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Smart News / Smart News Science

Fossil remains of crocodiles from as early as the Jurassic period show identifying characteristics in modern crocodiles

Are Crocodiles Flawless? The Reptiles Haven’t Changed in 200 Million Years

For crocs, slow and steady wins the evolutionary race

An Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) at the Haus des Meeres in Vienna, Austria.

New Research

Australian Lungfish Has Biggest Genome Ever Sequenced

The air-breathing fish dethrones the Mexican axolotl for the title of largest known genome in the animal kingdom

Common murres live on rocky cliffs like those at Stora Karlsö, an island in the Baltic Sea.

New Research

Pandemic Reveals Ecological Benefits of Tourists in One Seaside Town

When people stayed home, white-tailed eagles converged on the island of Stora Karlsö in Sweden

The worms that burrowed in these tunnels may have been the ancestors of modern Bobbit worms, Eunice aphtoditois, and is the earliest known fossil of an ambush predator

Enormous Prehistoric Marine Worms’ Lair Discovered Along Sea Floor

Trace fossils suggest that sand strikers drilled these underground tunnels

Artist's rendering of blue jet lightning blasting from a storm cloud towards space. The International Space Station solar panels can be seen in the foreground.

New Research

Mysterious Blue Jet Lightning Seen From Space

Researchers captured an instance of this poorly understood type of lightning using instruments aboard the International Space Station

Catnip and a plant called silver vine, Actinidia polygama, are not closely related, but both make cats go wild.

Felines May Use Catnip for More Than Just Euphoria

The plant may keep pesky mosquitos away

Female springbok mantises will fight against males who want to mate

Male Mantises Wrestle to Escape Cannibalistic Females

Mating is not so romantic for these insects

A paleontologist excavating a 98 million-year-old fossil which may belong to the largest land animal ever. Researchers first started unearthing the creatures remains in 2012 at the Candeleros Formation in the Neuquen River Valley, Argentina.

New Research

Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be Largest Land Animal Ever

The skeleton is still far from complete but paleontologists say what they’ve found suggests the dinosaur may be more than 120 feet long

To counter a lack of biodiversity in corpse flowers, horticulturalists took inspiration from “studbooks,” a method used by breeders and zoos to prevent inbreeding

To Save the Corpse Flower, Horticulturalists Are Playing the Role of Matchmakers

Genetic diversity is needed to produce viable plants. Scientists are using animal breeding methods to conserve the titan arum

Vampire finches will resort to drinking blood for survival when they can't find other food sources like seeds and insects.

Why Some of Darwin’s Finches Evolved to Drink Blood

Scientists suggest the vampire finch evolved to drink blood to survive the volcanic archipelago’s harsh environment and scarce resources

Silver-washed fritillary butterfly

New Research

Study Reveals the Secrets of Butterfly Flight

The fluttering insects create tiny jets of air by clapping their flexible wings together, which may help them evade predators

In another executive order, President Biden canceled permits for construction on the Keystone XL pipeline. Alberta construction of the pipeline is pictured here, taken in October 2020.

The United States Will Rejoin Paris Climate Accord

The move is one of several climate-related actions taken by President Joe Biden on his first day in office

A Wolverine atop a tree log.

Wolverine Captured on Yellowstone Trail Cameras for the First Time

The species’ numbers in the United States were diminished by predator control efforts and trapping

The SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule separating from the International Space Station after undocking from the Harmony module’s international docking adapter.

Case of Bordeaux Wine Returns to Earth After a Year in Space

Last week a dozen bottles splashed into the Gulf of Mexico inside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule after a year aboard the International Space Station

This fossil is the oldest known preserved dinosaur cloacal vent.

3-D Reconstruction of Fossil Reveals Secret Sex Life of Dinosaurs

The newly discovered orifice is the oldest known fossilized cloacal vent in existence

Each fish-inspired robot uses two wide-angle cameras to look for the LEDs on its companions.

New Research

These 3-D Printed Robot Fish Sync and Swim

The small water-bound robots use wide-angle cameras and three bright LEDs to move in synchronized swarms

Mask wearing and other behaviors developed during the Covid-19 pandemic are largely keeping flu cases low this year.

How Covid-19 Precautions Have Kept Flu Cases Low

By this time last year, the U.S. had recorded over 65,000 cases of influenza

Astronomers have discovered the oldest and most distant quasar in the universe. The quasar, named J0313-1806, formed just 670 million years after the Big Bang some 13 billion light years away.

New Research

This 13-Billion-Year-Old Supermassive Black Hole Is the Oldest Ever Found

Huge black hole is so old it offers a glimpse into the early universe, and so big it challenges ideas of how black holes form

In theory, the wood would burn up upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere. But wooden space junk is still space junk.

Japan Hopes to Send a Wooden Satellite to Space in 2023

The group hopes the cube-shaped wood orbiter will help reduce space waste

Warming waters cause the sharks to hatch early and underdeveloped, making them vulnerable to predation.

Ocean Warming Threatens Baby Sharks in the Great Barrier Reef

Researchers found the hatchlings of the egg-laying epaulette shark are weakened by rising sea temperatures

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