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Smart News / Smart News Science

The world's highest-altitude peak is called Sagarmatha in Nepal and Chomolungma in Tibet.

Is Mount Everest Really Two Feet Taller?

The new height measurement comes from an updated survey and decades of slow tectonic movement, not a sudden growth spurt

Researchers caught an 81-year-old midnight snapper (Macolor macularis) like the one pictured here off the coast of Western Australia. The fish is the oldest coral reef fish ever discovered.

New Research

Researchers Catch Oldest Tropical Reef Fish Known to Science

Researchers caught the 81-year-old midnight snapper off the coast of Western Australia

Researchers recorded 38 instances of pandas covering themselves in horse manure between June 2016 and June 2017.

New Research

In Winter, Pandas Love to Roll in Horse Poop

To deal with crappy weather, the black-and-white bears may be slathering themselves in feces to stay warm

An aerial oblique photo of the volcanoes of the Islands of Four Mountains in Alaska's Aleutian Island chain. In the center is the summit of Mount Tana. Behind Tana are (left to right) Herbert, Cleveland and Carlisle Volcanoes.

New Research

A Massive Supervolcano May Lurk Beneath Alaska’s Aleutian Islands

Multiple lines of evidence led scientists to the idea that a group of six volcanoes in the islands are actually part of a 12-mile-wide caldera

The study suggests that the island is built from sediment generated by the surrounding coral reef, such as from crushed up dead coral, weathered shells and dried-up microorganisms.

This Pacific Island Is Both Sinking and Growing

Sediment produced by surrounding coral reefs has helped Jeh Island outrace rising sea levels

Marine mammals could contract the virus through their mucus membranes, like their blowholes, eyes and mouths.

Can Marine Mammals Catch Covid-19 via Wastewater? The Evidence Is Murky

Whales, and other species, may have the same cellular vulnerability to Covid-19 as humans, but experts say the risk of infection is incredibly low

Newton held unconventional religious beliefs and dabbled in alchemy and the occult.

Isaac Newton Thought the Great Pyramid Held the Key to the Apocalypse

Papers sold by Sotheby’s document the British scientist’s research into the ancient Egyptians and the Bible

A Japanese space capsule seen falling back to Earth over Australia. The capsule, released from the JAXA space probe Hayabusa2, contains samples of an asteroid called Ryugu that is located roughly 180 million miles from our planet.

Japan Retrieves Space Capsule Full of Asteroid Samples in Australia

The successful landing marks the completion of Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, which studied the 3,000-foot-wide asteroid Ryugu

Coho salmon returning from its years at sea to spawn, seen near the Suquamish Tribe's Grovers Creek Hatchery.

New Research

Researchers Reveal Why Seattle Salmon Bite the Dust After Rainstorms

A chemical found in car tire debris washes off roads into waterways, killing coho salmon returning to spawn

The new A.I. systems are more complex than this bot photographed in 2005.

New Research

Human Interruption Slows Down Military Robots in Simulations

A.I. can make decisions faster than humans, raising a myriad of ethical questions when applied to weapons systems

A group of shrimp that have left the safety of the water to parade upstream in Thailand.

New Research

The Science Behind Thailand’s Great Shrimp Parade

New research begins to unravel the secrets of a strange natural phenomenon in which thousands of freshwater crustaceans march on land

Surveyor 2 launched on a Centaur/Atlas rocket in September of 1966. The upper stage, called Centaur, was lost in space until it returned to Earth's orbit this November.

Astronomers Confirm Earth’s Newest Mini-Moon Is Actually a Long-Lost Rocket

The piece of space debris, called 2020 SO, is the upper stage rocket booster from a failed 1966 mission to the moon

At the moment, more than two dozen companies across the world are working to grow beef, chicken and fish in labs.

In a Global First, Lab-Grown Chicken Nuggets Will Soon Be on the Menu in Singapore

By culturing cells, food scientists have learned to grow meat in a lab without killing any animals or relying on deforestation

Trench fever came to prominence during World War I, but new research suggests that the disease afflicted people long before the 20th century.

Before WWI, Trench Fever Plagued the Ancient Romans and Napoleonic Soldiers

Long associated with the Great War, the disease actually dates back at least 2,000 years, a new study suggests

It may seem a little absurd, but wildlife getting drunk off of fermenting fruits isn't a rare occurrence. Bats, moose and birds are known to consume copious amounts of fermented fruits.

Watch This Backyard Squirrel Get a Little Tipsy on Fermented Pears

A Minnesota resident captured a video of the bushy-tailed rodent’s drunken smorgasbord

The researchers worked with otters at Newquay Zoo, Tamar Otter and Wildlife Centre and New Forest Wildlife Park.

New Research

Otters Solve Puzzles Faster After Seeing a Friend Do It First

Conservation scientists could use the information to teach previously captive animals how to live in the wild

The telescope collapsed ahead of its scheduled demolition.

Massive Arecibo Telescope Collapses in Puerto Rico

The radio telescope was once the largest in the world, and played a key role in many major astronomical discoveries over the last 50 years

In the U.S., affordable housing units along the coast tend to be built in flood-prone areas where the land is cheaper and developers cannot build.

Affordable Housing Units Prone to Floods Could Triple by 2050

Without swift action to reduce carbon emissions, nearly 25,000 low-income houses will face annual flooding in the next 30 years

AlphaFold's protein structure in blue is shown overlaid with the lab results in green for two kinds of proteins.

New Research

Breakthrough A.I. Makes Huge Leap Toward Solving 50-Year-Old Problem in Biology

Proteins are vital biological molecules, and it can require years of lab-based experiments to tease out the 3-D shape of just one

A great blue heron seen wading in front of an oil refinery. Burning and producing fossil fuels are major sources of air pollution. A new study estimates that over the last four decades environmental regulations aimed at improving air quality have saved the lives of some 1.5 billion birds across the United States.

New Research

Study Estimates Clean Air Act Has Saved 1.5 Billion Birds

Over the last 40 years, bird populations across the U.S. did the best in places with the most stringent air pollution regulations

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