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Smart News / Smart News Science

Researchers collected chimp urine from leaves and puddles on the forest floor in Uganda.

Wild Chimpanzees Love to Eat Boozy Fruit. Scientists Say the Proof Is in Their Pee

The work further hints that humans may have inherited our penchant for alcohol from our ape ancestors

Female caribou grow antlers, which they shed just a few days before giving birth.

Caribou Are the Only Deer Species in Which Females Grow Antlers. Scientists Just Figured Out Why

New research suggests female reindeer antlers serve as postpartum snacks, with new moms munching on them after giving birth to get a much-needed boost of protein, calcium and phosphorus

Some caterpillars need ants to care for them. 

Needy Caterpillars Vibrate to Complex Rhythms to Communicate With Ants

Researchers have found that some butterfly caterpillars mimic the meticulously timed movements of ants to win their favor and protection

Researchers are collecting observational data to learn more about the outbreak. 

Northern Elephant Seals Test Positive for Deadly, Highly Infectious H5N1 Bird Flu for the First Time

About 30 seals at a California state park have died, and seven of them had the lethal virus. Lab results for the other animals are pending

CDG-2 as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope

Astronomers Spotted a Galaxy That’s Made Up Almost Entirely of Dark Matter

The researchers found the galaxy thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope

Saturn's rings are surprisingly young

A Smashing New Proposal About Saturn’s History Might Explain Its Iconic Rings and Some of Its Odd Moons

A crash involving the planet’s largest moon, Titan, and a hypothetical moon may have triggered a curious sequence of events

Tiger Kingdom facilities are popular tourist attractions in Thailand.

Seventy-Two Captive Tigers in Thailand Die From Dangerous Infections, Sparking Concerns Over Animal Welfare

An animal foundation asks why the big cats weren’t vaccinated against a well-known virus

New research suggests horses are singing and whistling at the same time when they whinny.

How Do Horses Whinny? Scientists Say They’ve Figured Out How the Majestic Animals Make This Distinctive Sound

An equine makes the low-pitched part of its whinny by vibrating its vocal cords—similar to how humans speak and sing—and the high-pitched part by whistling

An artistic representation of the burial event at Gomolava

A Mass Grave Uncovered in Serbia Hints at a Violent Iron Age Massacre That Targeted Women and Children

A new analysis of human remains found more than 50 years ago reveals fresh insights about culture clashes in prehistoric Europe

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution quickly identified the recording as belong to a humpback whale. 

Listen to What Archivists Believe to Be Oldest-Known Whale Recording

The nearly 80-year-old disc resided in the archives of the the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for decades and may hold the secret to learning about changes in whale behavior over time

Researchers asked participants, at an average of about 80 years old, to report their exposure to intellectual enrichment throughout their lives, and then tracked them for around eight years.

Lifelong Learning Might Lower Your Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s Disease, a New Study Suggests

While the research does not point to a direct, causal link, it hints that activities like reading, writing and playing games might help extend cognitive function

The study focused on Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo who died in March 2025 at the age of 44.

Can Apes Play Pretend? What Scientists Learned From Having Imaginary ‘Tea Parties’ With Kanzi the Bonobo

A new study provides evidence for imagination in a captive-raised, English language-trained animal

Researchers have produced hundreds of Galápagos tortoises genetically related to the extinct Floreana Island subspecies, thanks to a surprising discovery and captive breeding program.

Giant Tortoises Vanished From the Galápagos’ Floreana Island More Than 150 Years Ago. Now, Conservationists Have Brought Them Back

Researchers released captive-bred tortoises carrying the ancestry of the extinct local species

Screenshot from the footage of a sleeper shark seen in Antarctica's waters

See the First Known Footage of an Elusive Southern Sleeper Shark Swimming in Antarctica’s Near-Freezing Waters

It might be the southernmost encounter with a shark ever documented

Starliner leaving the ISS in September 2024. 

NASA Report Reveals the Failures That Left Two Astronauts ‘Stranded’ on the International Space Station

NASA’s administrator blames both the agency and Boeing for Starliner’s infamous problems

A reconstruction of Archaeopteryx, including its recently discovered oral papillae, flexible tongue, and bill-tip organ at the end of its beak.  

Scientists Still Have So Much to Learn About Archaeopteryx, the Dinosaur That May Have Flown Like a Bird

A new study suggests features in the prehistoric creature’s mouth helped it eat more efficiently, giving the species the energy needed to go airborne

Spinosaurus mirabilis prowled around what is now Africa some 95 million years ago.

This Massive, Meat-Eating Dinosaur Was a ‘Hell Heron’ That Waded Into Shallow Waters to Nab Slippery Fish

Paleontologists unearthed a new species of Spinosaurus in the Sahara Desert in Niger, a discovery that adds to the debate over whether the prehistoric creatures were fully or semi-aquatic

Japanese chin dogs had some of the highest rates of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome in the study. 

These 12 Popular Dog Breeds Are at Risk of Breathing Problems Related to Their Short Snouts, a New Study Suggests

Past research on brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome—a chronic, hereditary disease associated with flat faces—has focused mainly on just three breeds

Geologist Molly Patterson holds part of the sediment core

Researchers Retrieve the Deepest-Ever Rock Core From Beneath Antarctica’s Ice. It Holds Clues About the Earth’s Past—and Future

The 748-foot-long sediment core contains a record of roughly the past 23 million years, including periods when the planet’s surface temperature was hotter than it is today

By age 20, autism diagnoses are almost equal among men and women in Sweden, a new study suggests.

Is Autism Really a Male-Dominated Condition? A New Study Suggests Women Have It Just as Often, but Are Diagnosed Later in Life

Researchers examined the prevalence of autism among nearly three million people born in Sweden over the past four decades

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