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Smart News

New Research

Something Is Killing Off Africa’s Largest Baobab Trees

In the last dozen years, four of the 13 largest, and likely oldest, trees have died. Another five are ailing

Greaves and her team state that there is a one in 10,000 chance or less that the connection is due to chance

Space Nanodiamonds Found to Be Source of Some Cosmic Microwave Radiation

The diamond dust in protoplanetary discs may solve a decades-old astronomical mystery

Mary Quant and models at the Quant Afoot footwear collection launch, 1967

The V&A Wants Your Help Locating Vintage Mary Quant Designs

The Welsh fashion designer pioneered high street fashion, popularizing bright patterns, miniskirts and hot pants

Top contenders include King Ahab of Israel, King Hazael of Aram-Damascus and King Ethbaal of Tyre

Could This Sculpted Head Depict a Little-Known Biblical King?

Archaeologists uncovered the enigmatic two-inch head at Abel Beth Maacah, site of an ancient crossroads

The app opens a 'portal' that allows users to step into a series of immersive AR experiences

Virtual Travel

Step Into Scotland With Immersive AR App

Portal AR allows users to traverse Britain’s highest peak, roam the halls of Edinburgh Castle and enjoy whiskey at Highlands distillery

An artist's impression of an adult and juvenile Lyrarapax unguispinus — awww, how adorable!

This Prehistoric Sea Creature Had Fanged, Killer Babies

The discovery of a juvenile Lyrarapax unguispinus fossil reveals that even the tiny terrors had a developed claw-like appendage and sharp teeth

New Research

Oldest Footprints Show When Life On Earth Got Legs

Tiny fossil tracks found in South China firmly date appendages back to the Ediacaran period

New Research

New Gadget Brings Fish Up From the Ocean’s “Twilight Zone”

The portable decompression chamber allows SCUBA-diving scientists to safely collect specimens without them, well, exploding

Harold Washington, the first black mayor of Chicago chats to Congressional candidate Charles Hayes. The woman on Washington's right, who was cropped out of the photo, is Carol Moseley Braun; she would go on to become the first African-American woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

The Archives of Historic Black Newspapers Are Going Digital

The Obsidian Collection is collaborating with Google Arts & Culture to ensure the journalism is preserved for many years to come

Future of Art

High-Tech Scanning Shows Picasso’s Blue Period Evolution

A new study of “La Soupe” reveals it underwent as many as 13 layers of revision

Cool Finds

“Lost” John Coltrane Album to Be Released

Both Directions At Once was recorded in 1963 by the classic quartet and reveals Coltrane’s journey from melodic standards to avant-garde jazz

Cool Finds

World’s Largest Iceberg Is Melting Away After 18 Years Adrift

In the last two years, the Jamaica-sized berg began venturing north, melting and splintering into pieces along the way

A 2010 picture of the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, which was removed from Health Sciences Park (formerly Nathan Bedford Forrest Park) in downtown Memphis last December.

At Least 110 Confederate Monuments and Symbols Have Been Removed Since 2015

But more than 1700 remain, including 772 monuments, more than 300 of which are located in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia

The Next Flu Pandemic Might Come From Dogs

A new study found two strains of swine flu in sickly pups in China

Why Rattlesnakes Are Just as Dangerous Dead or Alive

After receiving bite from decapitated Western diamondback, Texas man required 26 doses of antivenom

An illustration of lightning on Jupiter's northern hemisphere, using an image from the JunoCam.

New Research

Jupiter’s Lightning Is More Earth-Like Than We Thought

Juno is providing scientists with new insights into the gas giant’s flashes of light

New Research

New Evidence Shows That Humans Could Have Migrated to the Americas Along the Coast

Dating of rocks and animal bones shows Alaska’s coast was glacier free around 17,000 years ago, allowing people to move south along the coast

Artist's rendering of the futuristic community, which is set for development over the next five years

Europe

Netherlands Will Welcome Its First Community of 3D-Printed Homes

Five concrete houses designed to look like “erratic blocks in a green landscape” will populate Eindhoven community

Mmm.

Sink Your Teeth Into Chicago’s New Hot Dog Museum

The Vienna Beef company is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a meaty display of memorabilia

"Laze" caused by lava interacting with ocean waters.

Watch Kīlauea’s Lava Flow Into the Ocean, Creating Billowing Clouds of ‘Laze’

The interaction between the lava and the water creates a hazardous mix of hydrochloric acid, steam and volcanic glass particles

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