Smart News Science

As the NASA aircraft DC-8 flew into the storm and collected data after each lightning flash, the researchers found that the concentrations of hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl produced by visible lightning and other regions that were electrically charged soared up to thousands of parts per trillion.

Lightning May Wash Pollution Out of the Air With a Chemical Dubbed 'Detergent of the Atmosphere'

The oxidizing chemicals hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl may clean the skies of harmful pollutants by reacting with them

Designed to operate for more than a decade, the Chinese Space Station will have 14 refrigerator-sized experiment racks and 50 external docking points designed for experiments outside the station to test how materials react in space.

China Launches First Module of New Space Station Into Orbit

The module is the country's largest spacecraft ever built and marks the first step in building their new space station by 2022

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s shadow seen on the surface of Mars and captured by its own down-facing camera during its second test flight on April 22.

NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter's Next Mission? Mapping the Red Planet From Above

After successful test flights, NASA is expanding Ingenuity’s mission to further explore its abilities as an aerial scout

Stratolaunch's large aircraft, nicknamed 'Roc,' flew for three hours and 14 minutes and reached a maximum altitude of 14,000 feet.

World's Widest Airplane Completes Successful Second Test Flight

Stratolaunch's "Roc" aircraft has two fuselages and a wingspan of 385 feet

A donkey digging a well in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.

New Research

Wild Donkeys and Horses Dig Wells That Provide Water for a Host of Desert Species

A new study finds these equine wells attracted 59 other vertebrate species, boasting 64 percent more species than the surrounding landscape

The average Covid-19 test requires four pipette tips, and the U.S. is running over a million of those tests each day.

A Shortage of Plastic Pipette Tips Is Delaying Biology Research

Extreme weather and the Covid-19 pandemic have upended supply chains for plastic lab equipment

Homes next to oil refinery in Los Angeles' Wilmington neighborhood. Wilmington has one the highest risks of cancer due to air pollution from the Port of Los Angeles at Long Beach and several oil refineries in the vicinity. The neighborhood is more than 80 percent Hispanic or Latino.

New Research

Communities of Color 'Disproportionately and Systematically' Face Deadly Air Pollution, Regardless of Location or Income

A new study finds people of color in the United States are exposed to higher levels of fine particulate pollution

Traditionally, when taxonomists examine a potentially new species of octopus, they dissect them, an approach that is highly invasive and nearly destroys the specimen.

New Species of Dumbo Octopus Identified Using 3-D Imaging Techniques

Techniques such as MRI and CT scans may allow researchers to identify and study rare sea specimens without the need for dissection

The Sts’ailes forest garden near Vancouver, British Columbia seen from the air.

New Research

Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia Tended 'Forest Gardens'

Found near villages, research suggests the Indigenous population intentionally planted and maintained these patches of fruit and nut trees

An origami-inspired tent had to be flexible enough to inflate, but sturdy enough to withstand the elements.

Innovation for Good

Inflatable Origami Structures Could Someday Offer Emergency Shelter

An applied mathematics team created origami-inspired tents that can collapse to the size of a twin mattress with ease

From soil samples, researchers found urine droplets and fecal material that belonged to Upper Paleolithic bears that used the Chiquihuite Cave as their shelter and toilet 16,000 years ago.

Using Only Trace Amounts of Poop in Soil Samples, Researchers Sequenced Entire Genomes of Two Ancient Bear Species

Genetic research involving prehistoric animals usually requires fossilized bone or tooth fragments

The disastrous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident occurred on April 26, 1986, after a flawed reactor design caused two explosions that broke Chernobyl's No. 4 Reactor.

Chernobyl Survivors Do Not Pass Excess Mutations on to Their Children After All

Researchers suggest the results may extend to those exposed to radiation in other nuclear accidents, such as the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi explosion in Japan

A female dragon mantis with her forked pheromone gland protruding from her rear abdomen.

New Research

This Mantis Attracts Males With a Y-Shaped, Balloon-Like Pheromone Gland

Female dragon mantises attract mates in the dark by inflating a forked, translucent-green organ that researchers say also wiggles

The majority of documented Covid-19 transmission has taken place indoors, with less than ten percent occurring outdoors, per the Associated Press.

CDC Eases Outdoor Mask-Wearing Guidelines for Small Groups

More than 90 percent of documented Covid-19 cases are sparked by transmission indoors

Skipping a second dose and opting only for one dose of the vaccine triggers a weaker immune response and may leave recipients susceptible to other virus variants.

CDC Data Shows That 92% of Partially Vaccinated Americans Are Returning for Their Second Dose

Some choose to miss their second shot because of scheduling conflicts, fear of side effects, or they felt protected enough with just the first

The Anopheles stephensi mosquito is a carrier of the malaria parasite, and can infect people with the parasite when it bites them

New Research

New Malaria Vaccine Trial Reports 77 Percent Efficacy Rate

The promising results were announced following a second phase vaccine trial that included 450 children between five and 17 months old

Grasses and coastal scrub photographed at Salt Point State Park in Northern California. This park is one of several coastal areas researchers surveyed as part of a new study of disease-carrying ticks.

New Research

California Study Finds Lyme Disease-Carrying Ticks by the Beach

Researchers found as many ticks carrying the bacterium that causes Lyme disease in coastal areas as they did in woodlands

The shark fossil is nearly seven feet long, with two 2.5-foot-long fin spines on its back.

New Research

New Mexico's 'Godzilla' Shark Fossil Gets an Official Name

The prehistoric beast's scientific name is Dracopristis hoffmanorum

Researchers identified that ancestral tarantulas arrived in the Americas 120 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.

How Tarantulas Spread to Every Continent Except Antarctica

A new study explains how the arachnids migrated before and after the Gondwana supercontinent split apart

A new way of chemically recycling single-use plastics might offer an incentive to keep them out of landfills.

Innovation for Good

New Chemical Process Turns Single-Use Plastics Into Fuels

Researchers say their method can break down hard-to-recycle plastics using half the energy of existing techniques

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