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Smart News / Smart News Science

Reseachers tested out the backpack dubbed KNaCK in a volcanic field in New Mexico, and are hoping the tech can support astronaunts on future lunar missions.

Innovation for Good

Lunar Backpack Could Aid Astronauts on Future Missions to the Moon

The pack can create 3-D maps in real-time of uncharted terrain

Oreo cookies helped inspire a new field of study coined "Oreology" by researchers at MIT.

Innovation for Good

Why MIT Researchers Are Studying Oreos

Fluid dynamics experts find that it’s nearly impossible to split the black-and-white cookie’s sweet filling evenly in half

The Hickson Compact Group 40 features five galaxies caught in a gravitational dance.

Hubble Space Telescope’s 32nd Anniversary Photo Features Dramatic Galaxy Cluster

The five galaxies, dubbed the Hickson Compact Group 40, will merge in roughly a billion years

Biotech firm Oxitec is genetically modifying mosquitoes in the hopes of curbing the overall population. The company completed its first open-air release of the bugs in Florida.

Innovation for Good

First U.S. Open-Air Test of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Deemed a Success

Biotech firm Oxitec engineered the bugs in an effort to curb their numbers and help stop the spread of disease

The Dixie Valley toad lives only in a remote Nevada valley. 

Nevada Toad Receives Rare Emergency Protection

The construction of a geothermal power plant could create problems for the amphibian

The fossilized head crest of a pterosaur with evidence of feathers.

Pterosaurs May Have Had Vibrant Feathers Like Modern Birds

Researchers say different colors on the flying reptiles were a possible means of communication, and may indicate a common ancestor with dinosaurs

Europa became an interest to researchers as a place that potentially could harbor life after observations from Earth-bound telescopes and space probes found evidence of an ocean 10 to 15 miles beneath the icy surface. This drawing illustrates a possible water pocket within the ice that may contribute to ridges forming on the moon's surface.

Europa’s Icy Shell May Be Habitable for Life

The moon of Jupiter could have shallow water pockets within its frozen surface

Karen Nyberg, a retired NASA astronaut, is launching a new fabric line inspired by her time in space. 

Good News

Retired Astronaut Launches a Fabric Line Inspired by Her Views of Earth From Space

Karen Nyberg’s two missions to the International Space Station over her 30-year career with NASA fueled her creativity as an artist

Isaac Larsen, a geosciences expert at UMass Amherst, stands near a drop-off that seperates native remnant prairie from farmland in Iowa. Reseachers found that farmed fields were more than a foot lower than the prairie on average. 

More Than 50 Billion Tons of Topsoil Have Eroded in the Midwest

The estimate of annual loss is nearly double the rate of erosion the USDA considers sustainable

At least 36 bald eagles have died since February because of the H5N1 strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The virus is also causing the death of millions of commercial chickens and turkeys.

Bald Eagles Are Dying From Bird Flu

The highly contagious H5N1 strain is also infecting commercial chickens and turkeys

In an effort to combat counterfeit whiskies, researchers in Australia created a device called NOS.E that can detect and identify differences by "sniffing" spirits.

Innovation for Good

A New Electronic Nose May Help Sniff Out Counterfeit Whiskey

Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia developed NOS.E, a device that can detect differences among whiskies by “smelling” them

Researchers are most concerned with the disease affecting endangered species like these riparian bush rabbits.

New Vaccine Could Save Rabbits From Deadly Hemorrhagic Disease

Scientists have a new tool in the fight against a spreading virus that threatens the small mammals

The research team confirmed the comet's size with photos taken by Hubble Space Telescope in January 2022. The comet's nucleus is seen as a bright dot of light in the photos. With the computer model, the team removed the hazy glow of the coma to leave behind the bright star-like nucleus.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Largest Comet Ever Discovered

The icy object is larger than the state of Rhode Island and weighs an estimated 500 trillion tons

Peconic, a 3-month-old gray seal, makes his way back to the ocean.

Good News

Baby Seal Found in a Traffic Circle on Long Island Released Back Into the Ocean

The three-month-old gray seal had wandered through streets and parking lots until it was captured by a local nonprofit, rehabilitated and released

Mapping out where these RNA viruses are found globally can help scientists understand how they interact with organisms driving the planet's ecological processes.

Virologists Identify More Than 5,000 New Viruses in the Ocean

The new study focused on under-researched RNA viruses, which often infect animals and humans

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released draft recommendation statements for anxiety, depression and suicide risk in kids earlier this week.

The Future of Mental Health

Kids as Young as Eight Years Old Should Be Screened for Anxiety, Task Force Says

This guidance comes as experts warn that children are experiencing a mental health crisis, which the pandemic has worsened

Scientist Rebellion protesters in Berlin, Germany

Scientists Stage Worldwide Climate Change Protests After IPCC Report

Over 1,000 scientists from 25 countries took part in the Scientist Rebellion’s demonstrations last week

The dinosaur leg fossil will be featured in an upcoming BBC documentary special premiering April 15. 

Paleontologists Find Fossilized Remains of a Dinosaur Possibly Killed in Earth’s Fifth Mass Extinction Event

The leg bone is one of many other specimens uncovered at the North Dakota site

Officials found thousands of taxidermy animals in a warehouse outside of Valencia, including specimens of cheetah, leopard, lion, lynx, polar bear, snow leopard and white rhinoceros.

Police Find 1,090 Taxidermy Animals in a Private Collection in Spain

The animals include about 400 protected species

 The newly described jumping spider, Guriurius minuano, has a stripy pattern on its abdomen and large black eyes. (Pictured)

Scientists Identify 50,000th Spider Species on Earth—but Thousands More Are Waiting to Be Discovered

A new kind of jumping spider discovered in South America marks the major milestone

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