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Smart News / Smart News Science

Many people in Britain and Ireland started the year off with an annual flower-hunting event.

Hundreds of Flowering Species Bloomed Across Britain and Ireland Last Winter. That’s Not a Good Thing

Citizen scientists in the British Isles documented more than 300 native plant species blooming in early 2025, a phenomenon likely caused by climate change

The Teal Wand is the only self-collection device for HPV testing approved by the Food and Drug Administration for at-home use.

Many Americans Will Soon Have Access to At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Tests at No Cost

U.S. guidance announced on Monday recommends self-collection of samples to test for HPV, the virus that often causes cervical cancer. Private insurers must cover the costs of the swab kits by 2027

Brainless upside-down jellyfish, like this one in its natural habitat near Eilat, Israel, spend about one-third of their time asleep.

Even Though They Don’t Have Brains to Rest, Jellyfish and Sea Anemones Sleep Like Humans

Sleep may have evolved to help reduce DNA damage in nerve cells long before they became centralized in the brain, a study suggests

A satellite view of a phytoplankton bloom in the Southern Ocean

Earthquakes Deep Below Antarctic Waters Seem to Have Surprising Effects on Life at the Surface

Quakes may cause ocean floor vents to release more nutrients, triggering blooms in plantlike organisms called phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean

A young learner explores an exhibit at the 2024 National Weather Festival, hosted by the National Weather Center, which is located in Norman but unaffiliated with the National Weather Museum.

This Is the Only Museum Dedicated to Weather Artifacts in America. It May Shut Down Due to Funding Shortages

The Oklahoma institution, which preserves and displays historic weather-related objects, is asking for donations from the public

Male white-tailed deer rub their heads on trees and urinate on scraped-up earth to leave "signposts," which glow under ultraviolet light, a study suggests.

When Male Deer Mark Trees, Those Spots May Glow Like Neon Lights at Dusk and Dawn, Though Humans Usually Can’t See Them

During the breeding season, white-tailed deer might use their eyes and noses to navigate signs—forehead secretions on trees and urine on the ground—left by males of their species, a study suggests

An artistic representation of a galaxy cluster forming shortly after the universe began

Cool Finds

This Early-Universe Cluster of Galaxies Is Way Hotter Than It Should Be

Gas within the cluster, which existed merely 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang, is at least five times hotter than computer simulations predict it should be, a study suggests

The two cubs in their indoor den 

Meet the National Zoo’s Adorable 1-Month-Old Sloth Bear Cubs—the First Born There in More Than a Decade

The cubs will spend the next few months with their mother before debuting to the public

Many public health experts, immunologists and pediatricians criticized the revised childhood vaccine schedule, arguing that the changes will likely lead to more disease outbreaks.

U.S. Overhauls Immunization Schedule for Kids, Removing Recommendations for Vaccines Against the Flu, RSV and More

Announced on Monday, the revised schedule drops the number of recommended immunizations from 17 to 11. The CDC suggests that only “high-risk” kids should get many of the vaccines that are no longer endorsed

A humpback whale off the coast of Iceland

By Collecting Whale Breath, Researchers Detected a Deadly Virus in the Arctic for the First Time

Flying a drone with Petri dishes above exhaling whales helped scientists identify a dangerous pathogen that can damage the animals’ respiratory, immune and nervous systems

Bones from a chimpanzee on the left, Sahelanthropus tchadensis in the center, and an Australopithecus species on the right

New Fossil Analysis Suggests This Seven-Million-Year-Old Primate Walked on Two Legs, Potentially Making It the Oldest Known Human Ancestor

Fresh findings about arm and leg bones advance the debate over whether Sahelanthropus tchadensis was bipedal, but not everyone is convinced

The U.S. military will no longer shoot live goats and pigs to help combat medics learn to treat battlefield injuries.

U.S. Military Ends Practice of Shooting Live Animals to Train Medics to Treat Battlefield Wounds

The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act bans the use of live animals in live-fire training exercises and prohibits “painful” research on domestic cats and dogs

The newfound "fairy lantern" species in its natural habitat in Malaysia

A Rare, Parasitic ‘Fairy Lantern’ Plant Species Was Discovered in Malaysia. It Might Be Critically Endangered

The plant was first spotted near a popular picnic site within a forest. But subsequent surveys have found fewer than 20 individuals of the species, named Thismia selangorensis

A supermoon rises over Washington, D.C., on December 3, 2017.

The Year’s First Bright Supermoon and the Colorful Quadrantid Meteor Shower Coincide This Weekend

The dual celestial events will ring in the new year, although the luminous “wolf” supermoon may hamper skywatchers’ view of the shooting stars

The manumea is the national bird of Samoa, but it's on the brink of extinction.

Elusive, Critically Endangered Bird—and One of the Closest Living Relatives of Dodos—Was Spotted for the First Time in Five Years

Conservationists are racing to save the manumea, a chicken-sized bird that lives only on two Samoan islands, from extinction

Many stingless bees are native to Peru, where they pollinate the Amazon's diverse plants and food crops.

Honey-Making Stingless Bees in the Peruvian Amazon Become the First Insects to Gain Legal Rights

Two local ordinances granted rights to at least 175 stingless bee species in Peru, which are culturally and spiritually significant to Indigenous peoples and help maintain a healthy rainforest ecosystem

Stimulants prescribed for ADHD target the parts of the brain related to wakefulness and reward, shown in yellow and orange, according to a new study.

How Do These ADHD Medications Work in the Brain? The Mechanisms Are Different Than Once Thought, a Study Suggests

Adderall, Ritalin and other stimulants prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder seem to work on brain areas involved with wakefulness and reward, rather than attention

About 50 Apennine brown bears live in central Italy.

After Living Alongside Humans for Millennia, These Italian Brown Bears Have Evolved to Become Less Aggressive

Researchers found genetic differences that likely resulted from humans killing aggressive bears, leaving docile individuals to breed and pass along their genes to offspring

Flat-headed cats are rarely observed in the wild, in part because of their nocturnal habits.

This Wild Cat Is Considered ‘Possibly Extinct’ in Thailand. Researchers Just Caught It on Camera for the First Time in About 30 Years

Findings from the largest-ever survey of endangered flat-headed cats may help change the species’ official conservation status in Thailand

Dark-eyed juncos are small sparrows found throughout North America.

These Urban Birds Evolved Longer Beaks During Covid-19 Lockdowns. Then, They Changed Back

Researchers suspect that dark-eyed juncos living in Los Angeles adapted based on the availability of food scraps tossed by humans

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