Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

The 2023 Doomsday Clock on display before a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists event on January 24, 2023. The Bulletin has been setting the clock since 1947 based on analysis of threats facing humans from technologies people have made. 

Doomsday Clock Stays at 90 Seconds to Midnight Amid Climate Change, War and A.I.

For the second year in a row, the clock is the nearest it has ever been to signaling our total annihilation

The 7.46-carat brown diamond is about the size of a gumdrop.

French Tourist Finds 7.46-Carat Diamond at Arkansas State Park

Julien Navas plans to have the brown gem split into two pieces so he can give half to his fiancée and half to his daughter

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Top Harvard Cancer Institute Will Retract Six Studies and Correct 31 More After Photoshop Claims

British biologist and blogger Sholto David alleged that executives at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute published papers with manipulated data and images

The open canister with the sample collected from the asteroid Bennu inside. Scientists hope the sample can help them better understand planet formation and the origin of life on Earth.

NASA Finally Opens Canister Holding Asteroid Sample—See What They Found

It took several months for the researchers to remove two stuck fasteners, which required them to design new tools

People with long Covid sit in the audience at a U.S. Senate hearing about the condition on January 18.

Scientists Find Indicators in Blood Linked to Long Covid, Hinting at Future Treatments

One part of the immune system appeared to be overly active in long Covid patients in a small study, a finding researchers hope could help diagnose or treat the condition

An image of an odd radio circle called ORC 1. ORCs can be much wider across than the Milky Way galaxy and are large enough to surround entire galaxies.

Giant, ‘Odd’ Circles of Radio Waves in Space May Finally Have an Explanation

The mystifying orbs could be caused by galactic winds, propelled by a period of rapid star formation and death

Iron Gate Dam in Hornbrook, California, on the Klamath River

The Largest Dam Removal Project in U.S. History Begins Final Stretch, Welcoming Salmon Home

After being impeded by dams for more than a century, the Klamath River will be restored to its historic channel this year

This spring, Brood XIII and Brood XIX of periodical cicadas will emerge together for the first time since 1803.

Cicadas Are Coming: Rare ‘Dual Emergence’ Could Bring One Trillion of the Bugs This Year

The 13-year and 17-year broods that will emerge from underground this spring will be appearing together for the first time in 221 years

Japan's X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) launched from Earth on September 7. SLIM took a fuel efficient route to the moon, touching down on the surface over four months later.

Japan Lands Spacecraft on the Moon

After a successful soft landing, the craft’s solar cells weren’t charging and it was running out of power

Bottom trawling is a polarizing fishing practice that involves dragging heavy nets and equipment across the seafloor.

Seabed Trawling May Be Spewing Huge Amounts of CO2 Into the Atmosphere

New research suggests the controversial fishing method is also contributing to increased ocean acidification, which can harm marine wildlife

A picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope that contains GN-z11, the galaxy with the newly discovered black hole at its center. When GN-z11 was first imaged, it was the farthest galaxy ever seen in the universe.

Astronomers Discover the Oldest Known Black Hole, Breaking a Record Set Last Year

The supermassive structure dates to about 400 million years after the Big Bang, and it’s particularly large for its age

Colored scanning electron micrograph of a water bear, or tardigrade

How Are Tardigrades So ‘Indestructible?’ Scientists Finally Have an Explanation

The tiny animals nicknamed “water bears” can endure extreme conditions by entering a deep hibernation with a switch at the molecular level, a new study finds

The American mink, native to North America, is a semiaquatic mustelid that is often farmed for its fur.

Traps Scented Like Mink Butts Could Be Key to Removing the Invasive Species From the U.K.

A successful eradication trial in East Anglia has raised biologists’ hopes for ridding Great Britain of the destructive creatures, which threaten native wildlife

Before his death, Bobi held two world records: the oldest living dog and the oldest dog ever.

Bobi, Known as the ‘World’s Oldest Dog’ at 31, Has Title Suspended Amid Investigation

The long-lived Portuguese canine broke two world records and captured the hearts of people around the globe, but skepticism surrounds his achievement

Scientists produced the most complete catalog of marine microbe DNA yet, including data from the deeper zones of the oceans.

DNA From the Ocean’s ‘Twilight Zone’ Could Lead to New Lifesaving Drugs, Scientists Say

Researchers catalogued the genes of more than 300 million groups of marine bacteria, viruses and fungi in hopes that the database could lead to breakthroughs in medicine, energy and agriculture

A photo from a camera on one of Peregrine's payload decks shows some of the spacecraft's payloads, as well as a sliver of Earth in the upper right.

Doomed Lunar Lander Will Burn Up in Earth’s Atmosphere on Thursday

Astrobotic, the company in charge of the mission, says its Peregrine spacecraft will not reach the moon, and burning it will ensure the lander doesn’t end up as space debris

Dogs are one of the few animals that use their tails primarily for communication.

Why Do Dogs Wag Their Tails? Scientists Examine the Endearing Behavior

Dogs communicate through tail-wagging, and humans may have selected for the trait during domestication

An artist's impression of the planet orbiting its star with the trail of gas behind it. The planet, called WASP-69b, completes one orbit in less than four days.

This Distant Exoplanet Has a 350,000-Mile-Long Tail, Like a Comet

A stream of particles flung from the planet’s star is causing its atmosphere to boil away and lose 200,000 tons of mass per second

Lava flows from a fissure on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland on January 14.

Iceland Volcano Eruption Destroys Homes, May Signal a New Era of Frequent Activity

Fissures near Grindavík ejected lava for the second time in one month and engulfed three homes in the coastal fishing town

Researchers studied roughly 50 numbats over the course of a year.

As the Planet Warms, Australia’s Numbats Are at Risk of Overheating

The endangered, squirrel-sized marsupials forage for termites during the day—but they can become too hot after just ten minutes in direct sunlight, according to new research

Page 103 of 538