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Smart News / Smart News Science

An octopus in the Red Sea engaged in a collaborative hunt with several fish.

New Research

Watch Octopuses Sucker-Punch Fish

Researchers caught the eight-armed sea creatures in the Red Sea slugging fish during collaborative hunts

Taxidermied bare-nosed wombats glowing under a black light at the Western Australia Museum.

Wombats and Tasmanian Devils Glow Under Ultraviolet Light

Preliminary experiments suggest even more species of mammals may possess the UV glow

Using high-tech imaging techniques and traditional dissection, the researchers found that the gators' tails regrew cartilage, connective tissue and skin instead of bone and skeletal muscle.

Alligators Are Now the Largest Species Known to Regrow Severed Limbs

Young gators can sprout new tails that can reach up to nine inches, helping them survive through their juvenile years

On Sunday evening, the crater's walls started to crackle as sizzling lava emerged from fissures and trickled into the water-filled crater below.

Hawai’i’s Kīlauea Volcano Returns Dramatically With First Eruption in Two Years

The spewing lava mixed with water at the summit, sending a plume of ash and steam into the sky

New analysis of the fossilized tooth plaque of 16 ancient Mediterraneans reveals that they consumed foods imported from Asia—like turmeric and banana, pictured—a thousand years earlier than researchers previously thought.

Ancient Mediterranean People Ate Bananas and Turmeric From Asia 3,700 Years Ago

Fossilized tooth plaque reveals a diverse and exotic palette reflected in the region’s modern cuisine

There have been other ancient wolf remains found in places like Siberia, but finding a well-preserved specimen in Yukon is rare since the ground has to be permanently frozen and the animal must be buried quickly.

A 57,000-Year-Old Mummified Wolf Pup Was Discovered Frozen in Yukon Permafrost

The specimen sheds light on how different gray wolf populations migrated through North America

Nearly 80 percent of the world's vanilla beans are produced by small farmers in Madagascar. The global supply is tiny compared with demand and is often threatened by extreme weather and disease.

New Research

Newly Sequenced Vanilla Genome Could Boost Tiny Global Supply

Tweaking the crop’s genes could help increase its yields and make it more resistant to disease and natural disasters

New Space Force "Guardians" being sworn in.

Space Force Troops Are Now Officially ‘Guardians’ of the Galaxy

Members of the newest and smallest branch of the military, which turned one this December, will now be known as ‘Guardians’

The Parkes Telescope in Australia

Astronomers Discover Mysterious Radio Signal From Proxima Centauri

Scientists searching for aliens are trying to understand the signal’s origins

Longer days signal to birds when they should breed and lay their new clutch of eggs, and they match up their timing so that their chicks are born when the springtime's bounty is at its peak.

Light Pollution Is Causing Birds to Nest Earlier, Mitigating Some Effects of Climate Change

But two wrongs don’t make a right, as both problems are altering the birds’ biology

The flower of a newly discovered orchid species from Madagascar called Gastrodia agnicellus. It's looks are, shall we say, unconventional.

Behold the World’s Ugliest Orchid, According to Botanists

Surprisingly, the plant’s fleshy, brown flowers don’t smell so bad

America's eastern monarch population has fallen by about 80 percent, and the western population by 99 percent, but the Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't grant endangered status to specific populations of invertebrate species.

Why Monarch Butterflies Aren’t Getting Endangered Species Status

Monarch butterflies qualify for protections, but 161 other species have higher priority

Though several animal species like chimps, crows and elephants have been documented using tools, it's pretty rare in the insect world.

New Research

To Compete With the Big Guys, Tiny Crickets Fashion Leafy Megaphones to Blast Their Mating Calls

Using leaves can make male crickets’ calls three times louder, upping their chances of attracting a female

The researchers planted some peppers alone in pots, and others about four inches away from a second plant.

New Research

How Pepper Plants Pick the Perfect Path for Putting Down Roots

Two plants in the same pot must find a way to share the water and nutrients in the soil

Two sequential photos showing a kangaroo alternating its gaze between a box full of food it can't open and a human.

New Research

Kangaroos Communicate With Humans Like Dogs in Experiments

The study suggests people may have previously underestimated the communication abilities of other non-domesticated species

InSight was sent on a mission to answer questions about the Red Planet's crust, mantle and core, known as the "inner space."

Mars InSight Lander Offers a Sneak Peek at the Red Planet’s Inner Layers

The robotic explorer was sent to Mars to study its formation—and the data is now making its way back to Earth

The photograph shows an area about 10,000 miles wide, a small portion of the Sun which is 864,000 miles wide

Brilliant Sunspot Photo Captures the Beginning of a New Solar Cycle

The Inouye Solar Telescope captured the unprecedentedly detailed image of a 3,700-mile-wide sunspot on January 28

An artist's rendering of Ubirajara jubatus, a newly described dinosaur species featuring two sets of rods sticking out of its shoulders and a mane of fluffy proto-feathers.

New Research

With a Mane and Strange Shoulder Rods, This New Dinosaur Was Quite a ‘Little Show-Off’

The chicken-sized carnivore was found in Brazil and researchers say it may have been quite colorful

The survey did not conclude how the wild mink became infected with the virus, but it’s not unusual for captive minks to escape fur farms. (Infected mink not pictured.)

First Case of Covid-19 in a Wild Animal Found in a Utah Mink

The U.S. Department of Agriculture detected the infection while testing wild animals around a mink farm with a Covid-19 outbreak

Whales are especially vulnerable during the calving season since the mother-calf pairs float at the surface, raising their chances of encountering boats.

Biologists Celebrate the Births of Two Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale Calves

With a population of around 366 whales, ‘every individual counts’ in coming back from the brink of extinction

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