Smart News: Latest Discoveries & News

New Research

Bully or Bystander? It Could Be in the Genes

New study says bullying may be nature, not nurture

July 30, 2015

14 people died in the accident

July 30, 2015

Dario, an eight-year-old Colombian boy who lost his arm due to a congenital malformation, tests out Torres' prosthetic arm design.

Cool Finds

Kids Can Build Their Own Lego Prosthetics

Prototype system brings a bit of fun to prosthetics

July 30, 2015

Astrophysicist Dr. Brian May is recognized during a July 17, 2015 New Horizons science briefing at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. May spent a long birthday weekend with the science team, attending two morning science plenaries, a meeting with the Student Dust Counter group, and working on stereo images of Pluto with the Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team.

Cool Finds

Queen Guitarist Brian May is Now a New Horizons Science Collaborator

As new images were transmitted from Pluto, the rock-star-turned-astrophysicist rubbed shoulders with his heroes

July 29, 2015

Serpentine columbine may use dead bugs to lure in spiders to do its dirty work, researchers report.

New Research

This Plant Murders Bugs and Decorates Itself With Their Dead Bodies

Talk about a roundabout defense strategy

July 29, 2015

The Virgin Galactic SpaceShip2 (VSS Enterprise) glides toward Earth on its first test flight after being released from its WhiteKnight2 (VMS Eve) mothership over Mojave, California October 10, 2010. The craft was piloted by engineer and test pilot Pete Siebold from Scaled Composites.

Investigators say space plane didn’t have enough safeguards

July 29, 2015

New Research

Go Ahead, Wise Guy: Sarcasm Makes People More Creative

It’s science, duh

July 29, 2015

Jack Kevorkian stands in front of one of his paintings.

Cool Finds

Listen to Dr. Kevorkian’s Jazz-Funk Album

The man called “Dr. Death” created a complex and surprising body of artistic work

July 29, 2015

New Research

Mystery Solved: Why Puddles Don’t Go On Forever

The picture of proper puddle behavior had a few missing pieces

July 29, 2015

Cool Finds

Times Square’s Iconic Billboards May Be Illegal

Bright lights, big city, breaking the law

July 29, 2015

Cool Finds

In Mexico, a Gritty Neighborhood Has Become a 65,000-Square-Foot Mural

A hillside in Pachuca gets a psychedelic makeover

July 28, 2015

Hawaii, three foot long egg mass, the product of a species of open ocean squid.

Cool Finds

This Huge, Gooey Blob Could Be a Clutch of Squid Eggs

The blob was the size of a car…and completely baffling to a group of divers

July 28, 2015

The first known photograph of Drosera magnifica.

New Research

No One Knew This Plant Existed Until It Was Posted to Facebook

What’s the emoji for “scientific discovery”?

July 28, 2015

Cool Finds

Why Mammals Have a Monopoly On Milk

It all started with an egg

July 28, 2015

Pluto may be home to a hazy atmosphere, nitrogen glaciers and possibly even an underground ocean.

New Research

There’s Flowing Ice on Pluto

And maybe an underground ocean

July 28, 2015

Cerveza Zulia is one of Venezuela's most popular beers and its oldest brewery.

Trending Today

Venezuela Is About to Run Out of Beer

Strict import laws could make Venezuela’s taps dry up in just a few weeks

July 28, 2015

A helicopter being used to fight wildfire

Firefighters need to take to the air to fight fires, but sometimes that air is just too crowded

July 27, 2015

Cool Finds

Officials Had to Use A Snowplow to Reclaim a Bridge in Iowa Swarmed by Mayflies

An unusually large emergence of aquatic insects created temporarily hazardous conditions

July 27, 2015

Dating human remains (such as this 800-year old skeleton found in Bulgaria) often relies on radiocarbon dating

New Research

Climate Change Might Break Carbon Dating

Fossil fuel emissions mess with the ratio of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere

July 27, 2015

New Research

Here’s How a Strange Phenomenon Called ‘Hair Ice’ Forms on Dead Trees

The white ice filaments look a lot like cotton candy

July 27, 2015