Millennials Out-Voted Older Generations in 2016

It's the first time the younger generations have beat out Baby Boomers, Silent Generation voters and Greatest Generation voters

Etmopterus lailae

This Tiny, Bulbous-Nosed Shark Glows in the Dark

After 17 years of study, scientists finally confirm that the oddball creature is a new species

The York Gospels

Medieval Manuscripts Are a DNA Smorgasbord

Researchers are finding animal DNA in the parchment pages as well as genetic fingerprints from humans (like kissing priests)

The Pleistocene world was filled with megafauna like woolly mammoths and saber-tooth cats. Did humans kill them all off?

Are Humans to Blame for the Disappearance of Earth’s Fantastic Beasts?

100,000 years ago, giant sloths, wombats and cave hyenas roamed the world. What drove them all extinct?

The Small Magellanic Cloud, where some of your atoms likely originate

Half of Our Atoms May Come From Other Galaxies

According to computer simulations, large galaxies may grow by sucking in matter smaller star clusters expel

Die Hermannsschlacht, Gemälde von Friedrich Gunkel, 1862–1864

New Excavation Will Examine Germany's Legendary "Founding Battle"

The dig hopes to find conclusive evidence that Kalkriese is the site of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest

Blue chrysanthemums

The Scientific Feat That Birthed the Blue Chrysanthemum

In a world first, scientists engineered the flowers to take on an azure hue

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