Smart News: Latest Discoveries & News

An albino bottlenose dolphin, like this one but without its melanin, was spotted off the coast of Florida in December.

Cool Finds

An Albino Dolphin Was Spotted Off the Coast of Florida

It is only the 15th albino dolphin sighting recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

January 7, 2015

A newspaper was the first item found upon opening the capsule.

Historians in Boston have just cracked open a brass box originally buried in 1795 by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams

January 7, 2015

New Research

There is A Scientific Reason That Cold Weather Could Cause Colds

The rhinovirus that most commonly causes colds likes chillier temperatures, where the host’s immune system doesn’t fare so well

January 6, 2015

The location of Genghis Khan's grave has been a mystery for centuries.

New Research

Amateur Explorers Are Using High-Res Satellite Images to Search for Genghis Khan’s Tomb

Amateur explorers used ultra-high resolution satellite images to help search for the grave of one of the world’s most powerful rulers

January 6, 2015

The BelAZ 75710 is the world's largest dump truck — note people in the bottom right for scale.

Cool Finds

This Is the World’s Largest Dump Truck

The mega Earth-mover is hard at work digging a coal mine in Russia

January 6, 2015

Nurses who work rotating shifts are at greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and lung cancer than workers who stick with a nine-to-five schedule.

New Research

Five Years of Night Shift Work Elevate a Person’s Risk of Death

Working inconsistent hours is bad for your health, according to researchers who studied 75,000 U.S. nurses

January 6, 2015

A bowhead whale is the longest-living mammal on earth

New Research

How a 200-Year-Old Whale Might Help Us Live Longer

Scientists have sequenced the genome of the world’s oldest-living mammal in search of the keys to longevity

January 6, 2015

Tuna are a hot commodity in Japan at this time of year — so hot that a sushi chef paid $37,500 for a single fish. Here, dogtooth tuna swim in the Indian Ocean.

This year, he bought it for $37,500—which he considered cheap

January 6, 2015

Cool Finds

Model Your New Year’s Resolutions After Marilyn Monroe’s in 1955

The actress wrote that she wanted to “keep looking around me — only much more so”

January 5, 2015

Black bears, like this one in Minnesota, which lick ants from leaves are providing an important benefit to the plant.

New Research

Bears Munching on Ants Indirectly Help Plants

A link uncovered by a graduate student shows that plants have bears to thank for trimming them of ants — and another pesky species

January 5, 2015

Two athletes are halfway through an impressive 32-pitch climb up El Capitan’s Dawn Wall

January 5, 2015

A monarch butterfly sits on a Buddleia Butterfly Bush.

Scientists fear that the butterfly’s population will continue to drop due to the loss of the its food source

January 5, 2015

The rim of white light emanating from the disco clam's lips in this image seems to be its best defense against a predator.

Cool Finds

Disco Clams Are Flashy

Their orange lips twinkle in a particularly funky display

January 5, 2015

Cool Finds

The Second Divorce in Colonial America Happened Today in 1643

The Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans weren’t as conservative as you may have thought

January 5, 2015

This image, created by a telescope called NuSTAR, is the most detailed of the sun using high-energy rays to date, according to NASA.

New Research

NASA Uses X-Rays to Find Out Why the Sun Is So Hot

The image will help scientists decide whether mini-flares make the sun’s atmosphere hotter than the surface itself

January 5, 2015

Cool Finds

Create Your Very Own False Memories by Lying on Facebook

The brain is notoriously poor at recalling past events, and social media just makes it worse

January 2, 2015

Almonds on a tree, ready for harvest in California

Cool Finds

Watch How Farm Machines Shake Down Almond Trees

California grows 80 percent of the world’s almonds, for now

January 2, 2015

New Research

Pedophiles Seem to Make Up a Huge Chunk of Anonymized Web Traffic

The bulk of Dark Web traffic seems to flow to child pornography sites

January 2, 2015

This false-color composite image shows meteors streaking through the skies over NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., on the night of Jan. 3-4, 2012.

The annual Quadrantid meteor shower peaks this weekend

January 2, 2015

Spores on the conidiophores of the fungus Penicillium notatum.

Cool Finds

We Used to Recycle Drugs From Patients’ Urine

Penicillin extracted from a patient’s urine could be reused

January 2, 2015