Smart News: Latest Discoveries & News

Cool Finds

There Might Really Be a Planet X, Lurking Beyond Pluto

The far reaches of our own solar system could contain worlds undiscovered.

April 21, 2015

The Magellan probe captured radar images of the surface of Venus

Earth’s sister planet is astonishingly hostile to life, but exactly how it got that way has researchers intrigued

April 21, 2015

Cool Finds

This Is Why You Like to Cry In the Shower

Hot, steamy, sad

April 21, 2015

Ice cores in Colorado are stored in a freezer at -33F. The core pictured here is from Greenland.

Cool Finds

Ice Scientists of the Future Will Study Glaciers That No Longer Exist

Glaciologists are stocking up on ice cores to ensure a future for their field

April 21, 2015

Cool Finds

Does That Button Really Work, Or Is It a Placebo?

Fake buttons are more common than you might think

April 21, 2015

An illustration of some of the debris in low Earth orbit

New Research

Scientists Want to Use Lasers to Shoot Down Space Junk

The idea sounds farfetched, but it may be better than previous solutions

April 20, 2015

A false-color image of Ceres mimics what human eyes would see

Cool Finds

Dawn Spacecraft Sends First Color Images of Ceres

Red and blue tell the tale of a dwarf planet covered in rock and ice

April 20, 2015

It’s a feud fueled by radio frequencies

April 20, 2015

Cool Finds

An Artist Is Trying To Preserve India’s Fading Street Sounds

As shopping malls and suburbs come to Delhi, one woman fights to save the sound of its street vendors

April 20, 2015

This track pad fits on your thumbnail, and can be customized with nail stickers.

Cool Finds

This Tiny Trackpad Fits on a Fingernail

But why would you actually want one?

April 20, 2015

Actress Jodi Foster in 1985 with an interactive Mickey Mouse created the old fashioned way.

Cool Finds

Disney’s Getting Into 3D-Printing Soft, Cuddly Things

The world of cartoons is going to get a little realer

April 20, 2015

White rhinos are considered a conservation sucess after near extinction in the 19th century, their numbers now classify them as Near Threatened

Basically, don’t stop trying to halt extinction

April 17, 2015

Cool Finds

Meet the First Donut That Went to Space

A pair of Swedish brothers launched a tasty pastry into the stratosphere—and filmed the entire ride

April 17, 2015

An artists interpretation of a large asteroid hitting Earth

Cool Finds

Scientists Bombard the Earth With Asteroids to Practice Saving It

The Planetary Defense Conference doesn’t just have papers and seminars. It also has an asteroid disaster scenario to solve.

April 17, 2015

New Research

Hormones Show Dogs Don’t Just Think of Us As Providers of Food

When dogs and humans share long looks, a chemical involved in social bonding surges through their bodies

April 17, 2015

This magnetic levitation bullet train is capable of speeds of 366 miles per hour—and possibly more

April 17, 2015

There’s an FM radio on your phone…but you likely can’t use it

April 17, 2015

Mercury's Munch crater, as viewed by the MESSENGER probe.

As NASA’s probe runs out of propellant, it will crash into the planet’s surface at 8,750 MPH

April 17, 2015

When civil war broke out in Syria, scientists saved more than 80 percent of a priceless trove of seeds

April 17, 2015

Cool Finds

Droves of Elegant Blue Jellies Wash Up on Pacific Shores

Unusually strong winds have pushed Velella velellas, or “by-the-wind sailors,” onto West Coast beaches by the thousands

April 17, 2015