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Smart News / Smart News Science

On June 27, residents flocked to the Clackamas River at High Rocks Park in Portland, Oregon, to take a dip and enjoying some cliff jumping.

Heat Dome Scorches Pacific Northwest With Record-Breaking High Temperatures

Cities in Oregon and Washington have surpassed 100 degrees Fahrenheit for several consecutive days

CRISPR allows scientists to cut and insert small slices of DNA with precision, illustrated here.

Innovation for Good

Early Study Shows Promise of CRISPR Injection to Treat Rare Disease

Three people who received a high dose of the gene editing tool in a clinical study saw significant improvement in their condition

A Chinese mountain cat photographed in a field of grass.

New Research

Elusive Chinese Mountain Cats Aren’t Domestic Cats’ Ancestors

Past genetic studies on feline domestication hadn’t included this wildcat native to the Tibetan Plateau

Out of the 900 baby lizards created by breeding Mr. Frosty (pictured above) with various other leopard geckos, 80 percent developed tumors before they were five years old.

Innovation for Good

This Gecko Named Mr. Frosty and His 900 Babies May Inspire Human Skin Cancer Treatments

A genetic mutation linked to melanoma in humans gives the lizards their lemony-hue—and triggers tumor growth on their scaly skin

Trumpet players create about 2,500 aerosol particles per liter of air that flows through their instrument.

New Research

To Reduce Covid-19 Risks in Orchestras, Move Wind Instruments to the Sidelines

A study that simulated airflow and aerosol production in a concert hall suggests moving brass and woodwinds near air vents

NASA just announced a partnership with Tide to figure out how to do laundry in space. Solving this problem will allow astronauts to stop throwing away their dirty clothes, which means some missions must ferry hundreds of pounds of clean clothes into space.

NASA Just Put Doing the Laundry on Astronauts’ Chore List

Dirty clothes are currently thrown away, requiring missions where weight is at a premium to bring many pounds of socks, shirts and underwear

Currently, Tasmanian devils are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Tasmanian Devils Wipe Out an Entire Colony of Little Penguins

The marsupials were brought to the island in a conservation rebound effort. Instead, they decimated native bird populations

An artist's rendering of the Earth and sun seen from space. Astronomers on Earth can detect other worlds when far away stars flicker as an orbiting planet passes in front of them, partly blocking our view. New research asks how many alien worlds might have been able to detect Earth in this way.

New Research

If Aliens Exist in These 1,700 Solar Systems, They Can Probably See Earth

Hypothetical alien astronomers orbiting these stars could have seen the sun’s light flicker as Earth passed in front of it

Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention anticipate that Delta will become the dominant variant in the United States within the next few months.

Covid-19

Covid-19 Delta Variant Emerges as Primary Threat Around the World

A surge of cases in the United Kingdom suggests that Delta is the most transmissible variant yet identified

The bright red regions were thought to be caused by molecules known as tholins, or organic compounds that rain down onto the surface after cosmic rays or ultraviolet light interact with the methane in Pluto's surface and atmosphere.

Pluto’s Red Patches Are Mystifying Scientists

A new study suggests there’s more to the dwarf planet’s rust-colored deposits than meets the eye

Like the newly-identified 2014 UN271, the NEOWISE comet pictured here is a long-period comet originating in the Oort Cloud.

Giant Comet From the Oort Cloud Will Pass by the Sun in 2031

Astronomers used about 40 observations of the object, which is called 2014 UN271, to estimate its size and orbit

A snowflake moray eel peers out from its hiding spot.

New Research

To Capture Prey on Land, This Eel Has an Extendable, Extra Jaw Hidden Inside Its Throat

This second set of teeth allows some moray eels to more effectively feed in the intertidal zone when the tide is low

Currently, single-use plastics lose 95 percent of their value after use, causing a $110 billion loss to global markets every year.

Innovation for Good

Plastic Waste Can Be Transformed Into Vanilla Flavoring

Researchers used microbes to convert plastic waste into the chemical additive

A radar image of Venus' largest block of crust, located in the planet's lowlands and identified by the authors of a new paper.

New Research

Venus May Still Be Geologically Active

Radar images of the planet’s surface suggest large sections of its crust appear to have moved in the geologically recent past

Dried sea snot on the surface of the water can be so strong that seagulls can walk on it, and it can damage fishing boat motors.

Turkey Begins to Clean Smelly Sea Snot From Its Shores

The layer of marine mucilage threatens not only tourism and fishing boats but also creatures living in the Sea of Marmara

Cosmetics designed to stay on longer or marketed as "wear-resistant," "long-lasting," and "waterproof" contained the highest levels of PFAS.

Scientists Find Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ in More Than 100 Popular Makeup Products

Waterproof mascara and long-lasting lipsticks contained the highest levels of organic fluorine, an indicator of PFAS

A photo of the Asian giant hornet specimen found near Marysville, Washington.

Dead ‘Murder Hornet’ Found North of Seattle

The dried out male hornet is 2021’s first confirmed sighting of the Asian giant hornet, but scientists say the corpse doesn’t look fresh

When a person uses the HiccAway to drink water, they have to suck about four times harder than if they were using a regular straw.

Innovation for Good

This Straw Is Designed to Instantly Cure Hiccups

The ‘HiccAway’ stopped cases of hiccups 92 percent of the time during an early trial

Based on the size of the skull, the research team also found that the rhino had a long thick neck, a short trunk similar to that of a modern-day tapir, and a deeper nasal cavity.

This Prehistoric Giant Rhino Was ‘Taller Than a Giraffe’

The prehistoric mammal had a 3.8-foot-long head and stood at about 16 feet tall

The newly deciphered genome, T2T-CHM13, added 200 million base pairs to the 2013 version of the human genome and found 115 new genes.

Scientists Are on the Cusp of Finally Deciphering the Entire Human Genome

After 20 years of work, the pursuit is nearly complete, but the team still has to sequence a Y chromosome

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