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Smart News / Smart News Science

An artist's interpretation of how a rhynchosaur might have looked

These ‘Grinning’ Triassic Reptiles Likely Died of Starvation

Sheep-sized rhynchosaurs had an unusual way of chewing plants that wore down their teeth over time

A giant African land snail

Giant Snails Take Over Part of Florida—Again

Officials issued a quarantine to control the invasive species, which devours vegetation, damages structures and can carry a parasite dangerous to humans

A woman drinking water on a hot day in Kolkata, India, in April 2023.

Extreme Heat Wave Hits India

In recent days, nearly 200 people have died across two of the country’s most populous states

An illustration of a predator decapitating Tanystropheus hydroides

These Long-Necked Marine Reptiles Were Decapitated

Tanystropheus fossils reveal how predators may have snapped the creatures’ necks with a powerful, swift bite from above

Red knots feed on horseshoe crab eggs along the shore at Mispillion Harbor, Delaware.

The Wonderful World of Birds

Red Knot Shorebird Numbers Rise in New Jersey

An independent survey counted 22,000 of the federally threatened birds, up from a historic low of 6,880 in 2021

Blacktip reef sharks are one of five common species of reef sharks that are disappearing.

Reef Sharks Are Disappearing Around the World

A massive new study found a staggering decline of these top predators, which help balance vulnerable coral reef ecosystems and their food chains

Enceladus spews material from its ocean into space, which spacecraft from Earth can study to learn more about what lies below.

Scientists Find Phosphorus—a Key Element for Life—on a Saturn Moon

This is the last of six essential elements for life to be detected on Enceladus, giving the strongest indication yet that its ocean is habitable

Tori Bowie at the 2016 Olympic Games

What Is Eclampsia? Olympian Tori Bowie May Have Died From the Rare Pregnancy Condition

The 4x100 gold medalist died in May, bringing attention to high maternal mortality rates among Black women in the United States

A medical professional prepares a Covid-19 booster shot in Freeport, New York, on November 30, 2021.

Fall Covid-19 Boosters Should Target New Variants, FDA Advisers Say

The shots would no longer take aim at the virus’s original strain, which experts say is not likely to return

Research on creating food in space will help future missions to Mars and beyond. The Deep Space Food Challenge, co-sponsored by NASA, encourages development of novel space foods.

Move Over, Freeze-Dried Fruitcake—Here’s the Latest in Astronaut Food

Eight companies developing next-generation space meals have advanced to the final round of competition in a contest co-sponsored by NASA

Researchers counted 31 individual wolves during their annual survey from mid-January to early March.

Wolves Are Making a Comeback at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park

Since their reintroduction in 2018, the wolves have rebounded from just two inbred individuals to 31 healthy animals

Nihohae matakoi swam in waters off the coast of New Zealand around 25 million years ago.

These Prehistoric Dolphins Had Tusk-Like Teeth

The animals likely thrashed their heads back and forth to injure or stun prey with their unusual, horizontal teeth

The new research sequenced the genomes of more than 230 primate species, 58 percent of which are threatened with extinction.

What the Largest-Ever Study of Primate DNA Reveals About Ourselves

The findings cover not only conservation and primate evolution, but also human health and diseases

Researchers take sediment samples in the excacation pit in the Tam Pà Ling cave in Laos, where two newly uncovered human bones—part of a skull and a shin bone—were found.

Archaeologists Uncover Earliest Evidence of Modern Humans in Southeast Asia

The fossils from a cave in Laos, which date to between 68,000 and 86,000 years ago, challenge several ideas about early human migration

Thousands of dead fish—most of them Gulf menhaden—washed up on the beaches of Brazoria County in Texas.

Why Thousands of Dead Fish Washed Ashore in Texas

Conditions created a “perfect storm” that robbed the water of dissolved oxygen near the coast

Astronaut candidate Bobby Satcher during a zero-gravity flight on an aircraft in 2004. The microgravity in space affects the human body and even changes the brain.

Space Travel Can Change Astronauts’ Brains for Years

Fluid-filled cavities in the brain expand during spaceflight, and a new study shows that astronauts may need three years to recover

The Green Bank Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia was one of three observatories to receive the transmission created by artist Daniela de Paulis.

Art Meets Science

Could You Decode a Message From Aliens?

An artist is challenging researchers and amateurs alike to practice parsing an extraterrestrial communication

Because moose are largely solitary, it's unlikely a rabies outbreak will occur in Alaska's population, according to officials.

First Rabid Moose Recorded in Alaska Was Stumbling Through a Town

The large mammal likely contracted the virus from a fox, say wildlife officials

Alessandro Biancardi says he caught the biggest catfish he'd ever seen in his 23 years as a professional fisherman.

Fisherman Reels in ‘Monster’ Nine-Foot Catfish in Italy

The behemoth, found in the Po River, may have set a world record for the longest catch-and-release catfish

This satellite image shows active fires (in red) and gray smoke particles wafting over parts of eastern Canada and the United States. 

Smoke From Wildfires in Canada Traveled as Far as Norway

Though air quality has improved along the East Coast, smoke particles are floating through the atmosphere to other parts of the world

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