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Smart News / Smart News Science

Since mid-March, more than 30,000 tourists have visited the eruption site, which is just 20 miles from Iceland’s capital, Reykyavík.

New Fissure in Iceland Volcano Prompts Evacuation of Tourists

Scientists re-evaluated the safety of the eruption site after a new fissure began spewing steam and lava a half-mile from the original craters

New research finds lions that have just yawned together are more likely to move in unison.

New Research

Contagious Yawning May Keep Lion Prides in Sync

A study finds after yawning together, lions were 11 times more likely to copy the actions of the individual that yawned first

During the dive mission, the divers found and captured footage of the ship's bridge, midsection, and bow that had hull number "557" still visible on both sides.

Explorers Survey World’s Deepest Known Shipwreck

The American destroyer U.S.S. Johnston sank on October 25, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Sea

After completing the first milestone surviving on its own, Ingenuity is now preparing for its next challenge, passing a series of test flights on the Red Planet's thin atmosphere.

Ingenuity Helicopter Survives Its First Night Alone on Mars

On April 3, 2021, the spacecraft launched from the Perseverance rover and successfully landed on the red planet

Microscope image of an isolate from the first U.S. case of Covid-19. Viral particles are visible in blue.

WHO Releases Results of First Investigation Into the Origin of Covid-19

The virus was most likely first spread from a wild animal, possibly bats, to an unknown intermediate animal, possibly farm animals, and then to humans

The dolphins swam in the Grand Canal near St. Mark's Square, Venice's main public square

Dolphins Spotted in Venice’s Grand Canal—for Real This Time

The coast guard and a rescue organization took about two hours to guide the cetaceans out of the canal

A viral video shows an octopus (not pictured) lashing out at an Australian tourist in shallow water.

A Very Angry Octopus Goes Viral After Lashing Out at an Australian Tourist

A video posted to social media captures the cephalopod’s arm-flinging attack

A study of ten narwhal tusks reveals how the animals are responding to a swiftly changing Arctic.

New Research

Study of Narwhal Tusks Reveals a Swiftly Changing Arctic

Chemical analysis of ten tusks shows shifting diets and increasing levels of mercury as climate change warms the polar region

Cascatelli, a play on the word for waterfall in Italian, was designed to hold the right amount of sauce with its 90-degree curve and hollow slide-like inside.

Get Lost in the Sauce With a Brand New Pasta Shape, Cascatelli

The ruffled, waterfall-inspired noodle resembles a combination of mafaldine and bucatini

The new study compared 1,131 children between 12 and 15 years old who received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and 1,129 who received two doses of a placebo.

Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Is Highly Effective at Preventing Covid-19 Infections in Adolescents

In a study of 2,260 children age 12 to 15, no vaccinated kids contracted the virus

Captive lemurs receive an abundance of food year-round, so the need to hibernate as a way to store energy when resources are scarce is not needed.

How Studying Lemur Hibernation Could Make Long-Distance Space Travel Easier One Day

As humans’ closest hibernating relative, learning from the critters could also make emergency surgery safer and inform metabolic disease research

Grasshoppers swarm a street light a few blocks from the Las Vegas Strip on July 26, 2019.

New Research

Las Vegas Was Inundated by 46 Million Grasshoppers on a Single Night in 2019

A new study says the horde of insects was drawn to the Vegas Strip by its famously bright lights

The Ingenuity helicopter is scheduled to attempt flight this week no later than April 8 after the Mars rover completes its first mission of transporting the small chopper to a flat "airfield" free of obstructions.

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Holds Piece of Wright Brothers History

Secured under Ingenuity’s solar panels is a stamp-sized swatch of fabric from the Wright Flyer

This is an atomic clock that uses the predictable frequency of ytterbium atoms absorbing and emitting light to tell time. A new experiment paired a ytterbium-based atomic clock with two others that used aluminum and strontium atoms, respectively, to create an even more accurate measure of time.

New Research

New Atomic Clocks May Someday Redefine the Length of a Second

Researchers used three atomic clocks to measure time accurately down to the quadrillionth of a percent

Astronaut Scott Kelly shown in October of 2010 in the Cupola of the International Space Station.

New Research

How Space Travel Shrank Astronaut Scott Kelly’s Heart

While in orbit, the adaptable muscle doesn’t need to combat gravity to pump blood

Nurse Sandra Lindsay of Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York City, received the first Covid-19 vaccine in the United States in December 2020. Here, she is pictured receiving her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine in January.

New Research

CDC Study of Vaccinated Frontline Workers Shows Covid-19 Shots Effectively Prevent Infection, Not Just Symptoms

The vaccinated group of participants saw 90 percent fewer cases than if they had not been vaccinated

A satellite image of North America taken on August 25, 2020. Smoke from wildfires can be seen rising from California and Hurricane Laura can be seen heading toward Louisiana and eastern Texas as the remnants of Marco swirl over the Southeast.

NOAA’s Weather Forecasting System Just Got a Major Update

The new version of the Global Forecast System could give Americans in the path of a hurricane an additional 36 hours to prepare compared to the old model

Bears with intensifying symptoms either die or are require euthanasia. Those that survive require lifetime treatments and can't return to the wild.

A Puzzling Brain Disease Is Killing Black Bears in the Western United States

Some animals showing signs of a neurological disorder had brain inflammation, but the cause is still unknown

A tiny, aphid-like whitefly sitting on a leaf.

New Research

This Insect Has Plant DNA in Its Genome

Whiteflies have a gene only found in plants that appears to allow the tiny insects to withstand plants’ chemical defenses

By the time sauteur d’Alfort rabbits are a few months old, they learn how to walk on their front paws to accommodate their uncoordinated back legs.

New Research

Thanks to a Genetic Mutation, These French Rabbits Prefer Handstands to Bunny Hops

The unusually acrobatic sauteur d’Alfort rabbits were first discovered in France in 1935

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