Smart News

Invasive brown and black rats feed on the eggs of the Galapagos land iguana.

Ecuador Set To Poison Millions of Rats on Galapagos Islands

Twenty-two tons of tiny blue poison pellets will be used to try to wipe out invasive rats

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To Avoid College Admissions Scrutiny, High Schoolers Are Changing Their Names on Facebook

In recent years, colleges have been sharpening their interest in applicants' online personas, specifically their Facebook accounts - but students have caught on

Killer robots storm the Winter Palace.

Australian Students Accidentally Taught That Robots Led the Russian Revolution

Nearly 6,000 Australian students were inadvertently taught this week that giant robots led the Russian Revolution thanks to a sloppy exam staff Google job

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The Physics of Flocking

There are a few things that people can watch forever - fire, water, and herds of animals moving

Lyme disease is caused by bacteria carried by deer ticks.

Chronic Lyme Disease Is Probably Not a Real Thing

New bouts of Lyme disease stem from new infections, not relapses

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The Space Shuttle Was Almost Called ‘Pegasus’

Alternate names for the Space Shuttle that nearly were: Starlighter, Pegasus, Space Clipper

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What Will Convince People That Genetically Modified Foods Are Okay?

In California, a loss for labeling GM foods has both sides wondering when people wil stop shouting and start thinking

Fire-fighting boats battle the blaze at BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

As BP Set to Plead Guilty for 2010 Spill, Some Good News From Gulf Wildlife

BP may be about to pay the largest criminal fine in U.S. history

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To Save Money, Ask for Pretty, New Dollar Bills

People like their cash fresh and clean, and they're more likely to hold on to those neat bills than spend them quickly

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Twenty Seasons of Law And Order by the Numbers

There are 456 episodes of Law and Order, and for the past two years Overthinking It has been crowdsourcing a list of how each one ended.

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Protected Mountain Gorilla Population Rises by Ten Percent in Two Years

Conservationists announce good news for mountain gorillas, but the species is not out of the woods just yet

Have Bedbugs Been Vanquished At Last?

Bedbugs have terrorized cities long enough, and now a human drug might stop them in their tracks

Male head louse

Lice Evolution Tracks the Invention of Clothes

The evolution of body lice shows that humans began wearing clothes between 50,000 to 200,000 years ago

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Scientists Get The Best Look Yet at a Rogue Planet With No Star

A gas giant, drifting alone with no star to call home, was discovered 100 light-years away

A functional magnetic resonance image of a brain.

Man in a Vegetative State ‘Talks’ to His Doctors

Using "yes" or "no" questions, researchers ask a vegetative man if he is in pain

How to Learn a Language in Less Than 24 Hours

A new company called Memrise says their app can teach you an entire language within hours

Are Humans Getting Intellectually And Emotionally Stupid?

Evolution no longer places intelligence-selecting demands on us, researchers argue, meaning we are slowly but surely regressing intellectually

Since cloning won’t work, maybe we can dress up cats and just pretend.

Endangered Or Extinct Animals Won’t Be Saved By Cloning

Cloning might seem like a panacea solution. Take one animal and make millions! But it's not that simple

Climate Change May Obliterate Pandas

Panda bears are climate change's latest potential victims, which threatens to destroy their bamboo forests

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Superstorms Can Benefit Bird-Watchers

The strong winds and wide areal extent of hurricane Sandy brought birds from all over to the northeast US

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