Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

Next, the Entomological Society’s Better Common Names project will put together working groups that include experts who study the species and people from the insect’s native regions to decide on a new name.

These Moths Will Be Renamed to Stop Use of an Ethnic Slur

The Entomological Society of America is taking suggestions to rename the insect previously called the ‘gypsy moth’

A healthy crop of mussels lines the coast, exposed during low tide. Mussels will split open when they overheat, such as in June's heat wave.

Pacific Northwest and Canada’s Crushing Heat Wave Cooks Millions of Sea Creatures

The estimated death toll could be more than a billion

Globally, there are about 3,000 species of dragonflies inhabiting freshwater habitats. Each species has a unique color along their bodies or wings that helps them camouflage into their surroundings, attract mates, intimidate rivals and ward off predators. (A male twelve spotted skimmer Libellula pulchellapictured)

Warmer Climate May Cause Male Dragonflies to Lose Their Patchy Wings

Dark spots on the insect’s wings can cause them to overheat. But as they lose them to adapt to climate change, potential mates may not recognize them

A brown trout caught in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge

Meth Pollution in Waterways Turns Trout Into Addicts

Like humans, fish can get addicted to methamphetamines and go through withdrawal

The plumes were first discovered in 2006 when the Cassini spacecraft spotted the geysers shooting water and other organic materials at high velocities hundreds of miles into space near the moon's south pole.

Could Methane-Spewing Microbes Be Living in the Depths of a Subsurface Ocean on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus?

The hot, chemical plumes could be produced by something similar to Earthly microscopic life forms that consume hydrogen and carbon, then burp up methane

Ingenuity releases its first aerial photos of its shadow cast across the Séítah terrain during its ninth flight.

Innovation for Good

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Soars 2,000 Feet Through Martian Atmosphere in Its Ninth Successful Test Flight

The aerial trooper set new records for speed and distance, as well as stretched the capabilities of its navigation system

Astronomers used the Keck Observatory in Hawai'i to analyze what chemical building blocks made up the Comet 46/P Wirtanen.

Boozy Comet’s Mysterious Heat Source Offers Clues to How Planets Like Earth Obtain Water

The cosmic relic contains minerals from when the solar system first formed and high amounts of methanol

An explosion seen off the Caspian Sea on July Fourth was attributed to a mud volcano eruption.

Azerbaijan Mud Volcano Erupts in Fiery Display

The flames towered an impressive 1,600 feet into the air

In total, there are 3,200 species of water scavenger beetles belonging to the family Hydrophilidae. These beetles have previously been known to use tiny hairs lining their abdomens and legs to trap air bubbles.

New Research

Some Bugs Walk on Water, but This Talented Beetle Scurries Underneath Its Surface

The aquatic critter may use bubbles to stay inverted

After analyzing the mitochondrial genome, the team discovered that the island-dwelling elephant is the descendant of straight-tusked elephants and was possibly isolated on Sicily between 50,000 and 175,500 years ago.

Ancient Elephants the Size of Shetland Ponies Once Roamed Sicily

The animals’ size reduction is comparable to if humans were to shrink down to the size of a rhesus monkey

An undated photograph shows Wally Funk standing with a U.S. Air Force jet.

Trailblazing Pilot Wally Funk Will Go to Space 60 Years After Passing Her Astronaut Tests

Wally Funk, the youngest of the ‘Mercury 13,’ will join the inaugural crewed flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule

A newly discovered white dwarf star (right) is only slightly larger than the moon (left).

New Research

Incredibly Dense White Dwarf Star Packs the Mass of the Sun Into the Size of the Moon

Researchers say if the star was any more massive it would likely collapse under its own weight and explode

Satellite images of the Southern Amery Ice Shelf show the ice-covered lake before and after a fracture in the ice shelf beneath caused it to drain into the sea.

New Research

Massive Antarctic Lake Vanishes in Just Three Days

Researchers estimate the body of water once held as much as 26 billion cubic feet of H2O that has now all drained into the ocean

Data collected revealed that a neutron star twice as massive as the sun was swallowed up by a black hole nine times the size of the sun.

Astrophysicists Detect a Black Hole Gobbling Up a Neutron Star in Two Separate Events

Researchers spotted both events using sensors to locate ripples in spacetime that traveled 900 million years to reach Earth

A researcher looks at Artemisia annua seedlings. The plant contains malaria-fighting compounds.

World Health Organization Certifies China as Malaria-Free

In the 1940s, the country recorded 30 million cases of malaria each year

The supernova SN2018zd (large white dot on the right) located 30 to 40 million light years away was first identified in 2018 and may be the first observed evidence of an electron-capture supernova.

First Observed Nearly a Thousand Years Ago, Scientists Finally Confirm Elusive Third Type of Supernova

The stellar explosion may explain an odd event documented by Chinese astronomers in 1054 C.E.

Ancient DNA and proteins gathered from the specimen's bones and teeth revealed the presence of Yersinia pestis.

New Research

Oldest Strain of Plague Bacteria Found in 5,000-Year-Old Human Remains

Unlike the ‘Black Death’ in the 14th century, the ancient infection probably did not spread quickly between people

An illustration depicting some of the dinosaurs that roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous.

New Research

Dinosaurs May Have Been Declining Before the Asteroid Struck Earth

The researchers say the cataclysmic impact may have simply been the final nail in the dinos’ coffin

This transmission electron microscopic image shows the pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Covid-19

Over 20,000 Years Ago, a Coronavirus Epidemic Left Marks in Human DNA

The oldest modern coronavirus is about 820 years old, but humanity has been fighting similar viruses for millennia

Genetic tests reveal that the Shark Bay mouse (pictured) from Shark Bay, Western Australia, is actually a living population of Gould's mouse, which had been thought to be extinct for more than a century.

New Research

Australian Mouse Presumed Extinct for More Than a Century Found Alive on Island

The living Shark Bay mouse turned out to be genetically identical to the formerly extinct Gould’s mouse

Page 196 of 538