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Smart News / Smart News Science

The vaccine candidate produced by Pfizer and BioNTech is stable at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, so Pfizer developed a suitcase-sized box that uses dry ice to keep between 1,000 and 5,000 doses that cold for 10 days.

Why the Most Promising Covid-19 Vaccines Require Super-Cold Storage

Both Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines contain mRNA, which must be stored in frigid conditions

Italy's Stromboli volcano erupting on January 13, 2011.

Watch This Recent Giant Eruption at Italy’s Stromboli Volcano

Stromboli is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, but this latest eruption was exceptionally intense

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology designed a peer-reviewed tool to estimate the risk of attending an event with someone infected with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

Five Online Tools for Evaluating Covid-19 Risk Ahead of the Holidays

Of course, the safest option is holding events virtually and skipping in-person, indoor gatherings altogether this year

Canadians gathered around their dining room tables for Thanksgiving on October 12, and two weeks later, authorities reported a spike in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Covid-19 Cases Surged After Canadian Thanksgiving in October. Will Americans Heed Their Northern Neighbor’s Warning?

Two out of five Americans plan to gather in large groups for the holiday, raising public health concerns

A view inside the Asian giant hornet nest that Washington State entomologists destroyed last month.

Asian Giant Hornet Nest May Have Contained 200 Queens

Officials say they’ve counted roughly 500 hornets in various stages of development after examining a nest they found and destroyed last month

A remarkable abundance of wildlife reside on or around the territory's four islands, including endangered yellow-nosed albatross, sevengill sharks, rockhopper penguins and 11 species of whales and dolphins.

A Tiny Atlantic Island Just Protected a Giant, Pristine Stretch of the Ocean

Tristan da Cunha fully protected 90 percent of its waters, safeguarding its vibrant biodiversity

A wolf-like robot dubbed "Monster Wolf" photographed in 2017. An updated model was recently installed in the town of Takikawa on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. The robot's motion sensor triggers flashing red LED eyes and a selection of 60 sounds aimed to frighten animals back into the wild.

Robotic ‘Monster Wolf’ Protects Japanese Town From Bears

No bear interactions have been recorded in the town since the robots’ installation in September

The spinning magnetar transferred a remarkable amount of energy to the debris created by the collision, heating the material up and generating a bright glow.

In a First, Astronomers Witnessed the Birth of a Supermassive Magnetar Following a Glorious Kilonova

The scientists originally thought that the cosmic crash would create a black hole

Astronaut Luca Parmitano uses a sample-spinning centrifuge on the I.S.S. to expose the bacteria to the equivalent of Mars' gravity.

New Research

Space Station Experiments Show How Microbes Could Be Used for Mining on Mars

Researchers sent bacteria and basalt rock to the ISS to figure out which microscopic organisms can extract useful metals in reduced gravity

A hydrothermal area called Porcelain Basin in Yellowstone National Park's broader Norris Geyser Basin.

Boiling Chickens in Yellowstone’s Hot Springs Is Illegal

Three men are now banned from visiting the national park after pleading guilty to several charges

Compared to other P. robustus males recovered from a nearby cave system called Swartkrans, DNH 155 (pictured here) was much smaller and had more female-like characteristics.

Newly Unearthed Skull Reveals How Ancient Hominids Evolved to Survive a Changing Climate

“Paranthropus robustus” evolved sturdier skulls to be able to eat new, tough vegetation

BearID uses characteristics like the distance between a bear's eyes, nose and forehead to match a face to a name.

New Research

New A.I. Offers Facial Recognition for Grizzly Bears

The open-source software could help conservation scientists keep track of individual animals over years

A new chili pepper-shaped device that connect with a smartphone to reveal how much capsaicin is in a hot pepper.

New Research

This Chili-Shaped Smartphone Accessory Can Measure a Pepper’s Spiciness

New device can measure concentrations of capsaicin, the compound that gives peppers their burning heat

Tropical Storm Theta may hit the Madeira Islands, an autonomous region of Portugal, this weekend.

The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Officially Has the Most Named Storms on Record

This season’s 29th named storm, Theta, formed in the eastern Atlantic early on Tuesday

The only photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon resurfaced in the 1980s after years of obscurity.

You Could Own the First Space Selfie, Only Photo of Neil Armstrong on the Moon

Online Christie’s sale features 2,400 photographs from “the golden age of space exploration”

The new archive tracks how 96 different species have moved across the Arctic over the last 28 years.

Arctic Wildlife Are Shifting Their Behaviors Due to Climate Change

The new, collaborative data archive tracks nearly 100 species over the last three decades

Two banded mongoose groups face off.

New Research

Warmongering Female Mongooses Lead Their Groups Into Battle to Mate With the Enemy

New research finds females of this species engineer conflicts with rival groups to gain sexual access to males outside their group and combat inbreeding

Laboratory tests reveal that ice blocks containing different salts glow differently after being exposed to radiation.

New Research

Radiation Might Make Jupiter’s Salty, Icy Moon Europa Glow

Europa is one of Jupiter’s four largest moons and a prime candidate for finding life beyond Earth

The fin of a great white shark being tagged by researchers off the coast of Southern California.

Record Number of Great Whites Tagged in Southern California

Researchers working in Southern California tagged 38 sharks this year, more than triple last year’s total

“When you’re up in space looking down at the round blue ball we call Earth, it becomes pretty clear that we’re all in this together," said Mark Kelly on Twitter.

A Brief History of Astronauts in Congress

This year, Arizona elected Mark Kelly to the Senate, making him the fourth astronaut elected to Congress

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