Smart News: Latest Discoveries & News

This head protector was worn by Muhammad Ali—then known as Cassius Clay—while he trained to battle Sonny Liston in 1964.

The boxer may be dead, but physical traces of his audacious life remain

June 7, 2016

An Airbus A300 jumbo jet like this has been sunk off the Turkish coast to create an artificial reef.

An Airbus jumbo jet will soon become home to all sorts of sea life

June 6, 2016

Larval perch with a stomach full of microplastic

New Research

Baby Fish Prefer Plastic Over Natural Food

Larval perch gorge themselves on microplastics, which seems to be stunting growth and affecting natural instincts

June 6, 2016

The cover to one of A-No.1's books about his life as a hobo.

Cool Finds

After a Century, an Anthropologist Picked up the Trail of the “Hobo King”

One hundred-year-old graffiti by “A-No.1” and others were found by the L.A. River

June 6, 2016

Cool Finds

X-Rays Reveal “Hidden Library” on the Spines of Early Books

Researchers are uncovering fragments of medieval texts used in early book binding

June 6, 2016

Money tossed into a fountain at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Cool Finds

What Happens to the Coins Tossed Into Fountains?

All that money has to go somewhere

June 6, 2016

It's thought that JFK's heartfelt letter to his mistress, Mary Pinchot Meyer, was written just a month before his assassination.

Cool Finds

A Steamy Letter From JFK Is up for Auction

The president had a real way with the ladies—and with an em dash

June 3, 2016

One of the olm eggs laid in January 2016.

Biologists have waited with bated breath for months

June 3, 2016

This year's ConIFA World Football Cup will be anything but average.

Cool Finds

There’s a World Cup for Unrecognized States

This game is for soccer’s international underdogs

June 3, 2016

Cool Finds

Instead of Tagging Real-Life Surfaces, Graffiti Artists Can Use a New Simulator

Fake bombing has never felt so real

June 3, 2016

The longer a structure has been exposed to the water, the more weathered it appeared.

New Research

This “Lost Underwater City” Was Actually Made by Microbes

Though these formations may not be evidence of a lost city, they show off some intriguing chemistry

June 2, 2016

Dogs: more complicated than you ever imagined.

New Research

Ruff News: Man’s Best Friend May Have Been Domesticated Twice

Where did Fido come from? It’s complicated

June 2, 2016

King Tut may have had a thing for meteorites.

New Research

King Tut’s Dagger Was Made From a Meteorite

X-ray spectroscopy lays a decades-long metal mystery to rest

June 2, 2016

Cool Finds

Bordeaux’s New Wine Museum Is Open for Business

The “City of Wine” is a vino lover’s amusement park

June 2, 2016

New restrictions will make it harder to sell ivory from African elephants.

Will tighter rules help reduce global demand?

June 2, 2016

A tiger held captive at Thailand's so-called "Tiger Temple" in 2011.

Thai officials found nearly 140 captive tigers as well as 40 dead cubs kept in freezers at the self-proclaimed sanctuary

June 1, 2016

Light- and dark-colored peppered moths. The black variety is thought to have evolved to camouflage moths on sooty surfaces during the Industrial Revolution.

New Research

New Evidence Shows Peppered Moths Changed Color in Sync With the Industrial Revolution

Scientists used “jumping genes” as a time machine to track down changes in moths’ appearance

June 1, 2016

Cool Finds

This Museum Made Art Out of a John Deere Harvester

‘Continuous Service Altered Daily’ finds life inside a familiar machine

June 1, 2016

Cool Finds

A Brief History of General Tso’s Chicken

From haute cuisine to takeout

Updated: June 1, 2016 | Originally Published: October 1, 2015

Cool Finds

Paris’ Iconic “Love Locks” Bridge Is Now Home to a Set of Creepy Statues

The rotating art installation on the Pont des Arts bridge was inspired by classical mythology

June 1, 2016