Smart News: Latest Discoveries & News

More than 25 specialists worked on the replica cave over the course of three years.

Cool Finds

See the World Like a Paleolithic Cave Dweller With This Replica of the Lascaux Cave Paintings

Go back in time with the help of some talented French artists

January 21, 2016

Iranian men play a soccer video game at a CD shop in Tehran June 10, 2006.

Cool Finds

Inside Iran’s Budding Video Game Industry

The Iranian video game industry, shaped around piracy and economic sanctions, is slowly growing

January 21, 2016

Icebergs melting in Disko Bay, Greenland

A strong El Niño helped global temperatures reach new highs

January 21, 2016

The Znamya 2 mirror-solar sail, deployed.

Cool Finds

How a Russian Space Mirror Briefly Lit Up the Night

In 1993, the 65-foot-diameter satellite, called Znamya, briefly lit the Earth like a giant orbiting night light

January 21, 2016

An artist's rendering of Planet Nine, looking back toward the Sun. This depiction is of a gaseous planet, like Uranus and Neptune, with lightning brightening the clouds on the dark side.

New Research

Evidence Stacks Up for a Planet Beyond Pluto

A new paper provides the strongest evidence yet for a real Planet X

January 20, 2016

New Research

Fairy Tales Could Be Older Than You Ever Imagined

Jack may have been climbing that beanstalk for more than 5,000 years

January 20, 2016

New Research

Missouri Mathematicians Discover New Prime Number

At more than 22 million digits, it’s the longest prime yet

January 20, 2016

"Love Letter Brooklyn" was first installed in 2011.

“Love Letter Brooklyn” will soon be gone forever

January 20, 2016

Fish caught for drying in a village in Bangladesh

New Research

Overfishing Has Been Even Worse Than We Thought

Official counts previously overlooked fish as bycatch, small-scale fishing and illegal fishing

January 20, 2016

Cool Finds

Seattle Is Seeking a Writer to Work on a Bridge

Free studio space in a bridge tower is up for grabs

January 20, 2016

The five planets will be visible to the naked eye, but a telescope can add another layer of delight

Five planets will appear together in the sky—all visible to the naked eye

January 20, 2016

Swirling magnetic waves triggered spectacular explosions on the sun’s surface

January 19, 2016

Mahmoud Hariri, from the city of Dara'a, is building a replica of the city of Palmyra from clay and wooden skewers.

Cool Finds

Syrian Refugees Are Recreating Demolished Monuments in Miniature

These artists are recapturing the iconic landmarks destroyed by militants

January 19, 2016

One of Leonardo's notebooks (left) contains an erased figure (right). Conservators discovered the hidden sketch using multispectral imaging.

Cool Finds

How a Hidden Figure Emerged From One of Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebooks

Modern imaging reveals the approximately 500-year-old sketch

January 19, 2016

The 1,500-year-old skeleton of a man and his prosthesis was found in a grave next to medieval church in Hemmaberg, Austria.

New Research

1,500-Year-Old Prosthetic Foot Discovered in Austria

The skeleton of a middle-aged man may have been missing a lower limb but in its place researchers found a wooden ‘foot’

January 19, 2016

Stone-age cave paintings from the Chauvet cave.

New Research

Chauvet Cave Paintings Could Depict a 37,000-Year-Old Volcanic Eruption

Mysterious paintings in the “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” led researchers to new evidence of ancient volcanic activity

January 19, 2016

New Research

Signs of Food Allergies Might Be in Newborns’ Blood

Overactive immune cells could prime the immune system to attack normally harmless molecules found in food

January 19, 2016

"John Dee Performing an Experiment before Elizabeth I"

Cool Finds

A Painting of John Dee, Astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, Contains a Hidden Ring of Skulls

The life and work of John Dee contained a strange mix of science and magic

January 18, 2016

This flower isn't just a pretty face—its the first one ever grown in space.

Cool Finds

Check Out the First Flower Grown in Space

It was a close call for this brilliant orange zinnia

January 18, 2016

Cool Finds

Here’s What Military Rations From Around the World Are Made Of

From bibimbap to beans

January 18, 2016