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Smart News / Smart News Science

Red-handed tamarins have greater vocal flexibility, using calls ranging from territorial long calls to chirps to trills to communicate, whereas pied tamarins use long whistle-like calls.

Red-Handed Tamarins Can Mimic Other Species’ Accents

The South American primates change their calls to communicate with other tamarin species living in shared territories

Passengers ride the New York City subway on May 24, 2021.

New Research

Thousands of Unknown Microbes Found in Subways Around the World

A team of more than 900 scientists and volunteers swabbed the surfaces of 60 public transit systems

Individuals located in the Comoros Islands may have descended from the coelacanth population in Madagascar.

Madagascar May Be Stronghold for Ancient Fish With 420-Million-Year History

Fishermen from the island nation caught a number of rare coelacanths off the coast using gillnets

Aussie Ark and other conservation groups collaborated to release 26 Tasmanian devils into a nature preserve north of Sydney. Their goal is to bring this species back to mainland Australia 3,000 years after they went locally extinct.

Tasmanian Devils Born on Mainland Australia Offer Hope for a Species at Risk of Extinction

Seven infant devils born inside an enclosed nature preserve represent a conservation milestone

The bubbles the anole lizards use may act as a "physical gill" that can pull oxygen from the water while accumulated carbon dioxide escapes into the water over the surface of the bubble in a process known as diffusion.

Diving Anole Lizards Use Bubbles to Breathe Underwater

Like a natural form of scuba gear, the semi-aquatic lizard can stay submerged underwater for up to 18 minutes using the clever trick

A health worker preserves mucosal swab samples at a Covid-19 testing center in New Delhi, India.

Scientists Are Creating a Blood Test to Measure Covid-19 Immunity

Once researchers determine a ‘correlate of protection,’ they will be able to measure immunity and develop new vaccines more quickly

Miscanthus is a type of grass that is often grown as a biofuel. Trials in the United Kingdom are now underway to explore the possibility of scaling up biofuel crops like Miscanthus grasses to see if they can help fight climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere.

United Kingdom Begins Large-Scale Carbon Removal Trials

The $42 million project will test out five strategies for pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to fight climate change

A nurse gives a 16-year-old a Pfizer-BioNTech shot at a clinic in Florida.

Moderna Announces Its Covid-19 Vaccine Is Effective in Adolescents

The company completed a final phase trials in 3,732 adolescents between ages 12 and 17

While other flowers deceive pollinators with gorgeous blossoms, A. microstoma isn't as extravagant. The plant has small brown bulb-like flowers that look similar to the bowl of a tobacco pipe.

This Stinky Plant Smells Like Dead Bugs to Attract Coffin Flies

The plant attracts corpse flies to its opening with the aroma of rotting insects

Each year, nearly 20,000 Wisconsin residents collide with deer each year, which leads to about 477 injuries and eight deaths annually.

New Research

By Creating a ‘Landscape of Fear,’ Wolves Reduce Car Collisions With Deer

A new study in Wisconsin suggests the predators keep prey away from roads, reducing crashes by 24 percent

In a lab experiment, a blind 58-year-old male volunteer was able to identify the position of two cups after receiving a new type of gene therapy.

New Research

New Gene Therapy Partially Restores Sight to Blind Man

Researchers inserted genes that code for light-sensitive proteins in algae into the man’s retina, and now he reports limited but much improved vision

President Barack Obama fist bumps a robotic arm being controlled by electrodes implanted in Nathan Copeland's brain at the University of Pittsburgh on October 13, 2016.

New Research

Researchers Create Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm With Sense of Touch

Touch feedback allowed a man with electrodes implanted into his brain to command a robotic arm and complete tasks quickly

The treasure trove discovery began when park ranger and naturalist Greg Francek from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) first stumbled upon a petrified forest while on patrol in the Mokelumne River Watershed, located in the Sierra Nevada.

Park Ranger Stumbles Upon Treasure Trove of Several-Million-Year-Old Fossils in Northern California

Paleontologists found hundreds of Miocene fossils, including an 8-million-year-old mastodon, at an undisclosed location in the Sierra Nevada foothills

A ghost forest on Capers Island, South Carolina.

New Research

‘Tree Farts’ Raise Ghost Forests’ Carbon Emissions

As sea level rise poisons woodlands with saltwater, more work is needed to understand these ecosystems’ contributions to climate change

Hurricane Laura as it approached the Gulf Coast on August 26, 2020

NOAA Predicts Another Above-Average Atlantic Hurricane Season

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and NOAA predicts it will see between 13 and 20 named storms

Researchers found that the bears could withstand an impact of up to 900 meters per second and shock pressures of up to 1.14 gigapascals (GPa). Any higher than those speeds, the seemingly invincible water bears turned to mush.

Water Bears Can Survive Impact Speeds of 1,845 Miles Per Hour

Tardigrades thrive in a variety of extreme conditions, so researchers wanted to know if they could withstand simulated space landing impacts

This sample of red trinitite contained the quasicrystal described in a new study.

New Research

Study Plucks Rare Quasicrystal From Wreckage of First Atomic Bomb Test

Researchers found the strange material inside a piece of red trinitite, a glass-like amalgam formed by the blast’s intense heat and pressure

While erosion is a natural occurrence that happens over time, the Galàpagos Islands are more at risk to threats of erosion because of climate change.

Iconic Natural Rock Feature in the Galápagos Islands Crumbles Into the Ocean

The top of the Darwin’s Arch, a natural stone archway, fell as a result of natural erosion

When male cicadas are infected with Massospora, they exhibit both male and female mating behavior: singing to attract females and flicking their wings to attract males.

Cicadas Fall Prey to a Psychedelic-Producing Fungus That Makes Their Butts Fall Off

This ‘zombie’ fungus isn’t going after the bugs’ brains—it’s after their genitals

A photograph captures the total lunar eclipse of January 21, 2019

Get Ready for the Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse Next Week

Much of the western U.S. will see an extra-large, eerily red full moon on May 26

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