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Smart News / Smart News Ideas & Innovations

A new flavor wheel groups together different flavor attributes of coffee.

Cool Finds

Describe Your Coffee With Science

There’s an art—and a lot of science—to a consistent cup of coffee

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

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches on Sunday, January 17. Though the launch went as planned, the craft's landing did not.

Trending Today

Sunday’s SpaceX Landing Didn’t Exactly Go as Planned

Jason-3 made it to orbit—but the company’s Falcon 9 rocket didn’t make it back to Earth in one piece

A girl in Vietnam puts flowers on her father’s grave in 1972

Cool Finds

Vietnam Turns to DNA to Identify the Remains of Those Lost in the War

Technological advances in DNA analysis will make this massive effort possible

A red squirrel from the Rocky Mountains, contemplating its next attack on the power grid, probably.

Cool Finds

Move Over Hackers, Squirrels Are the Power Grid’s Greatest Foe

Cyberattacks may loom large in peoples’ minds, but these fluffy rodents are the ones actually taking down the grid

A climber stands in front of Mount Everest at Kala Patthar in Solukhumbu District of Nepal

Cool Finds

Virtually Climb Mount Everest From Your Living Room

A new virtual reality experience allows users delve into the world of Everest and scale the beast firsthand

Not so fast...incandescent bulbs could soon become more efficient thanks to nanotechnology.

New Research

Incandescent Light Bulbs May Have a Bright Future After All

Nanotechnology could turn the inefficient bulbs’ weakness into a strength

Cool Finds

Watch 100 Drones Dance Their Way to a World Record

The swarm recently took to the skies to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

Library patrons will soon be able to check out ukuleles in libraries across Pennsylvania.

Cool Finds

Pennsylvania Libraries Will Let You Check Out a Ukulele

Read, strum, repeat

Trending Today

Grab Your Fork and Travel Back in Time With These Old USDA Dietary Guidelines

Wheels, pyramids and plates—dietary recommendations have come a long way in the last century

This monitor lizard is definitely not thinking of eating poisonous toads.

New Research

Scientists Trained Monitor Lizards Not to Chow Down on Poisonous Toads

And they did it by feeding them smaller and less-poisonous toads

Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark is the resting place of Hans Christian Andersen. Now, it will mark the home for the city's homeless, as well.

Cool Finds

Copenhagen Has a Cemetery for Homeless People

But proper burials for indigent individuals remain few and far between

Cool Finds

What Should People Do With Food Waste? Make Beer

Craft beers are getting creative

Entrepreneur Michael Bohmeyer wants to see if a universal basic income program can increase creativity among participants.

Trending Today

Through This New Crowdfunding Site, a Lucky Few Can Make a Living Just by … Living

Participants make around $1,100 a month—just for being alive

Cool Finds

France Has a Power Plant Fueled by Cheese

Of course they do

New Research

This Pen Can Draw Electrical Circuits

A silver salt based ink lets users draw any circuit they can dream

The back shell of NASA’s InSight spacecraft being lowered onto the lander, last July, in preparation for the mission.

Trending Today

Here’s Why NASA Had to Postpone a 2016 Mission to Mars

A leak in a key instrument on board the InSight lander means the team will have to wait for the next launch window in 2018

Cool Finds

Oysters Could Save Staten Island From the Next Hurricane Sandy

A living breakwater could prevent future flooding while cleaning polluted waters

New Research

This Hearing Test Can Be Taken Over the Phone

Though it doesn’t replace a visit to a doctor, researchers hope it will persuade more people to seek help

An illustration of a prosthetic hand.

Cool Finds

Sensors Designed for Prosthetic Hands Could Lead to New Textile Standards

Haptic sensors might help figure out if thread count really matters

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