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Smart News / Smart News Science

Rescue workers and volunteers conduct search and rescue operations in the rubble of a collasped building in Diyarbakir, Turkey. 

7.8-Magnitude Earthquake Felt ‘Like the Apocalypse’ in Turkey and Syria

The death toll has risen to at least 3,000 following one of the largest quakes recorded in the region

Wind gusts of up to 128 miles per hour pummeled Mount Washington in New Hampshire over the weekend.

The Wind Chill Hit Minus 108 at New Hampshire’s Mount Washington

The 6,288-foot summit endured record-breaking conditions brought by an Arctic air mass

Part of the set-up for the experiment: ordinary ice and steel balls placed in a jar

Scientists Have Created a New Type of Ice

It looks like a white powder and has nearly the same density as liquid water

Two emperor tamarin monkeys were stolen from their enclosure at the Dallas Zoo on January 30, 2023. 

Animals at the Dallas Zoo Keep Mysteriously Disappearing

In just a few weeks, the zoo has had enclosures tampered with, a clouded leopard escape, two stolen monkeys and a suspicious vulture death

The findings suggest Neanderthals made deep cut marks on the foot bones of straight-tusked elephants to access the rich deposits of fat in the animals' foot pads.

Neanderthals Hunted and Butchered Massive Elephants 125,000 Years Ago

Meat from the gigantic animals could have fed hundreds of hominids, according to a new analysis of bones found in central Germany

Viking burial mound at Heath Wood being excavated

Vikings Brought Horses and Dogs to England, Study Finds

Cremated bone fragments suggest these animals were companions to the Vikings

The dodo, now extinct, weighed about 50 pounds, had blue and grey feathers and couldn't fly.

This Company Wants to Bring the Dodo Back From Extinction

Colossal Biosciences plans to de-extinct the dodo, but some scientists question whether it’s ethical—or even plausible

An artistic illustration of Egyptian embalmers in the underground embalming workshop at Saqqara

The Surprising Substances Ancient Egyptians Used to Mummify the Dead

An analysis of 2,500-year-old embalming ingredients suggests some of them came from far-off places

Northern quolls are the smallest of Australia's four quoll species.

Too Much Sex and Too Little Sleep Can Kill These Endangered Marsupials

A study finds male northern quolls forgo rest to travel up to 6.5 miles in one night in search of a mate—the equivalent of a human walking 25 miles

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie with some of the sample tubes it left on the Red Planet's surface using the camera at the end of its robotic arm.

Perseverance Rover Completes Depot of Mars Rock Samples

The collection is a failsafe for the Mars Sample Return project, which aims to deliver Martian rocks to Earth

A dolphin giving a cue to a fisher in Laguna, Brazil.

Dolphins and Humans Work Together to Catch Fish in Brazil

The partnership has endured for some 150 years, and it benefits both species, a new study finds

The Tongass National Forest is home to a variety of wildlife, including bald eagles, salmon, brown bears and wolves.

U.S. Restores Protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

A new federal rule restricts road construction and logging in the country’s largest national forest

Blood donations have dropped around the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic.

More Gay and Bisexual Men Could Soon Donate Blood

Since 1985, federal blood donor restrictions have barred many men who have sex with men from participating

A bear in Colorado took a liking to a wildlife camera, capturing hundreds of selfies.

This Black Bear Took Hundreds of ‘Selfies’ on a Wildlife Camera

Of the 580 images captured by the camera in November, about 400 were of the bear

The crack called Chasm-1 had been dormant for decades until 2012. Now, it has created a new iceberg.

Iceberg Twice the Size of New York City Breaks off From Antarctica

The event was expected and not linked to climate change, researchers say

The eugenics movement formed the basis for policies in Nazi Germany and discrimination against Black people based on sickle cell disease in the United States.

Genetics Society Issues Apology for Ties to Eugenics and Racism

In a new report, the American Society of Human Genetics details its failures to address false and unjust uses of the field

A person-shaped robot liquifies to escape a cage, then cools back into its original shape in a mold placed in the ground outside the bars.

This Shape-Shifting Robot Can Liquefy Itself and Reform

The technology could one day assemble and repair hard-to-reach circuits, act as a universal screw or retrieve foreign objects from a body, researchers say

A portrait of Anne d’Alégre, a 17th-century French noblewoman who masked her poor dentition with gold wire and an elephant ivory false tooth

What Secrets Lie Beneath This 17th-Century French Aristocrat’s Smile?

New research suggests noblewoman Anne d’Alégre used gold wire to keep her decaying teeth in place

An orbital diagram shows that 2023 BU's trajectory (in red) passed closer to Earth on January 26, 2023 than the orbits of geosynchronous satellites (in green). 

An Asteroid Just Passed Very Close to Earth

The truck-sized space rock came within 2,200 miles of our planet, closer than some satellites

Concept art for the final form of NASA's experimental X-57 Maxwell electric plane. The plane is not expected to ever reach this phase, as the program's time and funds are running out.

NASA’s Electric Plane Will Take Flight This Year—but Its Future Is Uncertain

The X-57 Maxwell has removed some barriers to electric flight, but its funding expires soon

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