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Smart News / Smart News Science

New research finds oxygen levels in the world's temperate freshwater lakes are declining due to the rising temperatures caused by climate change.

New Research

Climate Change Is Draining the World’s Lakes of Oxygen

Hotter, longer summers are increasing water temperatures, which reduces lake oxygen levels, especially in deep waters

Billions of cicadas have emerged across 14 states and Washington, D.C.

As Brood X Numbers Grow, Cicadas Interfere With Cars, Planes and Radar

Lawnmower-like singing isn’t the only way that these bugs have made themselves known

Tinier whales threaten the species’ survival because smaller whales do not have as many offspring. Nursing mothers who entangle themselves in nets also produce smaller calves.

Humans, We’ve Shrunk the Whales

North Atlantic right whales born today are three feet shorter on average than whales born in 1980—and commercial fishing could be to blame

“Not much in my life in the natural world has made me cry, but this did,” Nate Stephenson, an ecologist at the USGS who has been studying sequoias for 40 years, tells the Chronicle. “It hit me like a ton of bricks.”

Fire Destroyed 10 Percent of World’s Giant Sequoias Last Year—Can They Survive Climate Change?

A new draft report suggests between 7,500 and 10,600 of the massive trees were killed by wildfire in 2020

More than 200 bird species show anting behavior, which involves fanning their wings out on the ground and picking up insects, usually ants. But capturing a photo of the behavior is rare.

Photographer Captures Crow Taking an ‘Ant Bath’

Over 200 bird species partake in ‘anting,’ but so far, the behavior is poorly understood

A photo of the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii where scientists measure atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

New Research

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Reaches New High Despite Pandemic Emissions Reduction

Global carbon emissions in 2020 were lower than they were in 2019, but those reductions would need to be sustained for years to slow the climate crisis

Using growth layers on the bear's skull, the researchers dated the remains at 35,000 years old and concluded that the cave bear was an adult around ten years old when it died.

This 35,000-Year-Old Skull Could Be the First Evidence of Humans Hunting Small Cave Bears

The hole in the specimen may have been from injuries inflicted with a spear or during a postmortem ritual

In one clinical trial, Biogen's drug aducanumab showed that it could reduce beta-amyloid plaques and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

FDA Approval of a New Alzheimer’s Drug Comes With Controversy

Aducanumab is the first approved drug that targets a possible underlying cause of Alzheimer’s disease

It took over a decade to identify the dinosaur bones because of the remote location of the bones, the fragile state they were in, and their massive size and weight that at times require a forklift to move.

Two Farmers Found the Largest Dinosaur Ever Unearthed in Australia

The long-necked herbivore’s length measured the span of a basketball court, stood at two stories, and weighed an estimated 70 tons

A rotifer seen under a microscope.

New Research

Scientists Revive Tiny Animals That Spent 24,000 Years on Ice

These bdelloid rotifers survived for thousands of years in the Siberian permafrost and scientists want to find out how

The research vessel Polarstern moves through Arctic sea ice.

New Research

Sea Ice on Arctic Coasts Is Thinner Than Previously Thought

Until recently, estimates of sea ice thickness relied on snow measurements gathered between 1954 and 1991

This will be the first NASA mission to Venus since 1990.

Future of Space Exploration

With Two New Missions, NASA Announces Return to Venus by 2030

The projects, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, will explore the planet’s past and Earth’s similarities with its sister planet

Streaked across Ganymede's surface are bright light-colored regions of ridges and grooves that overlap darker-colored terrains along the icy shell. The textured scar-like areas suggest that the moon's surface underwent extreme geologic changes over time.

NASA’s Juno Space Probe Zooms by Largest Moon in the Solar System

The flyby will be the closest any spacecraft has flown near Ganymede in over two decades

An aerial photo taken on June 5, 2021 shows the herd of Asian elephants in the Jinning District of Kunming, a populous city located in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

A Herd of 15 Elephants Is Wandering North Across China—and Nobody Knows Why

Experts are unsure why the group began its journey, which now spans more than 300 miles, or where it will end

Sister Andre, Lucile Randon celebrated her 117th birthday this year after surviving Covid-19.

New Research

Study Suggests 150 Years May Be the Human Lifespan’s Upper Limit

Researchers say beyond that age the body simply can no longer repair itself after normal stresses such as disease

While most open ocean sharks disappeared after the event, coastal sharks survived, and today's sharks most likely ascended from the survivors.

A Puzzling Extinction Event Almost Wiped Sharks Out of Existence 19 Million Years Ago

Sediment cores show that shark populations declined by 90% during the Miocene, but no one knows why

Part of a clinical study called Project S, a small town in Brazil set out to vaccinate its entire adult population. With 95% of adults vaccinated, the city has seen a steep decline in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Mass Vaccination Success in This Small Brazil City Shows Promise of Low-Efficacy Vaccines

In Serrana, 95 percent of adults received the CoronaVac vaccine, which has a 50% efficacy rate. Now, the city is ready to reopen

The researchers taught 26 volunteers to use mouth clicking to observe nearby objects and navigate outdoors.

New Research

People Can Learn Echolocation in Ten Weeks

Researchers taught 12 people who are blind and 14 people with sight to use clicks to navigate their environments

An African elephant gives itself a dust bath by blasting dirt from its trunk.

New Research

Elephant Trunks Can Suck Water at 330 Miles Per Hour

A new study puts impressive numbers to some of the elephant trunk’s many feats

The find suggests that the two frog species diverged 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago during the Pliocene Epoch, before Australia and New Guinea were separated by water, causing the two species to become distinct from one another.

Scientists Discover ‘Chocolate Frog’ in New Guinea

Despite its distinct cocoa color, the new species is related to the green tree frog

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